PANAJI
Goa's Woman Grandmaster Bhakti Kulkarni has been retained in the Indian chess team for the forthcoming Online Chess Olympiad, announced by the All India Chess Federation.
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand will lead the team in the second online Olympiad scheduled to be held from September 8-15. The Indian team had shared the title with Russia in the last edition and will look to emerge sole winner this time. The team comprises Anand, Bhakti, Vidit Gujrathi, P Harikrishna, Nihal Sarin, R Pragganandhaa, Koneru Humpy, D Harika, Tania Sachdev, R Vaishali and B Savitha Shri.
The players will be based in Chennai from where all the matches will be played. In the first leg, 10 teams will compete and two will qualify and thereafter a knockout format has been decided by FIDE, the apex chess body.
Bhakti earned a place in the team based on her good performance in the last year's Olympiad and her high rating. The Goan WGM was part of the gold-winning Olympiad team and the Asian Nations Cup-winning Indian women's team.
