FIDE Chess Olympiad Chennai: Exclusive Interview with Grandmasters
2 August, 2022 | Pranay Lad
As the Olympiad came to full circle, Grandmasters Pravin Thipsay and Viswanathan Anand spoke to NewsX in an exclusive interview where they spoke about their elated feeling about India being the hos...
As the 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad was hosted in Chennai, India, the nation takes pride in hosting a game which was originated in India.
On July 28th, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared open the 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad. Union Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Anurag Thakur, Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin, Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L. Murugan, Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi, and many others were in attendance for the inaugural function.
As the Olympiad came to full circle, Grandmasters Pravin Thipsay and Viswanathan Anand spoke to NewsX in an exclusive interview where they spoke about their elated feeling about India being the host of the chess Olympiad.
Pravin Thipsay is the first Indian Chess player to hold the FIDE title of Grandmaster and the first Indian to win the Commonwealth Chess Championship. “This is the optimal time to host the Olympiad, provided India holds the top seat in women’s and second seat in men’s, thus creating a great momentum for India as we really are in the race of winning,” said the Grandmaster.
Further, he added, that India doesn’t just hold the talent but also the strength to compete with the rest of the world including the eastern bloc, he also spoke about how the situation of the game has changed as compared to 25 years ago. If one aspires to become a world champion, they need to start preparing and achieve the norm of a grandmaster at least by the age of 17 or 18.
Vishwanathan Anand, a five-time world chess champion, and one of the few players to have surpassed an Elo rating of 2800, also spoke to NewsX. The five-time Indian chess player has not been playing for a cycle now but is acting as a mentor to the national team. He called the Olympiad to be one of the best Olympiads hosted and executed by India. He further added that he’s more than happy to mentor rather than to play events, as he wants the new talent to shine.
The first sportsperson to receive the second-highest civilian award Padma Vibhushan said India is well aware of the number of grandmasters that India has right now and that 75 grandmasters go well with the 75th year of independence.
The world’s biggest team chess Olympiad, featuring players from 187 countries, is taking place in Mamallapuram and will conclude on August 10. The Olympiad was moved out of Moscow in Russia following the Russia-Ukraine crisis.