The super couple of chess Niklesh and Angela will head ChessBase India's Group Tour to Sharjah and Dubai

by Sagar Shah - 05/03/2019

The Sharjah and Dubai Masters 2019 is coming up. Two strong tournaments with some of the strongest grandmasters in the world playing at the UAE. ChessBase India in accordance with its motto of "Powering chess in India" is going to UAE with a Group Tour. The manager of the group tour would be Niklesh Jain. This is the second ChessBase India Power Group Tour. The first one to Barcelona, Spain was very successful with all the players cumulatively gaining 4359 Elo points! This time we are going to Sharjah from the 21st to 30th of March and to Dubai from the 1st to 10th of April 2019. The idea of the Group Tour is to give exposure to the youngsters so that they can travel to tournaments without their parents and guardians, thereby making them more capable individuals. Not to forget, it is extremely cost effective!

FI Niklesh Jain will be the Group Tour Manager

At the Batumi Olympiad in front of thousands of chess players Niklesh Jain played a surprise move! He proposed his future wife Angela. This was shot on a video and it went completely viral!

Within a few hours every mainstream media was covering this news of an Indian journalist proposing a Colombian chess player! You can watch the video here (Don't miss the reactions of the Chinese players!)

A few months after the proposal, Niklesh and Angela married each other in a beautiful wedding that was held in Katni, Madhya Pradesh | Photo: David Llada

Niklesh and Angela are one of the most beautiful couples in the world of chess. Angela is from Colombia and speaks Spanish, while Niklesh is one of the best Hindi chess writers in our country. When they met each other, they didn't even know the language of the other person. And yet they fell in love. It's the game of chess that brought them together! A victory for our beautiful sport.

After marriage, the duo have settled in Niklesh's hometown Katni in Madhya Pradesh. Niklesh spends his day promoting chess in India by running ChessBase India Hindi, churning out articles and videos day after day. Angela, on the other hand, is working hard towards achieving her WGM title. She is already a WIM and has an Elo of 2141 and has represented Colombian national team on multiple occasions. The duo would be heading the ChessBase India Group Tour to Sharjah and Dubai from 21st March to 11th of April 2019. While Angela will be actively playing and trying to get her WGM norms in both the events, Niklesh will be the tour manager, making sure that all the logistics are in place for the members of the ChessBase India Group Tour so that they can play their games well.

What is a Group Tour?

ChessBase India Power has been successfully helping chess players all over India to plan their trips in different parts of the world. With the group tour we go a step ahead! We are going to have a representative (Niklesh) who will be your guide at the Sharjah and Dubai tournaments. First of all ChessBase India Power will take care of your accommodation, flight tickets, visa and insurance like it always does. If you are a part of the ChessBase India Power tour then Niklesh Jain will guide you with:

1. Food options,

2. Airport transfers

3. Finding the best way for internal travel

4. Entry for the tournaments

5. Sight seeing, in case you would like to

6. Not to forget, Niklesh is a pretty strong player and, if time permits, can help you with the preparation for your games!

Niklesh would be doing everything that a guardian does! In this way, parents who usually have to travel with their kids will be saved from spending their 20 days in UAE away from their work. Also it is cost effective because the cost of parent's travel, stay and food is saved. The kids also get to travel independently which makes them more responsible.

You are in safe hands!

Niklesh Jain is a FIDE Instructor and was the head coach of SYNA International school for 11 years. He has travelled to innumerable countries all across the world, playing chess tournaments, covering them and was also the manager of Indian squads when they went to World Schools in 2017 as well as Aeroflot Open in 2018.

Niklesh with his students from SYNA International after they won the National Schools in 2017

2nd place at World Schools 2017

Commentating with IM Vishal Sareen at Delhi GM open 2019 | Photo: David Llada

At the end of a hard day's work, yours truly with Niklesh Jain at IIFLW Mumbai 2017-18

Sharjah Masters

The Sharjah Masters will be held from the 21st to 31st of March 2019 and this will be followed by the Dubai GM Open 2019 from 1st to 10th of April 2019.

The final round will be played on 30th of March and you have one day to unwind, before the Dubai GM 2019 begins

The Dubai Open begins on the 1st of April and ends on 10th of April

Top 20 seeds at Sharjah Masters

No.		Name	FideID	Rtg
1	GM	Wang Hao	8602883	2718
2	GM	Le Quang Liem	12401137	2715
3	GM	Inarkiev Ernesto	4162722	2692
4	GM	Matlakov Maxim	4168003	2692
5	GM	Kryvoruchko Yuriy	14109182	2680
6	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham	12539929	2673
7	GM	Sjugirov Sanan	4189302	2667
8	GM	Mareco Sandro	112275	2666
9	GM	Safarli Eltaj	13402129	2662
10	GM	Firouzja Alireza	12573981	2657
11	GM	Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo	3901211	2639
12	GM	Ganguly Surya Shekhar	5002150	2633
13	GM	Adly Ahmed	10601619	2611
14	GM	Zubov Alexander	14109409	2605
15	GM	Idani Pouya	12510130	2604
16	GM	Gupta Abhijeet	5010608	2602
17	GM	Pichot Alan	110973	2584
18	GM	Nihal Sarin	25092340	2578
19	IM	Yakubboev Nodirbek	14203987	2569
20	GM	Abdusattorov Nodirbek	14204118	2560

Complete list

The players list of Dubai Open 2019 is yet to be published.

Cost of the Group Tour

Total Cost: Rs. 1, 15,000 for the player
Accompanying person Rs 1,05,000

Inclusions:-

* Flights
* Airport Transfers
* Sharjah Entry fee
* Hotel Apartment stay
* Insurance
* Visa fees
* Transfers from the venue to the hotel everday

Exclusions:-

* Food
* Dubai Entry Fee
* Any consumables or Domestic Flights
* Sight Seeings

Note:- Air fares are dynamic so package rate may change at the time of issuance at the moment base rate is considered 20,000 if lesser we will refund the balance amount.

Members of the Group Tour:

Mrudul Dehankar is a big talent among young female players of India. She is 14 years old and has an Elo of 2078. You can read an entire article dedicated to her that was published on ChessBase India a few years ago

Sanskriti Goyal, bronze medal at World Championship of under-16 girls in 2018. Her current Elo is 2006.

Rakshith Srinivasan, Elo 1923, 14-year-old from Bangalore

Souradip Deb, Elo 1899, 20 years old , Tripura

Kaushik Iyer, Elo 1771, 14 years old from Bangalore

These five talents will be travelling with Niklesh and Angela for both the events in Sharjah and Dubai. We will accept 3 more entries. However, you will have to reach us immediately on 5th of March, so that we can begin with the process of planning your trip.