Kolkata: The Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and Blitz tournament is back with their third edition after a gap of year. It will take place in National Library, Kolkata from November 17-21. This time, fourteen players will be taking part. The lineup will be spearheaded by Levon Aronian.
On the eve of the first match of the tournament ( November 16), the organisers arranged an Draw of Lots Ceremony Press Conference where Chess GM Levon Aronian stated that “I think they are extremely talented and I really believe and I think most of my colleagues will agree that Future of Chess is definitely in India.”
“I think you have lot of players of elite level and specially when you have Viswanathan Anand guiding these young guys is kind of a guarantee”, Levon added about the young new talents of India.
Draw of Lots Ceremony Press Conference, Kolkata
“Well 2019 edition was probably one of the worst events I have played and it was very educational for me and that I have to work on my blitz and rapid, so you know some failures I appreciate them and this is the failure I appreciated. Many thanks to that and I started working on rapid and blitz and I think I came up better as a blitz player which I think I showed in many events after that I won and this time I am looking forward to compete with young players from India, said Levon when asked about his third time participation in this tournament.
When asked what he love best about the country, Levon said, “The culture and I think the depth in people’s perception of life and the cuisine and many many things. I am a fan of Satyajit Ray and I saw Apu Trilogy a year ago and I really like people are kind.”
“Well I wanted to dedicate my life to chess and at that moment it was not possible in Armenia so that was my reason for it,” concluded Livon after asked about his decision to represent USA instead of Armenia.
