India to play in the World Team Championship 2022!
The 12 teams for the FIDE World Team Championship in Jerusalem (November 19-26) have been confirmed. Team India is also taking part in the event! The Indian squad consists of 6 players, and a total of 4 players will represent Team India on the board. The format of the tournament will be a mix of round-robin and knockout. The event will be held in the Dan Jerusalem Hotel in Jerusalem, Israel. In this article, we talk about the composition of the Indian team, the format, time control, and the competition which Team India is up against.
India plays for the 6th time in the FIDE World Team Championship
The World Team Championship organized by FIDE and the Israel Chess Federation with the support of the Israel Ministry of Sport and Culture, will be held at the Mount Scopus Hall in the Dan Hotel in Jerusalem.
The Indian Team (Open) has played the FIDE World Team Championship 5 times before - in 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017 and 2019. Interestingly enough, the only time Team India (Open) has won a medal is the first time they played the event, in 2009.
2019 was also a big year for the Indian Team - even though India finished 4th, both GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly and GM Adhiban Baskaran won Individual Gold medals on board 1 and 3 respectively!
The most impressive performance in the World Team Championships for Team India came in India, when the Women's Team bagged a historic Silver medal in the Women's World Team Championship 2021.
The Indian Squad at the 2022 World Team Championship
Following is the Squad of Team India in the 2022 World Team Championships which will be held in Jerusalem, Israel. All the ratings Indicated are live ratings of the players at the moment.
Team Captain: GM Vaibhav Suri
GM Vaibhav Suri is a very experienced Grandmaster and coach, and he will be the Team Captain of the Indian Squad. Notably, Vaibhav was also the second for Team India A in the Chennai Chess Olympiad 2022, where the team finished 4th. Right now, GM Vaibhav Suri is in action at the Bangkok Open 2022. He has good chances of finishing in top 3 at a very strong event!
GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (2723)
GM Vidit Gujrathi is on a terrific form in the last few months. After bagging the 3rd position in the very strong Shusha Chess Rapid and Blitz, Vidit scored an amazing 6/7 for his Team Novy Bor Chess Club, winning the Gold medal in the European Club Cup and the Individual Silver medal on board 2. Vidit will be the highest rated player of Team India in this event, playing on Board 1.
GM SL Narayanan (2673)
Grandmaster SL Narayanan is a very apt person for the nickname "Silent Killer". Without making any noise, he is consistently winning very strong tournaments! In the last 2 months, he has won the Sants Open in Barcelona, the 3rd MPL Indian Chess Tour, and the Fagernes Open 2022! A very calm and humble person, Narayanan is on his career-best rating right now of 2673. At the moment, Narayanan is off to a very strong start in the Asian Continental Championships in New Delhi, scoring 3/4 so far. The World Team Championships could very well be the place where he crosses the 2700 mark!
GM Nihal Sarin (2670)
One of the brightest youngsters of Indian Chess, GM Nihal Sarin has recently shaken up the world after eliminating the World no. 2 GM Ding Liren in the Chesscom Global Chess Championships. He will participate in the CGC Quarterfinals from 2nd November in Toronto, Canada! Nihal also showcased an amazing performance for Team India in the Chennai Chess Olympiad 2022, winning the Individual Gold medal in Board 3.
GM Krishnan Sasikiran (2629)
One of the most experienced Grandmasters in Indian chess, GM Krishnan Sasikiran will represent Team India in the World Team Chess Championship. An interesting fact is: GM Sasikiran was playing in the top board for Team India in their first-ever World Teams, back in 2009! Sasikiran recently had a great performance at the Open international de Liffré 2022, where he finished 1st scoring 7.5/9.
GM SP Sethuraman (2648)
Another experienced member of the Team is Grandmaster SP Sethuraman, a person who has been consistently performing well in big tournaments of 2022. Sethuraman played some excellent chess in the Fagernes Open '22, finishing 4th in a very strong field. Right now, he is playing in the Asian Continental Championships held in New Delhi, and he has scored 3 points out of 4 games so far.
GM Abhijeet Gupta (2607)
GM Abhijeet Gupta is another experienced player who has represented Team India in numerous big events, the most recent one being the Chennai Chess Olympiad 2022. Abhijeet has had 2 big performances after the Olympiad - finishing 4th in the very strong Dubai Open 2022, and winning the 1st Bikaner International GM Open.
The Competition
A total of 12 teams (including India) will take part in this event. In the line-ups of the participating teams, we find stars like Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Anish Giri, Teymur Radjabov, and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, along with up-and-coming prodigies like Javokhir Sindarov, and illustrious veterans like Vasyl Ivanchuk and Alexei Shirov. Following are the rest of the 11 teams:
Israel, Poland, Ukraine, China, Netherlands, France, South Africa, Uzbekistan, USA, Spain, Azerbaijan.
Schedule, Time control
Out of the 12 teams, 2 pools will be created of 6 Teams each. The first 5 rounds of the event/ group stage of the event will be held in a Round-robin format. After that, a total of 8 teams (4 from each pool) will be selected for the Knockouts. The time control of the event is 45 minutes + 10 second increment for the whole game.
FIDE Delegates
Well-known International Arbiter Gopakumar Sudhakaran will be the Fair Play Officer at the World Team Championship 2022. After his gig at the World Championship match 2022, the 5-time World champion and FIDE Deputy President Viswanathan Anand returns to the commentary panel of this event, along with 7-time French Women's Chess Champion IM Almira Skripchenko. The Chief Arbiter of the event will be Alex Holowczak.
