New Delhi: India is hosting the biggest Chess Olympiad in the history of the game. A total of 186 countries are participating in the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai. Pairings for Round 1 are announced and Indian teams are clearly the favourites.
India has fielded a total of six teams, three in the open and three in the women’s section. India A, captained by GM Srinath Narayanan and led by GM Harikrishna Pentala will face Zimbabwe in the first round, while in the open section India A, captained by GM Abhijit Kunte and led by GM Koneru Humpy, will face Tajikistan.
Round 1 Pairings for India
Open Section:
India A (2696) vs Zimbabwe (2208)
India B (2649) vs United Arab Emirates (2146)
India C (2619) vs South Sudan (2101)
Women’s Section
India A (2486) vs Tajikistan (1775).
India B (2351) vs Wales (1673).
India C (2318) vs Hong Kong (1623)
India A is seeded 2nd after the USA in the open section, while the women’s A team is the top-seeded team. On the other hand, in both the open and women’s sections, India B and India C are seeded 11th and 16th respectively. India won a bronze in the FIDE Online Olympiad 2021 and will look to win the gold medal in both sections.
When & where to watch?
The games will begin at 3:00 pm IST on July 29. The games will be live streamed on the YouTube channel of FIDE, with official commentary by GM Judit Polgar and GM Mihail Marin. Apart from that, Chess.com, Chessbase India and Chess24 will also stream the games on their respective YouTube channels.
Squads:
Open Section:
India A
| Title | Player | Rating |
| GM | Harikrishna Pentala | 2720 |
| GM | Vidit Gujrathi | 2714 |
| GM | Arjun Erigaisi | 2689 |
| GM | S.L. Narayanan | 2659 |
| GM | Krishnan Sasikiran | 2638 |
India B
| Title | Player | Rating |
| GM | D. Gukesh | 2684 |
| GM | Nihal Sarin | 2651 |
| GM | R Praggnanandhaa | 2648 |
| GM | B. Adhiban | 2598 |
| GM | Raunak Sadhwani | 2611 |
India C
| Title | Player | Rating |
| GM | Surya Shekhar Ganguly | 2608 |
| GM | S.P. Sethuraman | 2623 |
| GM | Abhijeet Gupta | 2627 |
| GM | Murali Karthikeyan | 2613 |
| GM | Abhimanyu Puranik | 2612 |
Women’s Section:
India A
| Title | Player | Rating |
| GM | Koneru Humpy | 2586 |
| GM | Harika Dronavalli | 2517 |
| IM | R Vaishali | 2442 |
| IM | Tania Sachdev | 2399 |
| IM | Bhakti Kulkarni | 2373 |
India B
| Title | Player | Rating |
| WGM | Vantika Agrawal | 2371 |
| IM | Padmini Rout | 2374 |
| IM | Soumya Swaminathan | 2335 |
| WGM | Marry Ann Gomes | 2324 |
| WGM | Divya Deshmukh | 2319 |
India C
| Title | Player | Rating |
| IM | Eesha Karavade | 2339 |
| WGM | P V Nandhidhaa | 2312 |
| WIM | M Varshini Sahithi | 2312 |
| WGM | Pratyusha Bodda | 2310 |
| WIM | Vishwa Vasnawala | 2305 |
