Grounded at the top

Right moves

                                                                            All smile

s, he poses for photographs. Having seen many victories in the past, he has done his country proud and given the game the attention that it deserved in this country. In the City recently, he spoke about his interests in football, astronomy and how it feels to be on top.

Vishwanthan, who now shuffles between Spain and India, speaks about the future of chess. “I feel it is extremely bright. More and more kids are taking it up today,” he says. But does it require more help? “The main thing is that we have to get it more popular. A child has to learn it early to play it. It is a game the rules of which you need to know,” he adds.

His recent victory in the World Chess Championship for the third time in a row has made everyone proud. How does he feel? “It is an important milestone in my life. And it was nice. Maybe on the first three or four days, I had difficulty sleeping because I was very excited and I haven’t had any practice, but I will start soon,” he says. 

And how does it feel to be the World No 1? “Right now, I am happy and I am retaining it. I was world champion in 2000 and I lost it in a year. Now that I have managed to retain it for three years, I wish I would be able to do it in the future too,” he adds.

On a lighter note, has he been finding time to catch up on the Football World Cup? “As much as I can. I have been watching Spain and Argentina closely and I really like Messi,” he says. And what other interests does he have? “Astronomy,” he says. And what about his passion for the stars? “Well, I look at up the sky and try to catch some new object. And since I get to travel a lot, it’s always nice to see the sky from different places,” he says. “I have some decent binoculars and now you also have online telescopes,” he adds.

So when did he pick up this interest? “I have always been interested as a kid but the number of sources available are a lot more now,” he says. Does he visit Bangalore? “I do, pretty often actually. About four times a year for personal as well as work-related reasons,” he says. “Its very green and cool here,” he adds.

So how many hours does he devote to chess everyday? “Depending on whether I am in the middle of a tournament or not, I’d say three to 10 hours everyday,” he says. That’s a lot. But then that’s what makes a world champion.