Chess Olympiad: With future world champs in its teams, where India stands

In 2014, when the Indian team won bronze at the Chess Olympiad (in Tromso, Norway), fans back home were ecstatic. They will be deeply disappointed if the Indian squads don’t haul in at least a couple of medals, and shinier ones at that, at Mamallapuram where the 44th Chess Olympiad is currently underway.

In the last eight years, Indian chess has climbed greater heights. The grandmaster population has more than doubled since 2014, rising to 75 titleholders (36 in 2014). There are seven Indians in both the top 100 Open and top 100 Women’s lists – four of them are teenagers. Six Indian teams are competing – three in each section.

India 1 is seeded second in the Open section and India 1 is top seeded in the women’s section. Obviously the absence of Russia and China has bumped up both the seedings. But India is also the current co-champion (sharing gold with Russia) in the Online Olympiad, and it would not surprise anybody if both India 2 outfits also gunned for medals. India 2 is seeded 11th in both sections.

The host can normally receive the privilege of fielding two teams in this mammoth event, which features 350 teams from 188 nations. But there was an odd number of teams in each section and so, there’s slots for India 3. Both India 3 outfits are seeded in the mid-teens, which indicates the depth of talent.

India 1 is rock solid in both categories. The women may be a bit of a question mark only because top player Koneru Humpy is short of match practice and Dronavalli Harika is in her third trimester of pregnancy. R Vaishali, who is R Praggnanandhaa’s elder sister, is a world-class prospect herself, and Tania Sachdev and Bhakti Kulkarni are veterans.

The Open team consists of Pentala Harikrishna, Vidit Gujrathi, Arjun Erigaisi, Sunilduth Narayanan and Krishnan Sasikiran. That’s four respected veterans and one red-hot teenager in Erigaisi (born 2003) who’s recently jumped into the top 100.

India 1 is outranked only by the US, which is represented by Fabiano Caruana (who’s also played for Italy though he was born in the USA), Levon Aronian (who has twice won gold leading Armenia), Wesley So (who played for the Philippines), Leinier Dominguez Perez (ditto for Cuba) and Sam Shankland (US-born). All big names but they’ve never played together as a team.

Speaking personally, India 2 is really the outfit I’d love to watch in the Open category. It features D Gukesh on top board. Gukesh (2006 born) is all of 16 and the youngest, newest member of the “Super-GM” club. His team-mates Nihal Sarin (2004), Praggnanandhaa (2005) and Raunak Sadhwani (2005) are a little older, and only the inclusion of a veteran in “The Beast” Adhiban Baskaran (1992) raises the average age to near 20.

These four teenagers have all been tipped as future world champions. They are all, according to Viswanathan Anand, who has worked with them, “ridiculously talented”.  They are also quite fearless as is Adhiban, whose nickname is a mark of deep respect in a sport known for merciless, high-class trolling. If the “bacchas” hit form, they could beat anybody. A matchup with India 1 at some stage is not unlikely, and you can expect the kids to go for the throat if it does occur.

Team dynamics can be hard to manage in what is essentially an individual sport. Captains like Srinath Narayanan (India 1), R B Ramesh (India 2) and Abhijit Kunte (Women 1) must ensure overall balance between risk and reward as the team situation demands. Ramesh, in particular, may have to rein in his boys who could go overboard in an instinctive quest for wins. This is a grey area for the US with its five superstars who may not be amenable to instructions.

The other key factor in teams is strength on lower boards. Third-seeded Norway, for example, has a problem in that its bench strength, bar World champion Magnus Carlsen, is not quite up to par and it could bleed on lower boards. This is where India holds an edge in that all the squads are quite balanced in strength.

It’s been a near-miracle putting together this event in just four months, after the Ukraine war triggered an enforced relocation out of Russia. The All India Chess Federation not only managed to talk the Tamil Nadu government (and the Centre) into hosting, it also got hold of sponsors and even found resources to subsidise travel for under-financed nations. That should serve in good stead at the Fide Board Elections, where Anand is standing for the first time. A few medals would push the envelope a little more when it comes to popularising the game in India.