Diwakar, Mary Gomes, Ghate new faces in Chess Olympiad Indian team

New Delhi, May 18 (UNI) Diwakar Prasad Singh, Mary Ann Gomes and Swati Ghate are the new faces in the 10-member Indian team led by Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand to take part in the Chess Olympiad beginning in Turin from tomorrow.

Diwakar replaces Abhijit Kunte while Gomes and Ghate take the places of Vijayalakshmi and Nisha Mohota from the team which finished sixth two years ago.

The Indian team, seeded second in the competition behind Russia, would look to improve their position with the big three -- Anand, Krishnan Sasikiran and Pentyala Harikrishna -- at their all time high Elo ratings.

Anand, who is playing in Mtel Masters at Sofia, would join the team in Turin for the Olympiad, which ends on June 5.

The Olympiad bound team underwent intensive coaching for two weeks at Goa with assistance from the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and under the guidance of two foreign trainers GM Elizbar Ubilava (Spain) and Georgdez (Georgia).

The Indian players received financial support from Canara Bank, based on their ratings with Anand getting Rs 5 lakhs, K Sasikiran, P Harikrishna (Rs.75,000 each), Humpy, Ganguly S Chanda (Rs.50,000 each), Singh, Harika, Ghate, Gomes (Rs.25,000 each).

The Team: Viswanathan Anand, Hari Krishna, K Sasikiran, Surya Sekhar Ganguly, Chanda Sandipan, DP Singh, Koneru Humpy, Swathi Ghate , Mary Ann Gomes, Dronavalli Harika.

Coaches: R M Dongre and Bharat Singh Chef-de-Mission: D V Sundar UNI PDS DH VC1920