The tournament is being organized on the occasion of 56th National Cooperatives Day, which falls on April 2. The event will be held in league-cum-knockout format. "In the initial stage seven round matches will be held in Swiss League format and the top 32 players will qualify for the knockout stage," said Indra Muni Shayka, a member of Lalitpur Festival organizing committee and the president of Padmawati Savings and Co-operative Limited. "The knockout stage will be conducted in two legs." [break]
The winner of the week-long event featuring around 150 players will be awarded with a Yamaha YBR motorbike. The second to fourth place finishers will get Rs 50,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 15,000 respectively. Altogether 40 players will be awarded with cash prizes.
Responding to queries about match-fixing in chess, Rajesh Hari Joshi, coordinator of the tournament and president of Nepal Chess Association, said, "If anyone is found involved in match-fixing they will be banned for five years."
The event is being jointly organized as part of the Lalitpur Festival by Lalitpur Festival 2013 Management Committee and Lalitpur Sports Club under the aegis of Nepal Chess Association.
Related story
Asian Zonal chess championship from March 18
-1776353206.webp)
