Humpy, Harika to spearhead India's challenge in Asian Games; chess league in country planned in December
Dronavalli Harika, for the Asian Games scheduled to commence in Hangzhou on September 23. Vidit Gujrathi and young Arjun Erigaisi in men's and Humpy and Harika in women's section will compete in the individual categories. The men's team comprises Grandmasters D Gukesh, Gujrathi, Erigaisi, P Harikrishna and R Praggnanandhaa.
In the women's section, Humpy, Harika, R Vaishali, Vantika Aggarwal and Savitha Shri will participate in the team event. All the players are coming off a gruelling Global Chess League (GCL), where they faced top-notch competition from some of the greatest chess players in the world, including Norway's five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen. The team announcement was made on Sunday during the General Body meeting of the All India Chess Federation (AICF) in Kanpur, which was chaired by its president Sanjay Kapoor.
The 36-year-old Humpy, who had said earlier this year that she might skip the Asian Games in Hangzhou due to COVID, will be the senior-most Indian chess player at the quadrennial games. She had won the women's individual and mixed team gold at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha. The other Asian Games medallist in the side is Harika, who won an individual bronze at the 2010 edition in Guangzhou, after which chess was not a part of the continental games' curriculum in the 2014 Incheon and 2018 Jakarta editions.
Chess is returning to the Asian Games fold after 13 years. AICF president Sanjay Kapoor said he was confident Indian players will be on the podium in all the events they compete in at the Asian Games. «Nobody believed me when I said India will win medals at the Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram.
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