Anand, Humpy Highest Rated Stars In Turin

By Arvind Aaron

Based on Elo average of the top four players in a men team of six, India is seeded second behind former champions Russia in the 37th Chess Olympiad that was inaugurated at Turin on Saturday night. Similarly, based on the Elo average of the top three players, India is seeded ninth in Women behind Russia. Both Viswanathan Anand and Koneru Humpy are the highest rated men and women in the entire Chess Olympiad.

Indian men have one change from the 2004 team. Diwakar Prasad Singh of Jamshedpur has replaced Abhijit Kunte. Pushing India up from fifth seed in 2004 to the second seed is the big increase in the rating of Anand, Sasikiran and Harikrishna. The trio are now at their all-time best in Elo terms. Another factor which relegated the defending champions Ukraine is the absence of the 2002 World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov who is not competing.

Indian women have two changes. While Humpy and Harika are back in the side to play their second Olympiad in a row, Swati Ghate is returning to play her third Olympiad. WGM norm holder Mary Ann Gomes replaces her Kolkata friend Nisha Mohota and is a debutant.

World No.11 Vijayalakshmi failed to qualify for the Indian team. On account of this, India slipped from sixth seed in 2004 to the ninth seed this year in women. There will be plenty of expectation from Swati Ghate, who is of the same age as Vijayalakshmi. They made their debut for India together in the 1998 Elista Olympiad. Swati is playing Olympiads every four years: 1998, 2002 and now 2006.

Besides the players, India will have R.M.Dongre of Mumbai and Bharat Singh Chauhan of Delhi as managers. The Georgian coaches, GMs Elizbar Ubilaba and Giorgi Georgadze will handle the team, fielding, training the players and so on. If Ubilava is able to give Anand enough rest at the start, the points will come. He is arriving directly from Sofia where he is playing the MTel Masters. This is India's best chance for a medal in the men team.

India is playing in the men's Olympiads from Moscow 1956 and in the women's Olympiads since Buenos Aires 1978. While tracing the Olympiad history, India had won four individual medals so far: bronze medal by Mohd Rafique Khan at Malta 1980, gold medal by Dibyendu Barua in Novi Sad 1990. In the Istanbul Olympiad of 2000 and Bled 2002, Vijayalakshmi won silver medals on the top board.

This time the Olympiad will be played over 13 rounds in the four hour session of FIDE. There are well spaced two (May 26, June 1) free days and the show will conclude on June 4 with the final round at 10 a.m. and closing ceremony the same evening.

World Classical champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia will be playing the Chess Olympiad for the fourth time and strangely as it may sound, for the first time on the first board. He made his debut at Manila 1992 on the reserve board and played behind Kasparov in the second board in 1994 and 1996.

With 2700 players in their bench, Russia should be a huge favourite. The Russian team: Kramnik, Svidler, Grischuk, Morozevich, Bareev and Rublevsky. Kramnik, Bareev and Rublevsky are replacing Khalifman, Dreev and Zviaginsev from the Calvia 2004 team.

Packed with power and strength, Russia is a big favourite to win the Hamilton Russell trophy for men in the Chess Olympiad for the seventh time. Russia might also win the women's Olympiad where they start top seed. Four time champions of the Vera Menchik Cup for women, China are seeded sixth but worth more in team competitions. China has not fielded any of its famous world women's champions like Xie Jun, Zhu Chen and Xu Yuhua.

India started as fifth seed last time and finished sixth in men. We started as sixth seed in women and finished ninth. We played well, but the seedings are based on the top four in men and top three in women and does not reflect on the bench strength.

Our medal chances in Olympiads are getting better by the year. So, finally is this the year we were waiting for?

The teams by seedings:

Men:
1 2730 Russia (Kramnik, Svidler, Grischuk, Morozevich)
2 2688 India (Anand, Sasikiran, Harikrishna, Ganguly)
3 2682 Armenia (Aronian, Asrian, Akopian, Lputian)
4 2680 Ukraine (Ivanchuk, Eljanov, Volokitin, Karjakin)
5 2665 France (Bacrot, Lautier, A.Sokolov, Fressinet)
6 2663 Israel (Gelfand, Sutovsky, Smirin, Avrukh)
7 2656 USA (Kamsky, Nakamura, Onischuk, Ibragimov)
8 2646 Holland (I.Sokolov, Tiviakov, Van Wely, Nijboer)
9 2643 Azerbaijan (Radjabov, Gashimov, Guliyev, Guseinov)
0 2633 Bulgaria (Georgiev, Delchev, Cheparinov, Spasov)
142 teams

Women:
1 2499 Russia (Kosteniuk, T.Kosintseva, N.Kosintseva)
2 2441 Ukraine (Lahno, Ushenina, Yanovska-Gaponenko)
3 2430 Georgia (Dzagnidze, Khurtsidze, Javakhishvili)
4 2426 Hungary (Gara, Hoang Thanh, Madl)
5 2414 USA (Zatonskih, Krush, Goletiani)
6 2408 China (Zhao Xue, Wang Yu, Shen Yang)
7 2402 Armenia (Mkrtchian, Danielian, Aginian)
8 2399 Germany (Paehtz, Kachiani, Nill Jessica)
9 2389 India (Humpy, Harika, Ghate) 
0 2378 Bulgaria (Stefanova, Voiska, Djingarova)
103 teams