The Indians, irrespective of their seeding and ratings, will aim for a medal, a few members of the Indian teams for the 44th Chess Olympiad to be held at Mamallapuram from July 28 to August 10 told The Hindu here on Monday.
Speaking on the sidelines of a felicitation function, organised by Velammal Vidyalaya for the alumni and current players of Velammal Group of Schools who are part of the Chennai Olympiad, D. Gukesh, a key member of the Indian-B team, seeded 11th, said: “We will go for a medal. If we play well we might create a few upsets,” he said.
On the occasion, Velammal Vidyalaya gave away a cash prize of ₹30 lakh for the Indian squads and coaches who are part of the Olympiad.
B. Adhiban said it’s nice to be the most experienced player (four Olympiads) in a young team (Indian ‘B’). “We know we have to play our best to win a medal, which we can. I am happy to play with younger players. Actually, in the 2014 Olympiad when India won bronze, our coach was R.B. Ramesh. This time too he is the coach,” he said.
S.P. Sethuraman, a member of the Indian-C team, said there was an “inside chance” of winning a medal. Our team has a rating of 2600+. We are in good shape and ours is a balanced squad,” he said.
India’s 16-year-old GM R. Praggnanandhaa said all the “three teams have a chance to win a medal. We can perform well provided we do our best on the given day.”
N. Srinath, coach of the Indian ‘A’ team which is seeded two, said he was optimistic. “All the top 20 teams are decent. After 2-3 rounds, it will become difficult as each round will be challenging,” he said.
R. Vaishali, member of the Indian women’s team, seeded one, said Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan will be the major competitors.
Praising Velammal Group of Institutions for their support to chess, Ramesh said: “Even [some] countries couldn’t have produced Grandmasters and talented players [as Velammal] has done.”
Ma. Subramanian, State Minister of Health & Family Welfare, also spoke.
