Viswanathan Anand will not be fielded in India's first round match against unfancied Uruguay in the 36th Chess Olympiad in Mallorca, Spain, giving a chance to Krishnan Sasikiran to lead the team on board one.
The biggest chess event has 124 teams in fray with 14 rounds in all to determine the winner. Russia once again is the top seed in the men's section despite the absence of two big guns -- Gary Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik. Ukraine, Israel and Armenia are seeded second, third and fourth respectively.
It is expected to be an easy outing for fifth seeded Indian men when they take on Uruguay later in the day.
The Uruguay team has just one Grandmaster -- Andres Rodriguez -- in their ranks and he will take on Sasikiran with white pieces.
On the remaining three boards, P Harikrishna will play as white against International Master Bernardo Mailhe Roselli, Abhijit Kunte will have black against FIDE Master Curi Gabriel while Sandipan Chanda will have the favourable colour against FM Alejandro Bouza.
The other Indian to take rest apart from Anand in the first game is National Champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly.
It is quite a normal practice for stalwarts to skip the first game in order to wait for stronger opposition in later rounds.
Following the unwritten rule, the Russians have rested two of their best players -- Alexander Morozevch and Peter Svidler. In the first round Alexander Grishchuk, Alexey Dreev, Alexander Khalifman and V Zvjaginsev will have their task cut out against Andorra.
