HYDERABAD: There is not a hint of disappointment in Viswanathan Anand’s voice. Last month, the wildcard for the Candidates meet was handed to Russian GM Vladimir Kramnik, ruling Anand out of the reckoning for next year’s World Championship. With Anand’s exit, no Indian is currently anywhere near the title picture.
However, the five-time World Champion is confident that the future is bright for Indian chess. He is impressed with a bunch of Indian talents. “In India, we have players like Vidit Gujrathi (23 year old) and SP Sethuraman (24) who are doing well. The slightly older generation of P Harikrishna is also fighting back,” Anand noted.
The 45-year-old also noted that chess has undergone a sea-change over the last few years thanks to a modern weapon — technology. “There have been huge technological advancements when it comes to learning chess. In the past, people used to learn the game by playing against different opponents.. Now, you can do all of that even if you are alone on a remote island,” Anand, who has been roped in by the city-based MDN Edify Education Private Limited as its brand Ambassador, said.
The Grandmaster, who recently called for the senior players to participate in the nationals, opined that the new generation of players have developed a new approach towards the game, thanks to technology. “The new players are different. Their way of approaching a problem is different. Earlier, if something worked in majority of the situations, it was treated as a good ploy. Now, players contemplate moves that would not have been used by players back then.”
It has been 20 years since Garry Kasparov lost to the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue in a six-game match. Since then, computer technology has taken giant strides. “Technology is pushing us in a different direction. It has both good and bad effects. The computer will sometimes show things that would look incomprehensible to the human mind. But, the key is to break it down, analyse it and try to find something new.”
Anand is preparing for the London Chess Classic and Tata Steel Chess.
vishal@newindianexpress.com