Budapest: The Top seeded Indian women’s team led by D Harika and R Vaishali will be a strong contender for the podium in the 45th Chess Olympiad currently underway, while the men’s team led by D Gukesh is also expected to perform well. Koneru Humpy is not participating in this competition but this should not affect India’s chances as Vaishali has performed very well recently and has made a big jump in the rankings.
In the absence of Humpy, Grandmaster D Harika will be on the top board. After her, Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agarwal will present their challenge on the other boards. Tania Sachdev has been selected in the team as a reserve player but she can also be fielded in some matches.
China is fielding its weak team in the competition. If we look at the world ranking, its top four players are not included in the team. Russia will not be able to participate in this competition for the second consecutive time due to the ban while Ukraine is also not able to field its strong team.
In such a situation, the Indian women’s team is a good mix of experience and youth, which has increased its chances of winning a medal.
Georgia has been given the second seed after the Indian women’s team. It is followed by Poland, China and Ukraine. In the open category, America will start as a strong contender. Fabiano Caruana will be on the top board from his side, but he will definitely miss Hikaru Nakamura.
The Indian team includes Vidit Gujarati, R Praggnanandhaa, D Gukesh, Arjun Erigesi and P Harikrishna. India won the bronze medal last time and the team will be committed to perform better this time. The Indian team has been given the second seed this time.
China has fielded a strong team in the open category, which includes the current world champion Ding Liren on the top board. The Chinese team has been given the third seed. The format in both the open and women’s categories will be of 11 rounds and the winning teams will get two match points for each win. 191 teams are expected to participate in the open category of the competition and 180 teams in the women’s category.