All India Chess Federation (AICF) today announced the biggest-ever 20-member Indian squad, including Odisha International Master Padmini Rout for the 44th Chess Olympiad as India geared up to host the prestigious tournament in Chennai from 28 July to 10 August 2022.
India being the host are entitled to field two teams each in Open as well as Women section for the first-time ever. It has certainly bolstered the medal chances at the 14-day event which is expected to witness participation of 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 Indian first team in open section alongside Pentala Harikrishna and 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.
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.
“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,” said AICF Secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan.
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 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 very much in action as 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 1988s edition held in Greece.
GM Pravin Thipsay will be the Head of the Delegation. GM Srinath and GM RB Ramesh will be the coach for first team and second team of open section respectively. GM Abhijit Kunte will be the Coach for the Women`s first team and GM Swapnil Dhopade for the second team.
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 team won bronze in 2021.
INDIAN TEAMS:
OPEN SECTION: Team-1: GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2723), GM Harikrishna Pentala (2705), GM Erigaisi Arjun (2675), GM Narayanan SL (2662), GM Sasikiran Krishnan (2651). Team-2: GM Nihal Sarin (2646), GM Gukesh D (2659), GM Adhiban B (2616), GM Praggananandha R (2642), GM Sadhwani Raunak (2619).
WOMEN SECTION: Team-1: GM Koneru Humpy (2586), GM Harika Dronavali (2517), IM Vaishali R (2403), IM Tania Sachdev (2399), IM Kulkarni Bhakti (2370). Team-2: WGM Vantika Agarwal (2371), IM Soumya Swaminathan (2358), WGM Gomes Mary Ann (2349), IM Padmini Rout (2348), WGM Divya Deshmukh (2317).
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PHOTO: File image of Odisha International Master Padmini Rout (Pic by: David Llada).