Chess Olympiad: Viswanathan Anand to mentor squad as India name two teams in open and women's section

Chess Olympiad with five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand being named as the hosts' mentor for the prestigious tournament scheduled to be played from July 28 to August 10. India being the host are entitled to field two teams each -- in Open category as well as women's section for the first-time ever.

It has bolstered the home team's medal chances at the 14-day event, which is expected to witness participation of world's top names from more than 150 countries. Vidit Gujrathi, who led India to gold medal in the 2020 Chess Olympiad, held virtually, will be part of India's first team in open section alongside Pentala Harikrishna and Chennai-based Krishnan Sasikiran, who have represented India on numerous occasions. The 19-year-old Arjun Erigaisi and SL Narayanan will also be part of the first team. Arjun has been impressive in the past year and will be one of the players to watch out for as he makes his debut at the event along with SL Narayanan, whose solid style has been very impressive. The second team, on the other hand, will comprise of young talents, who have been making headlines with their consistent performances in the last couple of years, including Praggnanandhaa R, Nihal Sarin, Gukesh D and Raunak Sadhwani. They will be making their debuts at the Chess Olympiad. The team will also have experienced player Adhiban B, who was a part of the Indian side which won the bronze medal in 2014. In the women's section, the first team will have the immensely talented Koneru Humpy and World No 10 Harika Dronavalli, who have stamped their authority on many international tournaments, and the prolific Tania Sachdev with R Vaishali and Bhakti Kulkarni. The second team will consist of national champions Soumya Swaminathan,