Chess makes debut as medal sport, but biggest Asian star Anand’s missing
The Associated Press
International Herald Tribune
Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand will miss chess’ Asian Games debut after ruling himself out of the Doha tournament rather than risk his world standing.
Ranked No. 2 in the world, Anand chose not to compete at the games due to a tournament ruling that a player competing in the rapid-format individual event must also contest the classic-format team event.
Anand is widely acknowledged as the world’s best in the rapid format, in which he planned to compete in the individual event, but by competing in the team tournament, he would be drawn against lower-ranked players and risk losing world ranking points.
Anand’s managers perceived the potential loss of his world standing as a huge risk for a player trying to claim the No. 1 spot in the cash-rich game.
Anand’s absence is viewed as a blow to India, starved of success at major international events, but chess officials are still hopeful of claiming three of the four gold medals on offer at Doha.
The All-India Chess Federation has maintained a steady silence about what transpired ahead of Anand ruling himself out of the Asian Games, while the Indian Olympic Association says it always leaves the selection to respective sports federations.
“It’s the athletes who decide if they want to participate, but we never get involved in selection matters,” Kalmadi told The Associated Press on Friday.
The full article can be read here. 
Thank you for your contributions and inspiration to the world of chess. By the way, do you have an atom feed address?
Anand a is a P*ssy. I can’t express enough my disrespect for cowardice.
Man I tell you what. The elo rating system is flawed for it’s attempt to adjust for the strength of opponents. Mathematically this is actually an infinitely continuing loop and inherently flawed. The fact is the stronger player wins more in general and wins more in particular in a match against a weaker player. I know that no one in the serious profesional realm is as strong as Kasparov because his raw percentage is so much larger than anyone else. There is no player on the field producing results of a world champion caliber. The kingdom is without a king. That is why when the number one player retires the number two stays at number two. Ridiculous! The chess Sampras is gone and we are still waiting for the new Federer to appear. I think we’ll be waiting along time. Kramnik-Topalov only proved that each player was playing at the same level. They are the best of the mediocre. Karpov Kasparov Fischer etc there were the best of the best.
Marcellus Wallace
I’m surprised that Anand is sitting on his rating!
He lost a lot of points in the Olympiad. He doesn’t want to make the same mistake again. If he had skipped the Olympiad, he would have been Number 1 today.
Tsk.
Marcellus Wallace:
Having read the comment, I have come to the conclusion that no one is mediocre but YOU.