Indian Chess Teams Set for FIDE Chess Olympiad 2012 in Istanbul Aug 27-Sept 10

The 40th FIDE World Chess Olympiad will take place in Istanbul, Turkey, 27 August - 10 September. A record-breaking 162 nations have registered for the competition with more than 1700 players and captains. The arrival of delegations is underway and the opening ceremony will take place August 27th at 21:30 local time (20:30 CET) in the WOW Convention Center. The ceremony will be broadcasted live in 4 languages simultaneously. The first round begins August 28th at 15:00.
Defending champions are the teams of Ukraine in the open section and Russia in the women's section. The competition is an 11-round championship where each team is composed of four boards. Standings are decided by Match points (2 for victory, 1 for draw, 0 for loss). Official website / Schedule / Regulations

A 10-member Indian chess squad left for Istanbul (Turkey) on Saturday. The team will be without the country's top players in both the men's and women's categories. Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand and Grandmaster Koneuru Humpy have both decided to give the tournament a miss due to personal reasons. 

For complete line-ups, check this official link. 

Indian open chess team includes GM Abhijit Gupta 2644, GM Krishnan Sasikiran 2720, GM Pentala Harikrishna 2693, GM Gopal Geetha Narayanan 2562, GM Parimarjan Negi  2640. 

Indian women's chess team includes WGM Mary Ann Gomes 2378, GM Harika Dronavalli 2508, IM Tania Sachdev 2417, IM Eesha Karavade 2353, WGM Soumya Swaminathan 2271.

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