2000 Vishy and the chess revolution
It is widely believed that the game of chess originated from an Indian strategy game, Chaturanga, sometime in the 6th century CE. But it would take another 1,400-odd years before the genius of a young man from Chennai would put India at the top in the world of chess. In 2000, when Vishwanathan Anand became the FIDE world champion, and subsequently the Undisputed World Champion in 2007, he single-handedly sparked off a chess revolution in the country, which led to India emerging as a superpower in the sport. A five-time world champion and a two-time world rapid chess champion, Anand is universally acknowledged as one of the greatest players in the history of the game.
It was in 1988 that the country had taken note of a new sporting sensation, when at the age of 18 Anand became the first Indian Grandmaster. As Anand quickly rose up the world rankings and began to dominate the game, Indian chess too began to grow in tandem, which has today resulted in a formidable array of world ranked players.
Anand had another nickname, “Lightning Kid”, for his near-invincibility in speed chess. In fact, many consider Anand to be the greatest ever speed chess player. Between 1993 and 2006, the world chess championship had split into two factions—the FIDE World Championship and the Classical World Championship. In 2000, Anand became the FIDE world champion; the same year his close rival and later good friend Vladimir Kramnik defeated Garry Kasparov to become the Classical world champion—or the linear world champion.
In 2007, when Anand defeated Kramnik to become the linear world champion, he attained legendary status in the game. Between 1886 and 2022, only 16 players have been the undisputed world chess champions, and Anand was one of them. In 2006, Anand became only the fourth player in history to cross the 2800 ELO rating.
Age has done little to diminish his great powers, and Anand continues to remain a top draw in tournaments. In 2017, at the age of 48, he won the World Rapid Chess Championship for the second time, and earlier this year he scored a victory over world champion Magnus Carlsen in the Norway Blitz tournament. At nearly 53 he once again broke into the top 10 highest rated players in the world this year.
If Anand sparked a revolution, it is this: by 2001 India had 74 Grandmasters, 125 International Masters, 18 woman Grandmasters, 42 women International Masters, and a total of 33,028 rated players.
A crop of extremely gifted young players like R. Praggnanandhaa, D. Gukesh, Nihal Sarin, Vidit Gujrathi, Pentala Harikrishna, Adhiban Baskaran, who are taking the chess world by storm, look upon Anand as their guiding light.
2002 Godhra riots
At 7.42 a.m. on February 27, 2002, the Sabarmati Express pulled into the station at Godhra. Among the passengers were karsevaks returning from Ayodhya. Apparently, a fight broke out between them and some Muslim tea sellers on the Godhra platform. As the train pulled away, someone pulled the emergency brake cord when it was passing through what was primarily a Muslim neighbourhood.
Apparently, a Muslim mob attacked the train at this point. Two carriages were burnt, killing 58 passengers, who it was claimed were mainly karsevaks but later reports did not bear this out.
The incident resulted in State-wide riots in Gujarat that lasted seven days, leaving over a 1,000 dead and more than a lakh in refugee homes. The victims were primarily Muslims and the attackers Hindus. It is considered India’s worst riot since Partition.
At the time, the BJP was faring poorly in Gujarat electoral politics. In 2001, it had lost the gram panchayat elections as well as three Assembly byelections. In October 2001, the old BJP war horse, Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, had been summarily replaced with Narendra Modi.
Godhra happened four months later. Chief Minister Modi has been criticised for maintaining a studied silence through the one week of violence and bloodletting. Soon afterwards, Modi asked that the Assembly election scheduled for April 2003 be brought forward to June 2002. The Election Commission partially obliged and scheduled the elections for December 2002.
It was the BJP’S second term in Gujarat and it still had to prove itself. Modi had three things going for him—a reasonably strong support base, an Opposition that had not gathered itself after losing the 1995 elections, and the inflamed post-godhra sentiments raging in the State.
The BJP won. But the anti-muslim fires were kept burning with at least 20 purported encounter killings. Modi stayed Chief Minister of the State until 2014 and his ability to win elections made him the poster boy of the BJP. The “Gujarat Model” of development also became a byword in popular discourse. After that, Delhi was the obvious destination.
Several people came forward to give testimony about the government’s alleged involvement. These included Sanjiv Bhatt, Teesta Setalvad, and R.B. Sreekumar. All three are currently under arrest on charges of fabricating evidence after a Supreme Court verdict in June 2022 specifically named them.