Four grandmasters and two international masters from India, the country where chess has seen a terrific surge since Vishy Anand’s successes, will be present in the Hoogeveen Open. The player with the highest rating (also of the entire tournament) is Abhijeet Gupta. The former world youth champion (2008) has grown into a strong grandmaster. In 2011 he won the prestigious Dubai Open, and this year he became the Commonwealth Champion in New Delhi.
Arghyadip Das, who for some reason is still not a grandmaster, came second in that event. Das won the Leiden Open last year. Deep Sengupta, who is a grandmaster, twice shared the first prize at the Dutch Open in Dieren, in 2013 (with Erwin l’Ami!) and 2014.
Vishnu Prasanna is a theoretically well-versed and sharp player. In 2011 he played in the Dutch Open in Dieren, Then an IM, he scored 5 out of 9 – among his opponents were five grandmasters. Since 2013 Vishnu also has this title. So these are players who have already made a lot of chess miles in the Netherlands. Grandmaster GN Gopal and international master Mishra Swayams are new to us.
