Chess legends Kramnik and Gelfand to train 14 young Indians

In Chennai, 14 young Indian chess players, most of them Grandmasters (GM), will be busy over the next 10 days training for six hours a day in various chess openings under two chess legends -- former world champion GM Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik and GM Boris Gelfand, who had unsuccessfully challenged former world champion Viswanathan Anand for the world title in 2012.

According to the IANS, The training camp will be held in a calmer enclave away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Queried as to the opening lines that they will be focusing on, Kramnik on Tuesday declined to share the specifics with IANS as it would be like revealing the secret of the trainees to their opponents.

The training material is exclusive and it would not be right on his part to divulge the details, Kramnik said. According to him, the young players will undergo in-depth training in chess openings which would widen their repertoire. "The training schedule will be flexible. There will be six hours of hard work for us also," he added.

According to S. Kailasanathan, Managing Director, Microsense Group, the coaching camp sponsor, the training is all for chess openings as the players are very young and their repertoire will be limited.

This will be the second coaching camp by Kramnik for young Indian chess players. The first camp, also sponsored by Microsense Group, was held in France in August 2019.

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Even though there are strong chess software/engines available in the market, a human element in the form a trainer/coach is a must to guide the players to navigate safely and not get lost, Gelfand said. Gelfand said there are lots of potentials in India, a country which has a great future in chess.

The 14 players who will be trained by Kramnik and Gelfand have an average age of 13. They are: R. Praggnanandhaa, D. Gukesh, Raunak Sadhwani, Prithu Gupta, P.Iniyan, Arjun Erigaisi, Leon Mendonca, Sreeshwan Maralakshikari, Aditya Mittal, Arjun Kalyan, Bharat Subramaniyam, Raahil Mullick, Rakshitta Ravi and Vaishali.