Chennai, May 8
Five-time world chess champion Viswanathan Anand, paying homage to his late mother on Mother’s day, today shared a memory from the time she accompanied the 14-year-old Anand to his first Chess Olympiad in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1984.
Anand’s mother Susheela was instrumental in sparking his interest in chess and when he started playing tournaments, she accompanied him and ensured that he stayed focussed on the game.
Anand today shared how his mother got a game of his published in Chess Informant, a top chess publication during that time, by putting a request to the magazine’s representative. “The gentleman remarked that many players requested for their games to be included but this was the first time that a mother had come and insisted on her son’s game to be included and who was he to deny a mother!” Anand recalled.
“In those days access to chess material and games was very limited and the only source was the Chess Informant, founded by Aleksander Matanovic and Milivoje Molerovic, which published all the top games played in a year in one or two editions,” Anand said.
“At that point, I had wished that at least one of my games should be published in the Informant. Once at the venue I remember excitedly pointing out the person in charge of the Informant to my mother. After I left for my game, my mother went and met the person in charge and mentioned that she would like one of her son’s games to be published in the Informant,” he said.
Anand also said he was overwhelmed on seeing the world’s top players in one place at the Chess Olympiad.
“I had just earned my international rating almost a year back and was totally overwhelmed by seeing all the top players at the Olympiad. The Soviet Union then still was a formidable force without the presence of Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov, who were fighting for the World title bout,” Anand said.
Anand won’t play in this year’s Chess Olympiad, to be played in Chennai from July 28 to August 10, but will be the mentor for the four Indian teams at the event. — IANS
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