Formidable Indians aiming to sweep Chess competitions at Doha

Doha, Nov 30 (UNI) The absence of world number two Viswanathan Anand notwithstanding, the Indian Chess squad looks very formidable and seems to have an edge over their rivals in the event which is being held at the Asian Games for the first time.

The top seeds in both men's and women's sections are from India.

Krishnan Sasikiran and P Harikrishna with 2,675 and 2,674 Elo points are the top stars, with former FIDE World champion Rustam Kasimdhzanov of Uzbekistan the next in line.

Among women, Koneru Humpy, the numero uno in under-20 category and number two in the world, starts favourite for the title where her main rival could be Zhu Chen, a former Chinese World Cup winner, who now plays for Qatar, having married a Qatari player, Mohammed AL-Modiakhi.

The chess competition will have three gold medals, with one each in men's and women's rapid events to be fought over nine rounds and a mixed team event where teams will have two men and one woman.

Sasikiran has good memories of Doha because he won the individual Asian chess championship here in 2003, while Harikrishna, who has won two international tournaments this year, is the 2004 world junior champion and considered a great talent.

Uzbek Grandmaster Rustam Kasimdzhanov stunned all by beating Anand in the final of the Corsica Masters. China's stars will be Bu Xiangzhi, once the world's youngest Grandmaster, and the 19-year-old Yue Wang who was the driving force behind the Chinese success at this year's Chess Olympiad.

In the rapid chess events, players start their games with 25 minutes each on the clock and then receive 10 additional seconds for every move they make. In the team event, it will be two hours for first 40 moves for each player and then one hour to complete the rest of the game.

On the given strength and form, India can hope to bag atleast two golds in this event.

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