Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand on Tuesday mentioned he couldn’t have requested for a stronger Indian chess lineup within the upcoming Asian Games. Indian chess has been on a surprising upswing, and within the recently-concluded Baku World Cup, an unprecedented 4 Indian gamers superior to the quarterfinals, with R Praggnanandhaa making historical past by changing into the youngest to win a silver medal. Adding to this wave of success, final week noticed Anand’s 17-year-old protege, D Gukesh, ending his mentor’s 37-year-long reign as India’s No. 1 participant.

Gukesh achieved a formidable Elo score of 2758, surpassing the Indian legend by 4 factors and marking a major milestone within the nation’s chess historical past.

“I’m always nervous to just look at the rankings and think, oh, we’re going to win this, we’re going to win that,” Anand mentioned throughout a media interplay on the sidelines of Tata Steel Chess India right here.

“There are other very good teams. Uzbekistan is good. Vietnam is good. China will field a great contingent. So we will have rivals, but you can’t ask for a better team than what we have,” he mentioned about India’s Asian Games prospects.

“Standards in India have caught up with everywhere else. And still, I don’t want to explain this only in general terms. We must give credit to the individuals.

“This is a really gifted group of people. Whether they outperform the earlier era is as much as them and we’ll see. But we’ve a gifted era of people.” China will be spearheaded by the reigning world champion Ling Diren.

India have named a 10-member squad in men’s and women’s section with the likes of Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi, Pentala Harikrishna and Arjun Erigaisi leading the men’s challenge.

GM Koneru Humpy, a two-time Asian Games gold medallist, and Harika Dronavalli will lead the women’s challenge.

Speaking about India’s rise in chess, Anand said he never anticipated something like this would happen when he started his academy (WACA) three years ago.

“I’ve two colleagues within the top-20. First time, Gukesh just isn’t solely within the top-10 with me, he is even forward of me. Pragg is in Candidates, Gukesh can nonetheless make it into the Candidates. On prime of that Arjun, Vidit, Hari slightly bit behind, then Nihal.

“The reason I said this is a golden generation is because, with the exception of Arjun, who became 20 maybe two days ago, they’re all teenagers which means, very conservatively, for the next 10 years, every top tournament, we, as Indians, can hope for one of our players there to watch and root for.

“So it is a good time to be an Indian chess fan additionally, and simply very, very thrilling.” Anand further said the upswing is similar to what Russia had 50 years back, and the challenge is to improve the women’s lineup.

“The Indian junior circuit, ranging from underneath 12 all the best way, is likely one of the greatest on the earth. You’re by no means certain of your house. They encourage one another properly, they alternate concepts. I’m nearly tempted to say what it was once in Russia or the Soviet Union 50 years again.

“In India we have one of the best ecosystems. If you want to play, there are lots and lots of people who will teach you. Then, for almost every stage, there are highly specialised people, coaches, having academies. What’s even more important is they get to interact with each other.” “We have a dream setup for youngsters. There’s still a challenge, how to get more girls in. It’s still slightly southern-focused, maybe Bengal and Maharashtra, but we need to spread it out elsewhere. But essentially, the ingredients are there.” “I’m very happy to have stepped aside and India is still being well represented in these tournaments. It’s exciting to watch and the game is growing, this is all I can hope for really.”

Carlsen all the time hungry for fulfillment

Asked what makes Magnus Carlsen so robust to beat, Anand mentioned: “He always had a natural ability to make fewer mistakes. I think someone said that he doesn’t often find the best move, but he will almost never make the worst move.

“He may make the third greatest transfer and it is ok, however he’ll nearly by no means blunder. And it is true that it is onerous to recollect video games which he has misplaced simply.

“The other thing for me which is impressive is that he keeps his motivation so high. Not only for big events, he plays also minor events. He seems to have a hunger for chess that is special.

“He’s not distinctive within the second regard, however he’ll simply sit and play bullets for hours. And he’ll play some informal match and he’ll do that. He’ll play tournaments he is already certified for and issues like that. He simply retains a really excessive motivation,” Anand signed off.

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