Vladimir Kramnik to train the Indian team for the Olympiad 2020
Good news for Indian fans! Vishy Anand has confirmed his participation in the Indian team at the Olympiad 2020 that will be held in Moscow later this year. Humpy too has made herself available for the women's team. The other big development is former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik agreeing to train the Indian men's team at least for a couple of camps before the Olympiad. For now the Indian men's team consists of Anand, Vidit and Harikrishna with a battle for the remaining two spots between Adhiban, Sasikiran, Surya Ganguly, Sethuraman and Aravindh Chithambaram. While in the women's section Humpy and Harika will be present in the team. The forerunners for the remaining three spots are Tania Sachdev, Bhakti Kulkarni and R. Vaishali.
Five times world champion Viswanathan Anand will be back to head the Indian team in the 44th Chess Olympiad to be held in Moscow, Russia in August this year. World number two in Women and going great guns in her second innings, Grandmaster Koneru Humpy will lead the Indian women team for a maiden medal aspiration in the biennial event that is likely to see participation of around 180 countries.
Anand participated in the last Chess Olympiad at Batumi, Georgia and even though the Indian team remained in the medal hunt for a long time in the 11-round swiss event, we missed out on the medal finally. This time renewed energy will be put on the performance as the plans are to have now-retired former world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia as the trainer for the men team for at least two camps.
The trainer for the women team is still being debated but the AICF will ensure that they also get the best of facilities. Apart from Anand, Grandmasters P. Harikrishna and Vidit Gujrathi remain a certainty for the men team. It’s going to be a close race for the remaining two spots in the five-member team with B Adhiban having the best chance currently to hold the fourth spot. K Sasikiran, S P Sethuraman, Surya Sekhar Ganguly and Aravindh Chithambaram are the remaining four in contention for a spot in the team.
Amongst the Women, Humpy and Harika qualify themselves while for the remaining three slots, Tania Sachdev, Bhakti Kulkarni and R Vaishali have a strong case as on date. However, the finally decision will be based upon how the perform in the coming months. According to rules the final decision on the composition can be taken only on May 1, 2020.
Speaking about the new development, AICF secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan said that this will be our best chance. “I think this could be our chance to show the world that we are indeed the new power in Chess, we have a string of young grandmasters waiting to be world class players in the years to come and at the top we have some of the finest players today”, he said adding "and we have to thank Microsense India for agreeing to support the training program with Mr. Kramnik.
The article is generated from the Press Release by AICF.
