The Prime Minister of the country, Narendra Modi will inaugurate this Chess Olympiad. He wrote on Twitter, ‘I look forward to going to Chennai for the inauguration of the 44th Chess Olympiad tomorrow at 6 pm. This is a special tournament and it is an honor for us that it is being organized in India, that too in Tamil Nadu, which has a great association with chess.
India strong contender
The India A team has been seeded second after the star-studded US. He is among the contenders for the title along with Norway, USA and Azerbaijan led by Magnus Carlsen. India B team consists of young players whose coach is RB Ramesh. India has also been seeded 11th to the team and it is being considered as a hidden system. In the Chess Olympiad, this time a record 188 teams will participate in the open category and 162 teams in the women’s category. These include six teams from India. India being the hosts got an opportunity to field additional teams.
India won a bronze medal in the open category at the 2014 Olympiad in Troms, Norway, while it was joint winner with Russia in the 2020 Online Olympiad. India had secured the bronze medal in 2021. India will now have a golden opportunity to win the gold medal again.