Chess maestro Viswanathan Anand will lead India's charge in the upcoming online chess Olympiad which will be played from September 8-15.According to Chess.com, the 2021 FIDE Online Chess Olympiad is a worldwide online event where hundreds of participants from more than 100 different national teams will compete for the gold.
The Indian team includes comprises Anand, P Harikrishna, Nihal Sarin, R Pragganandhaa, Koneru Humpy, D Harika, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, Tania Sachdev, Bhakti Kulkarni, R Vaishali, Adhiban Baskaran and B Savitha Shri"UPDATE!The Beast, Adhiban Baskaran will also be part of #TeamIndia at the #ChessOlympiadOur apologies for missing @adhibanchess earlier. We missed it as his name wasn't mentioned in the original press release.
Good luck and Best wishes to India," Chess.com -India tweeted.The Indian team that jointly won the gold medal alongside main competitors Russia, will be looking at repeating the feat and this time, hopefully, as a single winner of the gold medal.
"Former national champion and British Chess Championship winner Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte has been appointed as non-playing vice-captain of the team," All India Chess Federation (AICF) said in a statement.
The first leg is scheduled to have ten teams from which two teams qualify and thereafter a knockout format has been decided by FIDE, the apex chess body. All the games will be available live for the chess buffs.
"To bring the team together in one place is a dream come true in present times. We do not give any pressure, our aim is to have a healthy atmosphere where the team get along well", said AICF President Sanjay Kapoor about providing the extra facility.
"This is only the beginning of many more good things to come for Indian chess. We are working in several departments to bring the benefits of the game and our aim is simple - to make India the number one chess playing nation in the world", said Bharat Singh Chauhan, the honorary secretary of the federation.
( With inputs from ANI )
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