World chess champ says hosts are the team to beat at World Cup
Bangalore, Feb 6, DHNS:

Would love to play in India: Anand

Bangalore, Feb 6, DHNS:
Sunday, February 06, 2011

All the qualities that have contributed to Viswanathan Anand becoming a multiple world champion were on full view at the Chinnaswamy stadium on Sunday.

NIIT’s brand ambassador was in the City to interact with participants and winners of their corporate chess championship, hand over prizes, take questions from the media and play simultaneous chess.

Mobbed by an admiring bunch of fans, Anand kept his poise admirably. Neither screaming toddlers nor regularly ringing cell phones made a dent.

An irreverential few who were happily chatting away, unmindful of the answers flowing from the maestro who fielded questions from everyone except the media — languishing at the back of the hall in what was officially supposed to be a press conference! — also made no impression on Anand’s thought process or his concentration as he answered every query with sincerity and utmost seriousness.

Quickly getting into his stride after signing on the giant bat wishing the Indian team good luck at the cricket World Cup — a Deccan Herald-Prajavani initiative — Anand said he would be delighted if his World Championship match next year too could be hosted in India. “I would love to play in India, I hope something like that happens sooner rather than later,” he remarked.

“The decision on where to host the next Championship match hasn’t been made yet, let’s just wait and watch. The last time I played in India was the 2002 World Cup at Hyderabad and I really enjoyed the experience.”

There would be the pressure of playing at home, Anand acknowledged, adding that it would be enjoyable pressure. Talk inevitably veered to the cricket World Cup, and the pressures on the Indian team of an expectant billion.

Full article here.

Posted by Picasa
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Tags: ,