Harika gets off to winning start in Isle of Man chess tournament

Douglas (Isle of Man), Oct 2 (IANS) Indian Grandmaster Harika Dronavalli started her campaign in the Isle of Man International chess tournament on a winning note, comfortably beating Rocabado Fernando of Argentina.

World No.10 Harika, with a ELO rating of 2542, hardly broke into a sweat against her lower ranked opponent (ELO 2187) here on Saturday, according to a release.

Seeded 36 for this event, Harika plays American Grandmaster So Wesley in the next round, who comes into the game on the back of a win over French Grand Master Brunello Marina. Wesley is ranked No.2 and has a high rating of 2794.

The open tournament has a number of Indian players in the fray, including Grand Master Pentala Harikrishna.

The winner in the Masters category pockets an impressive prize money of 12,000 pounds ($15,574) while the runner-up and the third-placed will get 6,000 pounds ($7,787) and 4,000 pounds ($5,191), respectively.