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World Teams 2019: Team Composition revealed

by Shahid Ahmed - 26/02/2019

FIDE published the Team compositions for 2019 World Team Championships which will be held in Astana, Kazakhstan from 4th - 15th March 2019. India got wild cards in both Open and Women section. The Indian contingent for the Open section is comprised of GM Adhiban Baskaran, GM Krishnan Sasikiran, GM Sethuraman S P, GM Aravindh Chithambaram and GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly. In the women's section, the Indian team consists of WGM Soumya Swaminathan, IM Tania Sachdev, IM Eesha Karavade, WGM Bhakti Kulkarni and IM Padmini Rout. GM Srinath Narayanan and GM Swapnil Dhopade are the non-playing captains for the Open and Women's team. In this article we also reveal the winner of the Fritz 16 signed copy contest which we had launched during the Batumi Olympiad. Photo: ChessBase India archives 

Team India gets double Wild Card in World Teams 2019

The Official Logo of World Team Championship | Photo: FIDE

On 1st February 2019, FIDE announced that Team India got double wild cards at the World Teams | Photo: FIDE

Indian Men's team:

The team comprises of five ardent fighters | Photo: ChessBase India archives

Baskaran Adhiban

We all know the tenacity of Adhiban. He might not have had an ideal start to the year at the Gibraltar Masters, but that can only mean one thing that 'The Beast' is hungry, very hungry!

We are quite familiar with 'The Beast mode' of GM Adhiban | Photo: Niklesh Jain
Adhiban did a Masterclass with IM Tania Sachdev at Gibraltar Masters 2019 | Video: Gibchess

Krishnan Sasikiran

If Aeroflot Open 2019 is a sign of things to come, then it is safe to assume that we can expect to see some fantastic chess by the calm and collected Sasikiran.

He is often described as 'The Wall' of the team for his solid play and never-give-up attitude | Photo: Niklesh Jain
Playing for the country means a lot to him. This tweet days before Aeroflot Open 2019 just gives us a glimpse of that.
Sasikiran at the conclusion of Sunway Sitges 2018 | Video: Rupali Mullick

Sethuraman S P

The former Asian Champion, Sethuraman did not have a good start to the year as he had forgettable performances in both Binhai Cup and Gibraltar Masters. A big performance is on the card. Could it be at the World Teams?

On his best day, he can beat any opposition | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Aravindh Chithambaram

Aravindh got the monkey off his back when he became the National Open Senior champion in December 2018 after coming close to winning the title on more than one occasion.

Aravindh is always very cool before his game | Photo: Shahid Ahmed
Aravindh talks about winning National Open Senior and how it was a huge relief for him | Video: Shahid Ahmed

Surya Sekhar Ganguly

Surya finished 2018 on a high note by finishing 4th and qualifying to the World Cup 2019. Few days ago he was also part of the winning team PSPB that won 39th National Teams along with Aravindh and others.

He has momentum on his side | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran
Surya talks about his performance in Asian Continental and his qualification for World Cup 2019 | Video: Shahid Ahmed

Indian Women's Team:

The fantastic five - Indian Women's Team | Photo: ChessBase India archives

Soumya Swaminathan

After completing her IM title requirements in October last year, Soumya found her way back and helped her team PSPB win 17th National Women's Team.

Determined and poised Soumya | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran
First interview with Soumya Swaminathan after she fulfilled all requirements for the IM title | Video: Shahid Ahmed

Tania Sachdev

Tania might not have played any competitive chess since October 2018 after having a forgettable outing at Isle of Man. However she delivered a credible performance in Batumi Olympiad 2018 and she is always involved in chess in some capacity or the other - either a commentator, interviewer, presenter or in a simultaneous exhibition match.

Tania has the ability to deliver for her team when required | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Tania at the conclusion of Batumi Olympiad 2018 | Video: Sagar Shah

Eesha Karavade

Eesha recently got married and will be looking to start this new phase of her life on a positive note. She was instrumental in her team PSPB's victory few days ago at the national team championships 2019.

IM Eesha Karavade is quite familiar with team championships format | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Bhakti Kulkarni

The former Asian Champion and the current National Women's Champion Bhakti Kulkarni has had a good start in 2019

Bhakti won the biggest prize money in National Women's ever when she won National Women's Championship in 2018 | Photo: ChessBase India archives
Bhakti has had the same coach for 18 years | Video: Ankit Dalal

Padmini Rout

Padmini ended 2018 on a high note when she became Asian Women's Continental champion. Few days ago she scored 100% in National Teams and helped her team secure the championship for the second year in-a-row.

Padmini is the only Indian woman to have won individual Gold medal in Tromso Olympiad 2014 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed
A quick interview with Padmini after one of her games in 17th National Teams 2019 | Video: Shahid Ahmed

Open Team compositions:

China is the defending champion in Open section | Photo: FIDE

Women Team compositions:

Russia is the reigning champion in the Women section | Photo: FIDE

Schedule:

The tournament schedule

System of Play:

1. The championship will be played in round robin system with 9 rounds. Each team will play against with all other teams. Colours and starting numbers will be drawn at the opening ceremony or a technical meeting.

2. The time control: 90 minutes for 40 moves, 30 minutes to the end, and 30 seconds increment per move starting from move 1.

3. For each round the list of the team composition for that round will be delivered to the arbiters at 9:00 a.m. in the morning. Otherwise, for that round the top 4 boards will be accepted as the playing team. For the last round the team composition will be delivered at 23:00 hrs the day before last round.

 

Let us know your predictions about who will win the tournament in each section and who will be the spearhead for their respective teams in the comments below.

 

We had held a contest for the World Team Championships for our readers to guess all the ten members (five men and five women) of the Indian team. However, no one was able to get it right and hence there are no winners here. So, we take this opportunity to announce the winner of an old contest that we had published about nearly five months ago. It was winning a Fritz 16 signed by all the woman players of the Indian Olympiad team. The best encouraging message would receive the autographed Fritz 16.

Fritz 16 Olympiad contest winner:

We ran this contest before Batumi Olympiad 2018 and received a lot of answers on Facebook and Instagram.

The winner is Kishore Punjabi who sent a highly creative message:

Kishore Punjabi will receive a Fritz 16 DVD signed by the Indian Women's Team. Kishore please write to us on chessbaseindia@gmail.com to claim your prize.

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