CHENNAI: China won’t participate for the 44th time Chess Olympiad will be held at Mamallapuram recently from July 28th.
Answering a question on the sidelines of the Candidate tournament, world No. 2 Ding Liren of China, who is currently competing in Madrid, said neither he nor the team will attend the Olympiad.
“No, I don’t think the Chinese team will play,” Liren said.
However, the Chinese did not give any reason to withdraw, according to AICF secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan, Olympiad Tournament Director. “Yes… China’s (Open) men’s and women’s teams will not compete in the Chennai Olympiad. The reason is unclear,” he told PTI.
China could have been among the top medal contenders at the Olympics and their absence will shine a light on India’s chances.
China’s Open Team won the gold medal at Chess The Olympic Games were held in Batumi (Georgia) in 2018 and in Tromso (Norway) in 2014. The Chinese women’s team respectively won gold at the previous two Olympics in Baku and Batumi.
According to top chess coach and Grandmaster RB Ramesh, the absence of China and Russia will open the door for India.
Ramesh, India’s ‘B’ team coach in the Open, told PTI: “Yes, without China and Russia, that increases our medal chances.”
Russia and Belarus were banned from tournaments by FIDE (the world chess federation) after Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine in February.
Hosts India are picking two teams each in the Open and Women’s and potentially adding one more team in case the number of entries is odd.
The top players of the host country including Vidit Gujrathi, P Harikrishna, K Sasikiran, R Praggnanandhaa (men) and Koneru Humpy, D Harika, R Vaishali, Vantika Agarwal (women) were part of two different teams for the tournaments. Open and Women’s events and will be expected to challenge for the top title.
Five-time champion Viswanathan Anand has opted out and will advise the players.
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