At Chess Olympiad 2024, bluffing, board order intrigue, and some shadow boxing for Gukesh – Ding Liren

The Indian team will start the 45th Chess Olympiad in Budapest as the second seed, but the one team that everyone will be watching out for. There’s plenty of intrigue around India’s open team, ranging from board order, team dynamics and the tactics star player Gukesh will employ.

For chess players, who are largely used to playing as individuals, playing in a team setting is something that takes getting used to, even though you’re doing your own thing during games.

“At a Chess Olympiad, emotionally you are one unit. Even if you’re playing individual games,” chess legend Viswanathan Anand told The Indian Express. “You have no control over what your teammates do. You’re playing your own game and in that sense you’re in a silo. But the score invariably affects everyone. There’s no point playing your own game if the rest of the team is losing. Then you want to gamble because you need to change the result dramatically. If someone is doing well, or hurting, that will feed into the rest of the team.

“These events are tough. India has a formidable team, but we have so many good teams who can give them a fight. Same thing on the women’s side. The medals are by no means assured. There will be these dramatic days, where your whole tournament gets decided. Having such a good bench gives us those good odds, whenever those critical moments come.”

There is plenty of intrigue about India’s board order, with captain Srinath Narayanan keeping his cards face down against his chest. Captains determine the fixed board order without knowing which opponents will line up, at start of the event.

The Indian team heads into the Chess Olympiad with four of their five players rated over 2700. This marks them as one of the favourites.

“Being one of the favorites , I am definitely aware of the expectations that fans have. But when it comes to the players, everyone is used to playing in high-stakes situations, so I don’t think we are taking any unnecessary pressure just yet. Probably towards the end of the tournament, it will increase and at that point it would be all about nerves,” Vidit told The Indian Express before singling out USA, China as the teams that are going to be the toughest to beat and the Uzbekistan team as one that can always surprise. Russia remains barred from the event.

He added that players are likely to be given specific roles in the Chess Olympiad team, depending on opponents.

“You have to keep in mind your role as a player in the team. For example, some players need to play more solidly and hold the fort, whereas some players’ job is to take more risks and try to strike. Knowing your position, you try to tune your game, your chess openings accordingly,” Vidit added.

Anand also broke down the dynamics of playing in a team event like the Chess Olympiad and the luxury of having so many great players in one team that allows teams to substitute in the reserve player.

“It’s a luxury (having so many good players). But at the same time it’s a bit like these menus with too many choices. You have too many options and the captain starts going nuts. What can be nice is that once in a while if one player says, ‘I would rather sit out this match, why don’t you play?’ But when you’re playing, you want to be in your routine. So this is a magic potion to be used sparingly,” Anand told The Indian Express.

Gukesh and Ding Liren under the lens

Another layer of intrigue at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest will be whether Gukesh and China’s Ding Liren, who will be fighting in Singapore later this year for the World Champion’s crown break out any of their preparation to test it in a match situation.

“Gukesh will have a huge bank of ideas and he can use quite a few here at the Olympiad. If you believe the art of bluffing, he could use a match idea here. And as long as his opponent cannot know for sure, it doesn’t matter. Equally, he could use something that he’s never going to use in the match. Part of the game will be to keep the opponent guessing, since both Ding Liren and Gukesh are here. If it comes down to China vs India (at the Chess Olympiad), there will be a trace left in their minds when the Singapore (the World Chess Championship) event starts. They will both want to do well. There’s no better place to have a trial run than at the Chess Olympiad. I don’t doubt that for both players the World Chess Championship is more important. But a good result at the Olympiad will make them feel fantastic.”

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