Chennai: For the second time in succession, a five-member Indian chess team is likely to be seeded second in the Open section of the upcoming Budapest Olympiad to be held this September. It was in the 44th Chess Olympiad held in Chennai in 2022 that the Indian team was seeded second.
The top-seeded team is likely to be the USA as its top seven players are all above 2700 points with Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura with a rating point of 2802 as the highest-ranked member of the team. “If the best of the United States players are playing, say GMs Fabiano Caruana, Nakamura, Wesley So, Levon Aronian, Leinier Dominguez Perez they could be top seeds,” Indian GM Pravin Thipsay told IANS.
The seeding is based on the average ratings of the team members.
On the other hand, the average rating of the five Indian players comes to 2742.6 with four players being super Grandmasters (GM) with a rating over 2700 points while GM P. Harikrishna has a rating of 2695.
The International Chess Federation or FIDE is likely to rank India second after the USA based on the average ratings of its top 10 players. (IANS)
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