Khanty Mansiysk: Spearheaded by Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran, the seven-member Indian contingent is upbeat about their prospects in the chess World Cup starting on Friday.
The 128-player knockout-event will see some of the top stars, including Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine and Alexei Shirov of Russia, in action and is also a part of the next world championship cycle.
Sasikiran will be the top Indian in the fray in the absence of P Harikrishna who did not make to this year's World Cup through qualification-by-rating.
Sasikiran will open his campaign against young Dutch GM Erwin L'Ami and a tough contest seems well on cards wherein Sasi holds the edge.
National and Asian champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly has his task cut out against Anton Filippov of Russia who has had some tremendous results of late, including a tied second finish at the Kolkata Open in early September.
Ganguly, with his deep opening knowledge and the obvious advantage of working with Viswanathan Anand, starts as a big favourite and the only concern on his mind would be Filippov's form.
The event will also see other Indian stars like 2008 world junior champion Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta and runner's up Parimarjan Negi in action.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, November 19, 2009, 20:25