'We have good teams, hope we win some medals,' says Anand

India’s 20-member contingent for the 44th edition of the Chess Olympiad, scheduled to be held in Mahabalipuram from July 28 to August 10, has been preparing for the high-profile event for more than a month now.

The players – India are fielding two teams each in the men’s and women’s sections – had their first camp under the guidance of prominent Israeli Grandmaster (GM) Boris Gelfand and five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand in Chennai from May 7-17. Both were appointed by the All India Chess Federation (AICF) as mentors of the Indians teams for the event.

While Anand – he has chosen to guide the younger players rather than take part himself – was able to attend the camp on only one day, Gelfand was actively involved in ensuring that the players are as well-prepared as possible. The focus during the ten-day camp was on analysing games and studying different positions while also engaging in team bonding activities.

Anand expects the players to benefit immensely from the camp. “Boris was there for more than a week. He is a very, very good coach. The players enjoy such a camp. First of all, it was with a top coach. And then more importantly, they are all there with each other and are thinking about chess the whole day. That makes a big difference. They would discuss in the evenings what they learned during the day and bond together as a team. The AICF should be complimented for having these camps. All the players are raving about it,” said Anand on Friday.

The A team in the men’s section features Vidit Gujrathi, P Harikrishna, Krishnan Sasikaran, Arjun Erigaisi and SL Narayanan while the B team has R Praggnanandhaa, D Gukesh, Nihal Sarin, Raunak Sadhwani and B Adhiban. In the women’s section, Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli, Tania Sachdev, R Vaishali and Bhakti Kulkarni feature in the A team. The B team consists of Soumya Swaminathan, Mary Ann Gomes, Padmini Rout, Vantika Agarwal and Divya Deshmukh.

“We have good teams. In the men’s section, we have five players above 20 and five below 20. So there is a nice symmetry. In the women’s section, it is more spread out. There are a lot of strong candidates who have an opportunity at this big stage to show what they are capable of. The format is the Swiss format, which makes things unpredictable. I hope we win some medals,” Anand added.

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