ANAND POSITIVE ABOUT INDIA’S CHANCES AT CHESS OLYMPIAD

Mumbai:viswanathan Anand on Wednesday stated that he’s extremely hopeful of India’s chances in the upcoming Chess Olympiad, which is slated for September.

India, who’ve had their best showing in 2014 with a bronze finish, will have the added boost in Anand who’ll play the tourney for the first time since 2006.

Although India had finished fourth in 2016, Anand said there won’t be any additional pressure on the team.

“I think our last few performances are as good as you can get. The main thing is to go there, do your best and deal with things as they come up rather than say: ‘We finished fourth, now let’s go for the third.’ That makes no sense. There are a lot of strong teams,” he said on the sidelines of Fincare’s first anniversary celebrations here in Mumbai.

“How can you prepare for the Olympiads? You’re not sure who your opponent is going to be, you’re not sure which country you’re going to play. The camp is really a good chance to get to know each other better and exchange a few ideas,” said Anand, who had earlier admitted that rules like zero tolerance and a few others were a reason for him to stay away from the Olympiads.

Anand had clinched the World Rapid Championship in Riyadh last year and had followed it up with a bronze in the Blitz category. While that did prove his detractors wrong, Anand took a fresh jibe at his critics.

“Fans talking about the sport is the whole base point in having the sport. I have no objection to people opining about the game. And for someone saying that I should stop, that’s frankly ridiculous because I don’t see why I should stop. But that’s okay. Free speech,” said the 48-year-old.

On being asked if training programmes should be more focused in pulling talent together, Anand answered: “Our progress has been fairly steady. The nature of chess has changed. If you look at the top talent, none of them came from any top programme or something.”