India’s men and women chess teams have chances of winning medals in the World Team Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, if they play to potential, the coach R B Ramesh said today.
The men are seeded sixth while the women are seeded fourth in the 10-team tournament which starts on Saturday.
Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi will spearhead the Indian challenge in the men’s event, along with K Sasikiran who recently won the Capablanca Memorial tournament in Cuba. The other members of the team are B Adhiban, Parimarjan Negi and Karthikeyan Murali.
“The players are raring to go. I expect both the teams to give their best. India has good chances of winning medals in both sections, if we play to potential,” Ramesh, who is also captain of the men’s squad, said.
The tournament will also see the return of Parimarjan Negi, who had taken a break from competitive chess to complete higher studies in the US.
The women’s squad comprises S Vijayalakshmi (captain), D Harika, Tania Sachdev, Padmini Rout and Eesha Karvade.
The men’s team had won a bronze in 2009, but the Indian women are yet to bag a medal in the tournament.
Apart from India, other participating teams are China, USA, Ukraine, Russia, Egypt, Norway, Turkey, Belarus and Poland in men’s event.
Georgia, China, Poland, Ukraine, Egypt, Russia, USA, Vietnam, Azerbaijan and India are the competing teams in women’s event.
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