KARACHI, April 23: Wapda’s Tanvir Gilani will defend his crown when the 26th National chess championship gets into action at a local hotel on Thursday.

The premier event of the game will be played on the Swiss League system comprising 11 rounds. The player who secures highest points will emerge champion.

Karachi is playing host to the championship after well over a decade. It is being organised by the Sindh Chess Association in collaboration with the Chess Federation of Pakistan.

The details of the competition were announced at a press briefing held at the venue on Wednesday.

Players from the four provinces, Wapda, PIA, Railways, HEC and Police are to vie for the honours in the six-day event which concludes on April 29.

Prominent International Masters (IM) and National Masters (NM) include Mahmood Ahmed Lodi, Shahzad Mirza, Shahzad Alam, Rahat Ali, Gulraiz and Aziz Farooqui.

According to details, the championship carries a total prize money of Rs150,000. The winner will receive a purse of Rs50,000 while the runner-up will pocket Rs35,000.

The event will form criteria for selecting top three players in the national team while the remaining three places will be filled following fresh competition between fourth to 11th positions finishers.

Two sessions will be played daily. The first session begins at 9.30am while the second will commence at 3.00pm.