Kerala's top-two chess players, S L Narayanan and Nihal Sarin, will be in action at India's stongest tournament, the Tata Steel Chess India Open beginning November 13 in Kolkata.
World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen is the star attraction of the event that also features Indian No. 1 Arjun Erigaisi. Norwegian Super GM Carlsen will play his first round against R Praggnanandhaa.
American GM Wesley So, Uzebekistan's Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Russian Daniil Dubov, German Vincent Keymer and India No. 4 Vidit Gujrathi are the other participants.
Thiruvananthapuram native Narayanan will play white against Keymer, while Thrissur's Nihal has black against Erigaisi in round one.
The rapid tournament, as part of the event, will be played between November 13 and 15. Each rapid game will be of 25 minutes duration with players given a 10-second increment per move. There will be three rounds daily.