Azerbaijan field their elite player Mamedyarov on the 4th board
India's Gen-Next of chess is here. Not just in terms of breaking into the world's top-10 but also thinking differently from the previous generations. The Indians, captained by N Srinath, have put their strongest rated and in-form player, Arjun Erigaisi (Elo 2778), on the third board at the Chess Olympiad that started in Budapest in Hungary on Wednesday.
It means World Championship challenger D Gukesh (2764) gets to play on the top board and R Praggnanandhaa (2750) on the second board. Vidit Gujrathi (2720) on the fourth board and P Harikrishna (2686) as a reserve player completes the lineup. GM Swapnil Dhopade, who captained Women's India 'B' team in the last Olympiad besides being a manager of a team at Global Chess League last year, agreed that playing world No. 4 Arjun on the third board clearly indicates that India are gunning for gold.
"It helps that they have got three equally strong players (teenagers Gukesh, Pragg and 21-year-old Arjun) and any one of them can play competently on the top board. Arjun's strike rate (on third board) could boost India's campaign considerably."
Dhopade praised the mindset of the youngsters which has made this board manoeuvering possible. "It shows that they have put team interest first. They are flexible and have an open mindset."
Former seven-time national champion Praveen Thipsay said the team probably didn't want to expose Gukesh to weaker opposition (on lower board) before his World Championship match against Ding Liren and hence rightfully gets the top board. "Arjun scoring heavily on the third board - even 100% - is a strong possibility," he said.
Thipsay backed the decision by adding that the last Olympiad has shown that the players who don't play enough Open Swiss League tournaments are not too comfortable in the team event. "In the closed events (round robin), the opponents are pre-decided and preparation is heavy. But Arjun has played quite a few Open events recently. And that could have been considered before arriving at this decision," said Thipsay.
"Plus, Gukesh and Pragg are more than adept at handling the top two boards considering their recent activity. I also believe that when you play largely closed tournaments, or among elite players only, your creativity gets hampered. Getting accustomed to varied standards of rivals over the 8-10 rounds can be tricky. 'Not losing' invariably becomes a priority for elite players. And that attitude in the Swiss League is not good."
India are not the only team which has gone for the jugular by putting their top-player on the third board. No. 12 seeds Azerbaijan have gone a step ahead and one board down. Yes, their top-rated player Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Elo 2733) is playing on the fourth board. Their players on the top-three boards are rated in the region of Elo 2625 to Elo 2640 with the 19-year-old Aydin Suleymanli at the top. They were seeded sixth last time and finished seventh. Clearly, they don't want anything less than a medal. Expect Mamedyarov to come up with crazy lines and unprincipled play.
Azerbaijan's draw with Turkey and lost to Cuba in the first half last time around had hurt them badly. Thipsay reckons that even the Indian team is slightly worried about match draws along the way and want to guard against that and tiebreak at the end. "Arjun on the third board and going for more game-points (than just a small win with 2.5-1.5 scoreline) could help them in that regard."
There is no surprise in the Indian women's team board order for the top-three places as GMs D Harika (Elo 2502), R Vaishali (2498) and IM Divya Deshmukh (2483) have been picked. Since Tania Sachdev (2386) is not playing much these days and is on the reserve board behind Vantika Agrawal (2370). Vantika is slightly behind in rating but is a younger and more active player. Top seeds USA (Fabiano Caruana), No. 3 seeds China (Ding Liren) and No. 6 Norway (Magnus Carlsen) have gone along the expected lines in selecting their top-board players.
