India, with six teams, will be one of the favourites in the 44th OlympiadIt was in 2013 that home boy Viswanathan Anand lost the World Championship title at India's chess capital, Chennai. Nine years have gone by and top-flight chess is back in Tamil Nadu with the 44th Olympiad starting at Mamallapuram, a sea town 60 km from Chennai, on Friday. Chennai is all geared up, the iconic Napier Bridge has been painted in black and white and the event's mascot Thambi --- the knight clad in a traditional south Indian attire of white shirt and veshti --- is on every other billboard. The players are trooping in - there are about 2000 from about 187 countries - and the excitement around the event is palpable. There's a sense of missing out though with Russia not being there -- being barred from world events due to the Ukraine war -- and China preferring to stay away. But there will be no shortage of star value as the likes of World no. 1 Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian and Anish Giri will be in action. And then, there will be six Indian teams (three in open and three in women's categories) - trying to better their bronze won in 2014 over-the-board Olympiad.
