Viswanathan Anand back in action in world rapid and blitz team championship

Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand will be in the mix as part of the Freedom team helmed by none other than FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky in the World Rapid and Blitz team chess championship that gets underway here. Anand is the only Indian in the fray in his team. Hot favourite WR Chess team will be spearheaded by Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia on the top board in the absence of the world's top player, Magnus Carlsen, who had refused to participate in the FIDE tournament.

The likes of Arjun Erigaisi on the top board will be assisted by P Harikrishna on the second board. World junior champion V Pranav is a welcome addition to the team alongside Luke Leon Mendonca, who is probably the next big player making a mark in Indian chess after the quartet of world champion D Gukesh, Arjun, R Praggnanandhaa, and Aravindh Chithambaram.

The event will also see Nihal Sarin in action, representing the fifth seed, the Ashdod elite chess club. Nihal and Anand will play as the top seed on the top board like Arjun Erigaise, but the event will miss the presence of Magnus Carlsen and D Gukesh, who have both skipped the event.

The WR chess team is the favourite for the crown with Nepomniachtchi, Firouzja Alireza, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hikaru Nakamura, Alexandra Kostenuik, and Wesley So on the side.

As a rule, every round has to have a female player as well as a player rated less than 2200 on the FIDE rating list that was last published on June 1. The traction caused by these dynamics makes the event more interesting than any other team tournament.

There is a decent prize money for the rapid and blitz events, as the winner of each competition gets USD 110000 and USD 75000, respectively. The event had gained huge success in the previous edition thanks to the participation of especially Carlsen. The prospects of the lone Indian team depend solely on how Arjun performs.