Indian women hold out hopes of a possible medal in the 41st Chess Olympiad beginning at Tromso, Norway, on August 1. Having finished fourth in the last edition at Istanbul in 2012, India has retained four members — D. Harika, Tania Sachdev, Eesha Karavade and Mary Ann Gomes. The only change is the inclusion of Padmini Rout in place of Soumya Swaminathan.
India is seeded fifth behind China, Russia, Ukraine and Georgia.
In 2012, Russia won the gold on better tie-break after being tied with China at 19 match-points. Georgia was third (18) with India narrowly missing its first ever team medal after finishing with 17 match-points.
In the Open section, however, the squad without Viswanathan Anand and P. Hari Krishna does not inspire much confidence.
The team:
Open: K. Sasikiran (2669), Parimarjan Negi (2645), B. Adhiban (2601), S.P. Sethuraman (2590) and M.R. Lalith Babu (2560).
Women: D. Harika (2513), Tania Sachdev (2415), Eesha Karavade (2392), Mary Ann Gomes (2360) and Padmini Rout (2318).
