Arjun and Harika to spearhead India’s challenge at Olympiad
The Gukesh-Ding contest expected to attract eyeballs ahead of their World championship clash; Caruana to lead USA’s campaign in the absence of Nakamura; the women start as one of the favourites for the crown even without Humpy
Stars on show: India, a mix of youth and experience, is expected to mount a stiff challenge. Courtey: chess.com
Koneru Humpy is not part of the Indian women’s team for the Chess Olympiad.
She is not just the country’s best female player by some distance but one of the strongest in the history of the women’s game as well. She is ranked No. 6 in the world.
Even in her absence, India starts as one of the favourites for the women’s title in the ultimate team competition in chess, which was inaugurated at Budapest on Tuesday.
India is, in fact, the top seed.
India’s squads at Chess Olympiad
Men: Arjun Erigaisi, D. Gukesh, R. Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi and P. HarikrishnaWomen: D. Harika, R. Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal and Tania SachdevThe Indian men are seeded second in the tournament, behind United StatesThe Indian women are the top seeds
Humpy had led her team to the bronze medal at the last Olympiad, at Mamallapuram, near Chennai, in 2022.
The Indian men didn’t disappoint, either. India-2 won the bronze in the open section. As the host, India had fielded three teams each in either section.
Jumbo field
There is no such luxury in the mammoth tournament – teams from 197 countries are in the fray – this time around, but both the men and the women from India will be in focus. The men are seeded second.
The United States – even without the World No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura – is the top seed, with an average Elo rating of 2757.
The World No. 3 Fabiano Caruana will spearhead the US challenge.
India’s average rating is 2753.
Exciting talents
The team is built around three of the most exciting young talents in world chess – Arjun Erigaisi, D. Gukesh and R. Praggnanandhaa, ranked fourth, seventh and 12th in the world respectively.
Vidit Gujrathi, who has authored one of the most fascinating turnaround stories in chess of late, and the vastly experienced P. Harikrishna complete the team. China (2724 Elo points) is the third seed.
The biggest attraction in that team is Ding Liren, the World champion, though he may not be in the best form.
His potential match-up with Gukesh could be the most anticipated game of this Olympiad: the duo will be meeting for the World championship match in Singapore starting on November 23.
Like India, Uzbekistan — seeded fourth — has some extremely talented youngsters.
The European teams like Norway, led by the World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, Germany and the Netherlands too are pretty strong.
In the women’s event, India’s main challengers should be Georgia, Poland, China and Ukraine.
D. Harika is India’s strongest player and she could expect solid support from R. Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal and Tania Sachdev.
The opening round will be played on Wednesday. There will be a total of 11 rounds.
Published – September 11, 2024 11:13 am IST
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