Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay will be the Head of Delegation (HOD) and coach of the Indian chess team that will take part in the Asian Individual (men and women) Chess Championship to be held at Al Ain, United Arab Emirates (UAE), from May 6 to May 16. The selected players are Karthik Venkataraman, Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Neelash Saha in the Open category and Nandhidhaa PV, Priyanka K and Padmini Rout in the women’s category.

“The Asian Individual Chess Championship is one of the FIDE events for a few seats for the World Cup Championships. The World Cup and a few other tournaments then decide the eligibility of the players for the Candidates Tourney,” Thipsay told mid-day.