National Camp for Chess Olympiad begins in Delhi; Viswanathan Anand and team in high spirits

The Indian contingent has already started preparing for the 43rd edition of chess Olympiad, to be held in Batumi (Georgia) from September 23 to October 7. The final team has not been announced yet, but the first national camp began in in New Delhi from Friday. The star-studded camp consists of the likes of the legendary Viswanathan Anand, along with other grandmasters like Grandmasters Surya Shekhar Ganguly, SP Sethuraman, Vidit Gujrathi, P Harikrishna, K Sasikiran, B Adhiban and RB Ramesh. RB Ramesh is the captain. Anand, while speaking to the TOI, said that the preparations were in its initial stages so the preparations being made were generic ones and would be streamlined later on. According to him, knowing his teammates so well was a huge advantage, having spent years working together with some of them. "I have worked with most of them individually. Surya has been a vital part of my World Championship teams. I have worked with Sethuraman in Chennai. Hari and I did some casual preparation (before). I look forward to working with Vidit and Adhiban too as they have very interesting styles," Anand said. The team looked like they were in high spirits and are using the first few days simply to get into the groove before strenuous mind racking times catch up with them. ALSO READ: Viswanathan Anand: The tiger cub from Madras