Chennai: The 20-member Indian squad for the World Chess Olympiad has been announced. For the first time in India, the series (Mamallapuram, July 28 – Aug. 10) will feature 2,000 athletes from around 150 countries. Russia, which is at war with Ukraine, and its ally Belarus have been banned from participating in the tournament. The Russian team has won the World Chess Olympiad 8 times. It is noteworthy that India and Russia jointly won the championship at the 43rd Chess Olympiad held online in 2020.
In this case, the 20-man Indian squad was announced yesterday. Grand Master Praveen Thibsey has been appointed captain. The men’s first team consists of Vidit Santosh Gujarati, Hari Krishna, Arjun, Narayanan, Sasikiran Krishnan and the second team includes Adiban, Nihal Sarin, Kukesh, Pragyananda and Satwani Ranak.
In the women’s team, Koneru Hampi, Harika, Vaishali, Tania Sachdev, Kulkarni Bhakti, Saumya Swaminathan, Vandika Agarwal, Gomes Mary Ann, Padmini and Divya Deshmukh are in the first team. Former world champion Viswanathan Anand is set to act as an advisor to the Indian team. Srinath and RP Ramesh will coach the men’s team and Abhijit Kunde and Swapnil will coach the women’s team.