Chess Olympiad: India Names Teams, Anand To Mentor

NEW DELHI: Two teams each will represent India in the Open and women’s section at the 44th Chess Olympiad with five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand being named as the hosts’ mentor for the prestigious tournament scheduled to be played here from July 28 to August 10.

India being the host are entitled to field two teams each — in Open category as well as women’s section for the first-time ever.

It has bolstered the home team’s medal chances at the 14-day event, which is expected to witness participation of world’s top names from more than 150 countries.

Vidit Gujrathi, who led India to gold medal in the 2020 Chess Olympiad, held virtually, will be part of India’s first team in open section alongside Pentala Harikrishna and Chennaibased Krishnan Sasikiran, who have represented India on numerous occasions.

The 19-year-old Arjun Erigaisi and SL Narayanan will also be part of the first team.

The second team, on the other hand, will comprise of young talents, who have been making headlines with their consistent performances in the last couple of years, including Praggnanandhaa R, Nihal Sarin, Gukesh D and Raunak Sadhwani.

In the women’s section, the first team will have the immensely talented Koneru Humpy and World No 10 Harika Dronavalli, who have stamped their authority on many international tournaments, and the prolific Tania Sachdev with R Vaishali and Bhakti Kulkarni. The second team will consist of national champions Soumya Swaminathan, Mary Ann Gomes and Padmini Rout along with Vantika Agarwal and 15-year-old Divya Deshmukh.

The Chess Olympiad was moved out of Russia after it invaded Ukraine and was awarded to Chennai in March. Alongside the Olympiad, the 94th FIDE Congress and elections will also be held in the city.