Viswanathan Anand: Current generation of Indian chess players great at grabbing opportunities

“Slowly transitioning” from a world champion competitor to a mentor-cum-sports administrator, chess icon Viswanathan Anand feels the current crop of Indian players, that he has had a role in shaping, has turned out to be “great” in grabbing crucial opportunities.

The 54-year-old, among the all-time greats of Indian sports with five world titles to his credit, is set to have a rare competitive outing at the Tech-Mahnindra Global Chess League come next month in London where he will be part of the Ganges Grandmasters team.

Widely credited for shaping the likes of youngest ever world championship challenger D Gukesh, and R Praggnanandhaa among others, Anand said he played a small part and shared the credit for their growth with their personal coaches and parents.

“I am trying my best, certainly being able to start the Westbridge Anand Academy four years back was a nice project. It was inspired by schools I had seen in Soviet Union more than 30-40 years ago.

“I tried to borrow some ideas from multiple places. (At that time) Indians were consistently getting into top 200 but not quite breaking into top 100. The idea was to support the talent and help them get past that stretch.

“I think we have been successful. For us, it is very exciting that Gukesh is already playing the world championships. (But) lots and lots of people are involved, not just WACA but also their parents, their coaches, we try to make sure that we can fit in nicely,” Anand said in an interview with PTI.

Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and another young star R Vaishali will be competing at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest. Anand is hopeful that the result would be better than the bronze that both the men’s and women’s team bagged in the 2022 edition.

“…let’s not forget that last year, they were smelling the gold, they had it in their hands, slipped away in the penultimate round and for the women, it slipped away in the last round. I certainly hope they will rectify it this time…

“…I mean, may be I am hard-wired as a player but I like to take it one step at a time. But if you had to roll the dice, these are pretty good teams to roll with,” he said.

Asked what makes the present generation a bigger success story than the likes of Surya Shekhar Ganguly, K Sasikiran and Sandipan Chanda, Anand said it was the ability to grab crucial opportunities.

“But I would point out that many of the previous generation are coaching these youngsters, so in a way, they are responsible for this generation’s success.

“…many of them had pretty good careers of their own. They often competed against top players. But you know, sometimes in sports, it’s not enough to have the results…when an opportunity comes nearby, you just have to grab it with both hands,” he said.

“With Gukesh I think, he positioned himself well in the Candidates. He wasn’t the favourite, not experienced. When he was still in with a chance he had done his job. So you have to grab your chance and the current generation is doing it quite well,” Anand pointed out.

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Chess has never been an Olympic sport despite its large-scale international presence and a rich history as it does not involve the athleticism that the Olympics are celebrated for. Anand hopes to see that change in the coming years.

He also followed India’s campaign in both the Olympics and Paralympics in Paris quite closely.

“Chess has a very strong case for Olympic inclusion. We have a couple of options, either it’s the Summer or the Winter games. But also the E-Sports Games could be an option,” said Anand, who is also a deputy President of FIDE, chess’ world governing body.

“I tried to catch a lot of great moments. In the Olympics, I think despite having 15 medals as option, we converted fewer than what we would have liked. Whereas in the Paralympics, this is genuinely fantastic,” he said referring to the unprecedented 29 medals that the para-athletes snared.

“Their ability to cope and still persevere is quite inspiring. Sheetal’s bull’s eye, these kinds of moments stay with you,” he added.

Semi-retired from the game, Anand said he is looking forward to his GCL stint next month where some top international players such as Magnus Carlsen will also be competing.

Apart from this, Anand said he also hopes to compete in Leon Masters in Spain next year after winning it for a 10th time earlier this year.

“I will play a few events next year. I don’t know yet what they are, I hope to play in Spain again. Semi-retired sort of means that I am slowly transitioning out instead of quitting one day, I am pacing myself, “ said the icon who finds his administrative role “fascinating.”