All eyes will be on Team USA, the top seeds in the open section, as the 44th chess Olympiad kicks off in Chennai from July 28. The team comprising --- Levon Aronian, Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Leinier Dominguez and Sam Shankland --- have an average rating of 2771 which is a whopping 66 points higher than the second seeded Azerbaijan.
Wesley --- the World no. 6 --- doesn’t want to read too much on the favourites' tag. "First of all --- I think it is very nice to be considered one of the favourites. Secondly, I don't think it means much. Any player, in any sport, on any given day, can produce a good performance or a bad one. When you have hundreds and hundreds of players involved, anything can happen," Wesley told TOI ahead of the tournament.
