Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
Lessons for the board from a master and a teen prodigy
NEW DELHI: In Viswanathan Anand and D Gukesh, India now has a former five-time world chess champion, and a potential future champion. The two Grandmasters came together at the 20th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit for a discussion on the evolution of chess, while expressing excitement that chess in India has “wind in its sails”.
Anand, of course, is singularly responsible for promoting chess in India over the past three decades. He became the country’s first Grandmaster in 1988 before going on to scale many summits at the global stage.
Gukesh, 16, and a bunch of promising teenagers have taken over the baton now, showing ample evidence of their ability to challenge for the biggest honours.
And Anand is playing an influential role in grooming the next generation of champions by training eight youngsters including Gukesh at the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy, an initiative he launched in December 2020. Having seen Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa defeat world
No 1 Magnus Carlsen this year, he is optimistic of a bright future for chess in India.
“Right now, in India, chess has got the wind in its sails. We have a golden generation,” said Anand.
Gukesh, on his part, is setting his ambitions high. “First of all, I just want to enjoy chess and play as much as I can. My goals are pretty much the same from the start. I want to try and become the best. Hopefully, someday I can become a world champion,” said Gukesh, who became the world’s second youngest GM at 12 years, 7 months and 17 days in 2019.
Chess has hogged headlines in recent weeks due to the cheating controversy involving 19-year-old American Hans Niemann.
As deputy president of the world chess federation (FIDE), Anand’s say on the matter is significant.
“I saw the moves (in the Carlsen-Niemann game) and they did not say anything to me... There are commissions now investigating the matter. But as deputy president, I have to be careful. It’s not even about jeopardising the organisation. We will need a procedure that works consistently. You can have an opinion in this one case but you need something that works in all these cases,” he said.