Will anyone be able to stop team PSPB?

by Niklesh Jain - 06/02/2020

The National Team Championships 2020 will begin from the 7th of February 2020in Ahmedabad, Gujarat with some of the best chess players in Indian chess taking part. In the open section team PSPB is the big favourite with Adhiban, Karthikeyan, Abhijeet Gupta, Deep Sengupta and Lalith Babu. The Railways A & B teams, Air India and AAI will be the big competitors for PSPB. Things are much more exciting in the women's section as PSPB and Air India will indulge in a full blooded fight. PSPB team has in its ranks Soumya Swaminathan, Padmini Rout, Mary Ann Gomes, Rakshitta Ravi and Nisha Mohota. Air India has an equally strong team with Tania Sachdev, Bhakti Kulkarni, Vijayalakshmi, Meenakshi and Aarthie Ramaswamy. A curtain raiser.

The star studded PSPB team

The National team Championships will begin from the 7th to the 12th of February 2020 in the city of Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

The PSPB team like every year is extremely strong and the favourites to win the title

With a rating average of 2605, the PSPB team would give any top team even at the Olympiad a run for their money!

The biggest challenge for team PSPB will come from Railways Sports Promotion Board - A team

GM Deepan Chakkravarthy on the top board can beat any GM on a given day | Photo: Niklesh Jain

The Airport Authority of India is quite a strong team!

Abhimanyu Puranik is closing in on the 2600 mark and is just three Elo points away. He will be trying to cross that milestone in this event | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Team Air India is not a team to be taken lightly!

Railways B team with two GMs and three IMs will also be in the medal contention

Women's Event

The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) was the defending champion and will be looking to make a repeat performance this year! | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Along with four experienced players - Soumya, Padmini, Mary and Nisha, the team also has a young talent - Rakshitta Ravi

Soumya Swaminathan will hold fort on board one for team PSPB | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Team Air India with Tania, Viji, Bhakti, Meenakshi and Aarthie are very well poised to give PSPB a tough fight

Will Air India be able to beat PSPB to the gold medal | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Tamil Nadu team has an extremely strong team with all the young talents of the state

R. Vaishali will be looking to cross the 2400 mark here | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Team AAI has a rating average of 2249

The tournament schedule

Prize Money:

The prize money of the National Team Championships is pretty low. However, the main aim of the event is not just prize money. There is a lot of prestige at stake and the players employed with different organizations (PSPB, Railways, AAI and states) will be looking to make sure that they win a medal.

Open team

No.	Team	RtgAvg
1	Petroleum SPB	2605
2	Railways SPB A	2490
3	Airports Authority of India	2472
4	Air India SPB	2461
5	Railways SPB B	2442
6	Odisha A	2267
7	Delhi B	2183
8	Telangana	2102
9	Gujarat A	2100
10	LIC	2086
11	Tamil Nadu A	2074
12	Gujarat D	2023
13	Bihar B	1980
14	Bihar A	1873
15	Madhya Pradesh	1830
16	Defence Accounts SCB	1828
17	Maharashtra A	1817
18	All Rajputana C	1763
19	Odisha B	1762
20	Maharashtra B	1741
21	Delhi A	1739
22	Gujarat B	1704
23	All Rajputana A	1703
24	Services SCB	1698
25	Uttar Pradesh	1690
26	Bihar C	1677
27	Himachal Pradesh A	1663
28	Gujarat C	1609
29	Maharashtra C	1595
30	Haryana A	1536
31	AI Reserve Bank SCC	1527
32	Tamil Nadu B	1469
33	Andhra Pradesh A	1465
34	All Rajputana B	1380
35	Haryana B	1293
36	Himachal Pradesh B	1165
37	Andhra Pradesh B	1131
38	Jammu & Kashmir	1000

Women Starting list

No.	Team	RtgAvg
1	Petroleum SPB	2336
2	Air India SCB	2332
3	Tamil Nadu B	2259
4	Airports Authority of India	2249
5	Tamil Nadu A	1865
6	Telangana	1796
7	LIC	1752
8	Kerala	1669
9	Gujarat A	1636
10	Odisha	1514
11	Bihar A	1495
12	Delhi	1482
13	Gujarat D	1292
14	Gujarat C	1188
15	Gujarat B	1177
16	Himachal Pradesh A	1063
17	Himachal Pradesh B	1000

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