Fielding both the men as well as women teams for the first time, India is looking to benefit from the presence of top player Viswanathan Anand in their ranks when the 36th edition of the Chess Olympiad starts in Mallorca on Saturday.
There are quite a few firsts this time around and the most notable of them is Anand's long awaited nod to participate in a team event while representing the country.
This will also be the first time that India will be fielding an all-Grandmaster team and the first time that Koneru Humpy will be a part of the women's team.
The Indian think tank has done thorough homework for the event as is evident from the fortnight long training camp at Calicut just before the Olympiad. Also just prior to that, a Category 16 event was organised in Pune to facilitate the preparation of the Indian men's team .
However, there are no surprises in board order of both the men's and women's teams.
Anand is a natural choice for the top board and Krishnan Sasikiran will be on the second board. P Harikrishna will master the third while National Champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly, former British Open Champion Abhijit Kunte and Sandipan Chanda will follow him on board 4-6.
In short, the status quo according to the present ELO ratings of each participant is being maintained. Among the women too it is a similar order with Grandmaster Humpy slated to lead the team followed by S Vijayalakshmi, Dronavalli Harika and Nisha Mohota.
Exotic locales, the best in business in fray and cherished medals at stake -- probably the players could not have asked for more as they fight over the next few days for a slice of glory.
The Indian men seem to be in a fine fettle with Anand going through an excellent phase in his career and perhaps one can hope to see his best in this event.
This year Anand has won the Corus Super Grandmasters tournament, the rapid section of Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament, the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess meeting and the Chess Classics at Mainz besides leading the World team to a victory over players with Armenian connections in a tight match.
Sasikiran's form could be a slight concern but past has shown that he comes out firing every time he suffers. His mediocre show at the Pune GM tourney could just augur well for India.
From the team's perspective, the third and fourth boards are very important as vital points could be gained here.
Harikrishna has it in him to beat the best on his day. Also the Hyderabad-based player is in top form as his third place finish at Pune indicated.
It was a remarkable show by him especially against former World Championship semifinalist Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu of Romania who suffered his only loss in the event at the hands of Harikrishna. According to many chess pundits, Ganguly is one solid player who has very clear ideas. His National Championship victory did not surprise many and these days he is supposedly getting tips from Anand himself.
Both Abhijit Kunte and Sandipan Chanda will have to come out with good results whenever they are fielded though one gets a feeling that between them they will play only about 16 games out of a possible 56 and the major burden will be shouldered by the top four players.
Among the women, Humpy has played much competitive chess since her elimination in the semifinals of the World Women's Championship. And this means she would be hungrier this time around. Also the fact that this is the first time she is playing in Olympiad, is surely going to be a major positive factor in her games.
Vijayalakshmi is a team girl and has won silver medal on top board in the past Olympiads. A similar performance from her is just what the other team members will hope for.
Teenager Harika has shown a lot of promise and so has Nisha Mohota.
Overall, the chances of the Indian teams look bright but then in team events it is a cumulative effort that matters and not just one or two individual performances. It remains to be seen how these otherwise excellent individual-event players perform in a team competition.
