Jagatsinghpur: The 18th National Cities Team Chess Championship was inaugurated by founder of KIIT and KISS Dr. Achyuta Samanta at Kalarabank in Jagatsinghpur district on Sunday.
Jointly organized by KIIT University and Jagatsinghpur District Chess Association, it is the first national-level chess event in the country to be held in a rural area.
As many as 30 city teams from Odisha, Haryana, West Bengal, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Telengana are participating in the tournament. More than 150 chess players, including Swayanshu Mishra, Aparajita Gochhikar, Saina Salonika and Kiran Manisha Mohanty from Odisha, will take part in the tournament that will be played in seven rounds. The final round and closing ceremony will be held on Wednesday.
The four best teams of the tournament will then participate in the Asian Cities Chess Championship to be held at KIIT in Bhubaneswar from August 26 to September 1.