Chess World Cup: A tough ask for Indians

For over three decades, before every world-class chess event, Indian fans looked to Viswanathan Anand to live up to his name for their daily dose of joy. More often than not, this affable torchbearer of the sport in the country delighted his admirers. After all, five world classical titles and two World Cups, among others, were testimony to his superlative quality.

Though Anand continues to be among the world’s top-10 ranked players, he is no longer as active. But there is no dearth of delightful news from those pursuing the path shown by Anand.

In the last 15 months, the teen brigade from the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA) has made their idol-turned-mentor proud with some stunning results at various levels. D. Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, R. Praggnanandhaa, and Nihal Sarin continue to chase excellence with varying degrees of success.

Koneru Humpy
| Photo Credit:
VELANKANNI RAJ

After showcasing the rising might of Indian chess to the world in the 2022 Chess Olympiad, these stars promise more exploits when the World Cup opens on July 30 in Baku, Azerbaijan. But looking at the draw, the Indians will have to punch way above their weight to go deep into the competition.

The World Cup, the only knockout event on the official calendar, takes place every two years.

The women’s section, introduced in 2021, returns for a second edition at the same venue. The starting list for the Open section has 206 players, while the women’s field has 103.

The favourite, without doubt, will be World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, the most dominant player in the past decade. Like the 10 Indians, Carlsen, too, will be looking for his maiden triumph in the competition, which offers USD1,834,000, including USD110,000 to the winner. Since the top-three players qualify for the Candidates Tournament—an event aimed at finding the challenger to the world champion — the two losing semifinalists clash for the third spot.

For the women, who play a round less, the prize fund is USD676,250, with the winner getting USD50,000. Here, too, the top three finishers qualify for next year’s Women’s Candidates Tournament.

Three days are reserved for each round, with the players testing each other with different colours on the first two days. In the event of a 1-1 deadlock, the action moves to the third day, reserved for tie-break rapid and blitz games.

Magnus Carlsen
| Photo Credit:
REUTERS

From the World Top 10, World Champion Ding Liren (ranked 4th), Alireza Firouzja (6th), Anand (9th), and Richard Rapport (10th) are missing. Among the women, World No. 1 Hou Yifan, her Chinese compatriot, and the current World title challenger, Lie Tingjie, are absent, but World champion and World No. 2 Ju Wenjun heads a very formidable field.

Coming to the prospects of a large Indian contingent — 17 players in all — it is heartening to see that five men and three women are strong enough to enjoy first-round byes. Gukesh, Vidit Gujrathi, Arjun, Praggnanandhaa, and Nihal are among the top-50 players who join the action in the second round. Third-seed K. Humpy, D. Harika, and R. Vaishali will do the same in the women’s section.

In 2021, Vidit emerged as the best Indian on view before falling to eventual champion Jan-Krzystof Duda in the quarterfinals. P. Harikrishna and Praggnanandhaa reached the fourth round after B. Adhiban and Nihal exited in the third. Gukesh, then ranked 112 in the starting line-up, P. Iniyan, and Aravindh Chithambaram lost in the second round.

Most of these players are back with enhanced ratings. Though Harikrishna, Aravindh, and Iniyan are not around, S. L. Narayanan, Abhimanyu Puranik, Karthik Venkataraman, and Harsha Bharathakoti will be keen to make a mark. Realistically, it could be an early end for many Indians.

Harsha plays seasoned Georgian Levan Pantasulaia in the opener, with Carlsen waiting for their winner to start his campaign. Similarly, should Karthik beat the USA’s Gregory Kaidanov, his second-round rival will be second-seed Hikaru Nakamura.

Adhiban, expected to beat Andorra’s Lance Henderson de la Fuente, next plays the formidable Daniil Dubov. Another Russian, Peter Svidler, awaits the winner of the Puranik-Luis Fernando Ibarra Chami clash.

Gukesh, seeded eight, is expected to face Narayanan in the third round, and the one who survives could play the winner of the Francisco Vallejo Pons-Andrey Esipenko clash on his way to the pre-quarterfinals.

Vidit will have to deal with Chinese Yu Yangyi for a place in the last 16, while Sarin faces a potential challenge from higher-rated Bogdan-Daniel Deac and two-time World Championship finalist Ian Nepomniachtchi before the pre-quarters.

Arjun, armed with a wild card, has Vladimir Fedoseev and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in his quarter of the draw.

Praggnanandhaa has David Navara and Nakamura as potential rivals for a place in the last 16.

Among the women, Humpy could play teammate N. Priyanka in the second round, provided the latter overcomes Italy’s Marina Brunello. Harika has Georgians Lela Javkhishvili and Nana Dragnidze as potential rivals before the pre-quarterfinals.

Gukesh D
| Photo Credit:
JOTHI RAMALINGAM B

Vaishali finds herself with three tough Ukrainians — World champions Mariya Muzychuk and Anna Ushenina, besides Mariya’s sister Anna—in the race to the quarters.

The 2022 Asian champion, P. V. Nandhidhaa, is expected to beat Yun Tianqi and set up a second-round clash with defending champion, fifth-seed Alexandra Kosteniuk.

Similarly, fourth-seed Kateryna Lagno awaits Mary Ann Gomes, should the Indian tame Cuba’s Yaniela Forgas Moreno.

Divya Deshmukh could play second-seed Aleksandra Goryachkina in the third round, provided she overcomes the experienced Hoang Thanh Trang.

Overall, in spite of the growing strength of the young Indians, much will depend on how they cope with the pressure.

On the brighter side, unlike their predecessors, this teen brigade appears better equipped to switch effortlessly from one time format to another. It is time to prove it on the big stage.

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