By Admin 
The sands of the famed Goan beaches will provide the setting and the gentle murmur of the sea winds the background music for the chess pieces over the next four weeks.
Moving those rooks, knights and pawns will be some of the finest players on the planet. As many as 205 men, and one woman, will be in action at the chess World Cup, which opens at Rio Resort on Saturday.
Much is at stake in the $2 million tournament. Of all the individual events the world chess governing body FIDE conducts, it is second only in stature, in the classical format, to the World championship.
And heading the list of seeds is the reigning World champion. After creating history by winning the World title at the age of 18 in Singapore last year, D. Gukesh has had to cope with some really disappointing games and tournaments, but his double-gold winning show at the recent European Chess Club Cup is timely.
Seeds No. 2 and 3 are also Indians. Arjun Erigaisi must be especially motivated, as the tournament offers him the best chance to clinch a place in next year’s Candidates, while R. Praggnanandhaa, who was the runner-up in the last World Cup, actually starts as one of the strong contenders.
Huge Indian presence
The top three from here will qualify for that event, the winner of which will challenge Gukesh for the next World championship. Indian chess’ terrific trio, however, will make their appearance only in the second round: the top 50 are given a bye. Seven rounds will have to be played before the finalists are identified. The format is knock-out, each round having two games and a tie-breaker if required.
There is not surprisingly a large India contingent: the country is not just the host, but the game’s superpower too. Nihal Sarin, Aravindh Chithambaram, Vidit Gujrathi, P. Harikrishna, Raunak Sadhwani and the local lad Leon Mendonca are among the home players.
Anish Giri is the highest-seeded foreigner, at No. 4; other stars from abroad include Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Wei Yi, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Levon Aronian.
On the opening day, there will be attention on a lesser seed: Divya Deshmukh. Not merely because she is the only woman in the tournament. She had sensationally won the women’s World Cup three months ago.
Don’t be surprised if an Indian is crowned champion here, too. After all, that has been the theme of world chess this year.
The winner from this year onwards will get the Viswanathan Anand trophy, as FIDE is honouring the five-time World champion.