The Indian Chess Federation (AICF) introduced the authentic staff roster throughout its General Body assembly held in Kanpur on Sunday. Chaired by means of AICF president Sanjay Kapoor, the assembly witnessed the disclosing of a powerhouse staff comprising each skilled veterans and promising younger skills.
In the person classes, the lads’s staff will probably be represented by means of Grandmasters D Gukesh, Vidit Gujrathi, Arjun Erigaisi, P Harikrishna, and R Praggnanandhaa. Meanwhile, Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika will lead the price for India within the ladies’s segment.
Joining Humpy and Harika within the ladies’s staff tournament will probably be R Vaishali, Vantika Aggarwal, and Savitha Shri, jointly forming a powerful and flexible squad. The variety procedure for the staff used to be rigorous, bearing in mind the avid gamers’ fresh performances and their participation within the difficult Global Chess League (GCL).
Notably, the Indian chess avid gamers showcased their abilities and resilience within the GCL, the place they confronted off in opposition to probably the most international’s top-notch chess avid gamers, together with Magnus Carlsen, the five-time international champion from Norway.
Koneru Humpy, on the age of 36, would be the senior-most Indian chess participant on the quadrennial Asian Games. She has expressed her resolution to compete in Hangzhou, in spite of considering skipping the development previous this yr because of considerations associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Humpy has an excellent monitor file, having clinched the ladies’s particular person and combined staff gold medals on the 2006 Asian Games in Doha.
Dronavalli Harika, every other Asian Games medallist, will convey her precious enjoy to the staff. She secured a person bronze medal on the 2010 version of the Asian Games in Guangzhou. However, chess used to be now not integrated within the curriculum of the 2014 Incheon and 2018 Jakarta editions of the continental video games, making the go back of chess to the Asian Games after an opening of 13 years all of the extra vital.
As the Indian chess contingent prepares to embark on their Asian Games adventure, they target to proceed the country’s sturdy legacy within the recreation. With a mix of seasoned champions and rising skills, the Indian staff appears ahead to difficult their opposite numbers from around the continent and etching their names in chess historical past as soon as once more.
The staff:
Men: D Gukesh, Vidit Gujrathi, Arjun Erigaisi, P Harikrishna and R Praggnanandhaa.
Women: Koneru Humpy, D. Harika, R Vaishali, Vantika Aggarwal and Savitha Shri.
(With inputs from PTI)