Amidst the fever and excitement of chess in Chennai with the 44th Chess Olympiad being held in Mamallapuram, former women's world champion Susan Polgar has said that the growing strength of Indian players is becoming a strong contender to arrange 3 out of 6 medals at stake. The four-point event by Sheraton from July 28 to August 10 has also drawn 187 countries, with 188 teams in the open section and 162 teams in the women's section.
Susan said "The Indian women's team has the best chance to grab gold in the absence of the Russian and Chinese teams. Adding that, having reached the top of the women's rating list in just 15 years.'' The Indian women's team comprising Koneru Hampi, Dronavalli Harika, R Vaishali, Tania Sachdev and Bhakti Kulkarni are set to finish top seeds for the first time and incidentally, they are also looking to win India's first medal in the women's category.
Susan Polgar, a former women's world champion and one of the most decorated players with an Olympiad medal, is 12 (5 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze) to be precise though feeling that the top-billing star-studded USA team is the favourite for gold. She said "This time his team has been strengthened apart from Levon Aronian and Dominguez as they already had Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Sam Shankland." Susan says that India A team and India B team can go how far with the remaining two medals. If it can be missed, India's best effort has been the bronze medal at Tromso in 2014.
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