CHENNAI: Grandmaster Srinath Narayanan, who was the coach of the India team that won gold at the 2024 Chess Olympiad, felt both R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi would have a great chance to lift the title. World champion D Gukesh leads the field as the top seed in the upcoming FIDE World Cup to be held in Goa from October 30 to November 27. Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa are seeded second and third, respectively. The tournament features 206 players and offers three direct qualification spots for the 2026 Candidates.
Denmark's Anish Giri is the fourth seed in the tournament. Wesley So, Vincent Keymer, Wei Yi , Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Shakhriyar Mamrdyarov, Hans Niemann are the other top players in the fray.
''Pragg and Arjun have a great chance. They did extremely well in the previous edition as well. However, the tournament has at least 16 fantastic players equally capable of getting into the top four. By probability I will rate their chances at around 25%,'' said Srinath, who has mentored the likes of Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin. Srinath felt that Gukesh too would be among the favourites even though he had had a tough Grand Swiss tournament.
''Gukesh almost went all the way in the last edition as well, being extremely impressive until he lost to Magnus in the quarterfinals. Class is permanent and there is no reason for Gukesh to not be amongst the favourites in this edition as well," he said.
Nihal Sarin joined the 2700-club recently. He is keen to do well in the World Cup and qualify for the Candidates. ''Nihal has been quite promising. His potential is never in question. It remains to be seen if he is able to maintain his recent impressive run. In terms of potential he is as good as anyone, particularly in this format. For all of the players, it is important to do well in the first three rounds which will be the trickiest. Once they are warmed up and into the tournament, they will keep getting stronger,'' said Srinath.
Divya Deshmukh too has had a great year so far. But the question in everyone's mind is whether she will win her first round match against Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis at the World Cup. ''Divya certainly can. She has held her own against opposition of similar level in the Grand Swiss. She has also defeated Kourkoulos earlier this year,'' he insisted.
All eyes are on 12-year-old Faustino Oro competing in the World Cup. ''Oro is a very exciting talent and is a potential future elite player. He is capable of creating a lot of spark in the World Cup, but I expect it to be in short bursts. I would be surprised if he is able to go beyond round 2. The world cup is a grueling format with a lot of very strong players. Being able to bounce back from setbacks becomes very important, and some of the abilities require a lot of experience to go along with raw talent,'' said Srinath.
Srinath felt that hosting the World Cup in Goa will inspire the next generation of players in the country.
''Recently the Fide president mentioned how India is the birthplace of Chess and how it makes sense to have at least one major event in India. This bodes well for India's future. Aside from having the best players in the world, having constant top level tournaments also plays a role in inspiring the next generation, keeping the chess culture strong, and in feeding the interest for all the different stakeholders in chess,'' signed off Srinath.
