FIDE Online Chess Olympiad to start on July 25

FIDE Online Chess Olympi, which will feature top players like world no.3 Ding Liren and Indian ace Viswanathan Anand among ors, will be held from July 25 to August 30.

Teams from 163 countries will take part in first-ever online Olympi.  

Russia is top-ranked team, followed by China, USA, Armenia and Ukraine. 

India team, captained by Vidit Santosh Gujrati, is seventh-seed in prestigious competition.      

India is placed in top division along with likes of Russia, China, US, Ukraine and ors. Eight teams from top division will qualify for stage 2 and battle it out with countries from or divisions.

World no.1 Magnus Carlsen is a notable absentee from event.

China h won both Open and women's sections in 2018 Chess Olympi and also won Online Nations Cup in May.

event is FIDE's response to postponement of 'tritional' Chess Olympi, which was planned to take place in Russia in August this year and was rescheduled to 2021, world chess governing body said on its website on Thursday while announcing schedule.

Apart from Anand, leing players who will take part include GMs Ding Liren, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alexander Grischuk, Levon Aronian, Anish Giri, and Wesley So. 

Among women, world no.1 Hou Yifan, India's Koneru Humpy, D Harika, and Katernya Lagno among ors will be seen in action.

Each team will consist of six players, in a mixed format with a minimum of three female players and two junior players.

Chess.com will be playing platform.

event will consist of two stages -- Divisions stage, and Play-offs stage, from Round of 16 to final.

time control will be rapid, with 15 minutes + 5 seconds increment per move.

Indian team: (Average rating 2571) - Men: Vishwanathan Anand, Vidit Santosh Gujarati (captain), P Harikrishna and Arvindh Chithambaram (reserves);   Women: Koneru Humpy, Dronavalli Harika, Bhakti Kulkarni and R Vaishali (reserves); 

Junior boys: Nihal Sarin, R Praggnanandhaa (reserve); 

Junior girls: Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal (reserve).