Viswanathan Anand’s Olympic trial
TNN | Jul 12, 2012, 05.26PM IST
CHENNAI: World champion Viswanathan Anand’s absence from this year’s Chess Olympiad in Turkey in August is not such an earth-shaking affair.
There is a tendency to find a parallel between Leander Paes’ initial decision to stay away from Olympics and Anand’s firm ‘no’ to the biennial Olympiads but these two are totally different.
Paes, whether he plays for India in Davis Cup or Olympics is one ace who could turn things around to have a decisive say in the final outcome but Anand, despite being the world beater that he is, cannot on his own do much to get a medal for India in the Chess Olympiad.
Anand’s helplessness is not something that is based on speculation but a fact that has been tested and proved on the Olympiad stage itself.
In 2004, Anand came back after a long absence to play for India in the Calvia Olympiad (Spain) and was the star performer on the top board but all that India managed was their all-time best sixth-place finish.
The format of the Olympiad is not favourable to teams that depend on a singe star but a team that has a nice balance. There are four games in each round and Anand can play only one of them, so even if he wins, the team can still lose by 1-3 to heavyweights such as Russia, Ukraine and Armenia, which have 2750-players in their side.
Krishnan Sasikiran is the only one above 2700 in the Indian side apart from Anand but even two good performers will at best give a team a top-10 finish as India found out in Novi Sad (1990, 10th place), Istanbul (2000, 8th) and Calvia (2004, 6th).
On a personal level, Anand’s rating is so high that it would not be advisable for him to meet players below 2700 as his expectancy (percentage score expected) will also be high. That is why he will choose to play only in tournaments in categories of 19 and above.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
I for one feel Vishwanathan Anand’s decision to opt out of Istanbul Chess Olympiad 2012 good for Indian chess. India has 27 other Grand masters, who play National A, National B tournaments and have a more valid claim for representing the country in Olympiad.
It would not be fair for a player who doesn’t participate in national tournament to be selected in national team in International fixtures like the Olympiad.
Both Indian Chess Federation and Vishy have set a good example for other countries to emulate.