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. [caption id="attachment_5149909" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Picture courtesy: FIDE/Lennart Ootes[/caption] 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? [caption id="attachment_5149912" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Picture courtesy: Maria Emilianova/Chess.com[/caption] 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: [caption id="attachment_5149914" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Picture courtesy: FIDE/Lennart Ootes[/caption] 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