BENGALURU: WORLD champion D Gukesh will be playing in one of the minor boards for India in the open section of the chess Olympiad, beginning at Samarkand on Wednesday.
The 20-year-old, battling indifferent form for the better part of the year, will be on board 4; a stark contrast for the fortunes of the double defending gold medal winner from board 1. "(Because of the) recent results," captain Srinath Narayanan told this daily from Samarkand. "It was unanimous."
There are two ways to look at this. The simplest way to look at this is that if Gukesh gets on a roll — from Board 4, very much a possibility because most players on the lowest board will generally be rated in the low to mid 2600s at best — it will serve the dual purpose of farming crucial gamepoints as well as boosting his confidence ahead of the World Championship tussle against Javokhir Sindarov.
Sindarov, meanwhile, will be on Board 2 for the hosts so there will be no match-up between the two at the Olympiad. R Praggnanandhaa, one of the most in-form players in the circuit, will lead the Open charge, with Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin on the next two boards. Vidit Gujrathi will come in as the reserve.
In the women's section, the veteran, 39-year-old Koneru Humpy, will be on Board 1 while R Vaishali and Divya Deshmukh be on the next two boards. Vantika Agrawal, defending her gold from board 4, retains her place while B Savitha Shri, a new face, will be the reserve.