Chennai, May 2, (FN Agency) The All India Chess Federation (AICF) on Monday announced the biggest-ever 20-member squad for the 44th Chess Olympiad as India geared up to host the prestigious tournament here from July 28 to August 10. India as the host are entitled to field two teams each in Open category as well as women’s section. The 14-day event 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 Chennai-based Krishnan Sasikiran, who have represented the country on numerous occasions. The 19-year-old Arjun Erigaisi and S L Narayanan will also be part of the first team. Arjun will mark his debut at the event along with S L Narayanan, whose solid style has been very impressive. On the other hand, the second team 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.
They will be making their debuts at the Chess Olympiad. The team will also have experienced player Adbhiban B, who was a part of the Indian side which won the bronze medal in 2014. The Indian women teams will have immensely talented Koneru Humpy and world no 10 Harika Dronavalli, who have stamped their authority on many international tournaments, and prolific Tania Sachdev included in the first team along with R Vaishali and Bhakti Kulkarni, who will be making their debuts. The second team, in the women’s section, will consist of national champions Soumya Swaminathan, Mary Ann Gomes and Padmini Rout along with Vantika Agarwal and 15-year-old Divya Deshmukh. The five-time World Champion Viswanathan Anand, who decided against playing the upcoming Chess Olympiad, will be the mentor of the Indian teams. “I am playing very few events these days and after playing many Olympiads, I thought it was time for the younger ones to play. India has many talented youngsters like Nihal, Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh, Arjun and a few more,” Anand said. Interestingly, Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali will be the second set of siblings to represent the country at the same Olympiad after N Saritha and N Sudhakar Babu, who played in the 1988 edition held in Greece.
Pravin Thipsay will be the Head of the Delegation. Srinath and R B Ramesh will be the coach for first team and second team of open section respectively. Abhijit Kunte will be the coach for the women’s first team and Swapnil Dhopade for the second team. “Opportunity to field two teams at the Chess Olympiad opens the door for many young Indian talents to showcase their game at the biggest stage which otherwise would have been possible after a wait of probably another couple of years. It’s a huge opportunity for them so early in their careers. Teams look strong and have a good mix of experience as well as young talents and I’m confident that they will make the most of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said AICF Secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan. India won a bronze medal at the Tromso Chess Olympiad in 2014. While in the two virtual Olympiads, India won gold jointly with Russia in 2020 and the women’s team won bronze in 2021. Team India: Open section: Team 1- Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Harikrishna Pentala, Erigaisi Arjun, Narayanan SL, Sasikiran Krishnan Tean 2: Nihal Sarin, Gukesh D, Adhiban B, Praggananandha R, Sadhwani Raunak Women section: Team 1: Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavali, Vaishali R, Tania Sachdev, Kulkarni Bhakti Team 2: Vantika Agarwal, Soumya Swaminathan, Gomes Mary Ann, Padmini Rout, Divya Deshmukh.