New Delhi: Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand will be a mentor to Indian players ahead of the Asian Games in China. Chess is making a comeback after 12 years in the Asian Games. The All India Chess Federation (AICF) expects Indian players to win a lot of medals in the Games to be held from September 10 to 25.
AICF said in a statement, “We are hopeful that we will definitely win four gold medals in these games. For this, the great players will see Grandmaster Anand in a different role, who will be the mentor of the team. The first session between him and the players will be on next Thursday. India won two bronze medals in chess at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.
AICF has selected 10 potential players for women’s and men’s teams on the basis of international ratings. The men include Vidit Gujrathi, P Harikrishna, Nihal Sarin, SL Narayanan, K Sasikiran, B Adhiban, Karthikeyan Murali, Arjun Arigesi, Abhijit Gupta, Suryashekhar Ganguly. Whereas Koneru Humpy, D Harika, Vaishali R, Tania Sachdev, Bhakti Kulkarni, Vantika Agarwal, Mary An Gomes, Soumya Swaminathan, Aisha Karawade are named in the list of problems in the women’s category.
The selection committee comprising Abhijit Kunte, Dibyendu Barua, and Dinesh Sharma will select five players in April. The chess event of the Asian Games will start on September 11 and will be played in two formats. Rapid Time Control Individual matches will be played from 11 to 14 September and Standard Time Control team matches will be played from 16 to 24 September.
