Women's event to make debut in Tata Steel Chess

The women's tournament, with a prize money equivalent to that of the open section, will make its debut in the fourth Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and Blitz beginning at the National Library on Tuesday.

The elite Grandmasters who will be seen in action this year are Wesley So, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Arjun Erigaisi, Vidit Gujrathi and Gukesh Dommaraju.

The women's meet will see the likes of Anna Muzychuk, Nana Dzagnidze, Anna Ushenina, Humpy Koneru and Harika Dronavalli in action. This is the first time that women's event is being organised with equal prize money(USD 41,500 each).

"Equality and inclusivity are a way of life for us at Tata Steel, and in line with this, the women's tournament has been introduced with the same format and equal prize money as the men's tournament," Chanakya Chaudhary, vice-president, corporate services Tata Steel, said.

The first day's action will see Humpy taking on Anna while Vantika Agarwal will be up against Mariya in the rapid women section. In the rapid men section, Nihal Sarin has a tough opening draw against Hikaru Nakamura, while Gukesh and Erigaisi will take on Abdusattorov and Mamedyarov respectively.