Anand: ‘Chess is very South-heavy, it doesn’t play nationally’

Viswanathan Anand: ‘Chess is very South-heavy, it doesn’t play nationally’
Ashish Magotra Jun 27, 2011

Viswanathan Anand has been playing chess at the highest level for 24 years.

That’s longer than the time Sachin Tendulkar has been around in international cricket, that’s around the same time when the Simpsons made their television debut and that’s before India launched its policy of liberalisation. To cut a long story short, he’s been around for a long time and he hasn’t scraped the bottom. He’s been around at the top, competing with the best the world has to offer.

Maybe, that’s also why he’s taken for granted, in a certain sense. He’s been around for so long that he seems like a fixture. He’s the top ranked player in the World at present, and one of the only six players in history to break the 2,800 mark on the FIDE rating list — the list of achievements can go on for a long time. But put him next to Tendulkar, and we all know who is going to garner the attention.

“In India, chess is very South-heavy. Maybe, you can add West Bengal and Maharashtra to that. But it’s a very southern sport and it doesn’t play nationally. What is beginning to change is that more people are starting to take it up from various parts of the country, which is heartening. And the second thing is that because we are using the schools network, a lot of kids are able to learn it along with their studies. In fact, we also think that there is a positive co-relation between the two,” said Anand from Chennai.

In the popularity sweepstakes, Anand and chess have carved out a niche for themselves. But that’s it – there’s nothing beyond that. Despite various initiatives to try and make chess more popular, there is a feeling that it’s never quite managed to shake off the tag of being a game for the intellectuals. And perhaps that’s hurting the ‘sport’ of Kings.

“See the thing with chess is that to truly appreciate what’s happening you need to know the rules. If you don’t know the rules, you can’t see what’s happening, you can’t see the battle unfolding,” said Anand. “Unlike any other physical sport where you can see things happening and learn from them without being an expert.”

“But with the advent of the internet, you can feel the tension of the players without being at the venue. It has happened to me recently while watching games on the internet and I believe it’s so much easier to actually understand and learn from the best players in the world. It’s like a whole new world out there, just waiting to be explored.”

In a detailed interview, Anand speaks about the journey of chess and his part in it, about his greatest battles across the 64 squares and how the internet and computers might help finally break down the barrier to popularity and make the battles come alive for all those watching.

Full interview here.