I am happy to have stepped aside, says Viswanathan Anand

Now 53, Viswanathan Anand has certainly stepped into 2.0 mode. The five-time FIDE world champion, who played pied piper of Indian chess for over three decades, juggles a number of roles these days and plays only sparingly, but the aura about him refuses to go away. 

Everyone wants a piece of him as Viswanathan Anand, in Kolkata as brand ambassador for the ongoing Tata Steel Rapid and Blitz chess, handles all the attention with his trademark calm smile and wit. ‘’I am very happy that I don’t see myself in competition with them,’’ he quipped in reference to the emergence of D. Gukesh, R. Praggnanandha & Co., who he fondly refers to as the 'golden generation' of Indian chess. 

Addressing a well-attended media interaction session, Anand expectedly faced a barrage of questions on the emergence of these exceptional talents whom he has been mentoring at his Westbridge Chess Academy in Chennai for three years. He picks and chooses his tournaments, but is still world no. 9 with a 2700-plus rating, and vice-president of FIDE, the world governing body of the game.     

 ‘’I am happy to have stepped aside and find India still being well represented in these tournaments. The game is growing, this is all that I can hope for really,’’ said Anand, who was displaced by 17-year-old Gukesh, one of his protégés, as India’s top-ranked player when the new world rankings were released on 1 September. The change of ranking, as per FIDE rules, was on the cards though when Gukesh crossed the second-round hurdle at the FIDE World Cup in early August to overtake his mentor.    

Did you see this phenomenon coming? ‘’No,’’ comes the swift reply, much like his lightning moves. ‘’Even three years ago when I started my academy, I remember saying if one day they can get to 2700, that will be very promising, and gave it a time frame of five to seven years. And in two-and-a-half years, they are there. In one-and-a-half, they had started to break through 2700 and then this year, all these things happened. So you often underestimate the pace at which things happen. I didn’t anticipate it.’’         

Calling it a really exciting time to be an Indian chess fan, Anand tried to put things into perspective: ‘’I now have two colleagues in the top 20, Gukesh is not only in the top 10, he is ahead of me. Pragg is a Candidate while Gukesh can still make it to the Candidates (it will mean two Indians vying for rights to play the world champion for the first time).  

‘’On top of that, there is Arjun (Erigaisi), Vidith (Gujrathi), all just a little bit behind along with Nihal (Sarin). The reason I said this is the golden generation is that barring Arjun, who turned 20 maybe two days ago, they are all teenagers. This means very conservatively that for the next 10 years, every time there is a top tournament, as Indians we can hope for one of our players to watch and root for,’’ he said.  

Anand’s excitement about the assembly line of players, right from the under-12 age group, is palpable when he says, ‘’I am almost tempted to say it is like what happened in the Soviet Union 50 years back. We have a dream setup for youngsters. There is still a challenge about how to get more girls in. Also at the moment, the focus is slightly more on the southern states and maybe Bengal and Maharashtra. We need to spread it out but essentially the ingredients are there.’’  

Replying to a query as to what gives him greater satisfaction, playing or mentoring the likes of Pragg, Anand said: ‘’I enjoy both. You need to be a player to mentor them. I could say I played chess many years back, but unless you are playing now and see what they are facing, it is very difficult to replicate that.’’  

Looking ahead at India’s medal prospects at the Asian Games later this month, Anand had a word of caution. ‘’We have an amazing team. I am a little nervous to just look at the rankings and think we are going to win this and we are going win that, but there are some other very good teams.  

‘’Uzbekistan, Vietnam are good, China will field a great contingent… so we will have rivals alright but you can’t ask for a better team,’’ said the maestro.