Gold will put ministry's attention back on chess: Anand

Veteran Indian chess player Viswanathan Anand felt India’s maiden gold medal at the Chess Olympiad will change the sports ministry’s attitude towards the sport. The five-time world champion was slightly disappointed that chess in India isn’t looked as positively as it was several years ago.

“In the last few years, there has been a drop in the attitude of the sports ministry towards chess. I don’t mean this in a personal level, just institutionally; we no longer get awards for international competitions like Commonwealth and Asian. It’s quite striking that it has been a long time since somebody from chess won an Arjuna or a Dronacharya award,” Anand said in a virtual press conference on Monday.

A day after India and Russia were declared joint winners of the online Olympiad, Anand said the gold is special in his illustrious cabinet. The 50-year-old said the result will put ministry’s attention back on chess.

“I think some of it might be due to various issues they brought up pertaining to the code of conduct and so on. Our federation has had some difficulties. It would be nice to reset this and sometimes, the best way to reset this is not to write long letters to concerned people but to have a good result like this. I hope this result will make them look at chess the way they did many years ago. I hope with this result, we start coming into Arjuna and Dronacharya awards' lists,” he said.

Indian team captain Vidit Gujarati echoed Anand’s sentiments on India’s achievement. “It’s an amazing feeling that’s yet to sink in. People always remember moments like these. It happened with cricket in 1983, winning that World Cup, it changed how sports was looked at in India and I feel when it comes to chess, this could be a similar moment,” said an elated 25-year-old.

Seasoned campaigner Koneru Humpy, whose nervy victory in the Armageddon game (tie-break format) against Monika Socko of Poland in semis gave India their final berth, was delighted that her long wait for an Olympiad gold had ended.

“It’s really a golden moment for Indian chess fraternity. This victory will motivate many youngsters to take up chess as their profession,” began the 33-year-old began. “It was a combined effort. Whenever there was a need for victory, it happened. We had the advantage of having a mixed team, because there were times when we depended on the juniors, like in the match against China. Having a world champion like Anand boosts our confidence."

“Personally, I never had an idea of playing online chess. I am comfortable over board. It’s a different experience,” she added.