New-look Indian team set for chess Olympiad

A new look Indian chess team is all set to make its foray into the world arena through the Chess Olympiad, starting in Istanbul on Saturday.

If there is one cherished dream of any chess player, it is to participate in the Olympiad, held every alternate year.

Spearheaded by three Grandmasters, Abhijit Kunte, Krishnan Sasikiran and Dibyendu Barua, one GM norm holder D V Prasad and two International Masters Surya Sekhar Ganguly and country's latest sensation Pendalya Harikrishna this could easily be called the best ever men's team out of India.

The icing on the cake is the average age, which is less than 25 years.

In the women's section too the youngsters have taken over and the average age there is about 20.

Woman Grandmaster S Vijayalakshmi will lead the them from the front. Giving her assistance to prove that women's chess in India has progressed by leaps and bounds will be her sister Meenakshi, Saheli Barua and Pallavi Shah.

After a strenuous and demanding selection process that went on for about eight months, the team was selected on merit and to put it in the words of GM Kunte, "We will certainly better our best performance in the Olympiad this year."

The Indian contingent is a bunch of hopefuls, hardworking and dedicated players. And given the fact that most of them might have a very long way to go in the sport once described as 'mental boxing' by Garry Kasparov, they are not likely to leave any stone unturned to see the fruition of their dream.