The Hindu : Sport / Chess : India opens campaign against Morocco

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 22, 2006

Sport

Sport - Chess

India opens campaign against Morocco

NEW DELHI: Indian men open their campaign against Morocco while women take on Brazil in the first round of the Chess Olympiad beginning in Turin, Italy.

Going by the strength of the Indians, seeded second, a big win can easily be anticipated. With the services of Viswanathan Anand available only after the third round when the Indian ace joins the team on his return from Sofia, the team management has gone a step ahead and rested K. Sasikiran for the opener. It is obvious that coach Elizbar Ubilava is confident of an easy Indian win even without the country's two best players.

Debut for Diwakar

P. Hari Krishna will play black on the top board against Grandmaster Hichem Hamdouchi, whose rating stands at 2559. Surya Shekhar Ganguly takes on Jacques Elibilia (2333), Sandipan Chanda, with black, faces Ismael Karim (2250) and Diwakar Prasad Singh makes his Olympiad debut with white pieces against Muhamed Arbouche (2248).

It will be interesting to see how Diwakar Prasad Singh copes with the pressure of playing for India. Known for his devil-may-care approach, Diwakar adopts unorthodox ways and mixes it well with his originality in the middle game. Though some of the Indians in the squad feel that Diwakar's endgame is a bit suspect, they all agree that his presence could be used to the team's advantage, especially when he plays black.

The confident Indians are determined not to repeat the mistakes they committed in the opener against Uruguay in the last Olympiad in 2004. India was expected to trounce Uruguay but eventually managed only a 2.5-1.5 victory with only Chanda winning his game. So this time, the Indians are keen to get off to a flier.

In the women's section, the ninth seeded India has fielded its best three players against lowly Brazil. Koneru Humpy (2548) plays Regina Lucia Santos Ribeiro, the difference in rating between the two being 437 points.

National champion Swati Ghate (2262) also plays white on the third board against Joara Chaves (2035). On the second board, D. Harika (2358) will sit behind black pieces against Paula Fernanda Delai (2042).

The pairings (first round):

Open: Russia v Kazakhstan; Morocco v India; Armenia v Venezuela; IBCA v Ukraine; France v Bolivia; IPCA v Israel; Italy `A' v Monaco; USA v New Zealand; Faroe Islands v The Netherlands; Azerbaijan v Mongolia; Kyrgystan v Bulgaria; Spain v Malayasia; Syria v China.

Women: Russia v Portugal; IBCA v Ukraine; Georgia v Iceland; Austria v Hungary; USA v Bangladesh; Malaysia v China; Italy `A' v South Africa; Armenia v Denmark; Philippines v Germany; India v Brazil.

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