Anand felicitates Harikrishna

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD SEPT. 24. India's youngest Grandmaster P. Harikrishna was felicitated by World chess champion Viswanathan Anand at a function organised by NIIT here on Monday. World junior champion Koneru Humpy, who was also to be felicitated had earlier informed the organisers that she would not be able to attend the function as she was upset over the tragic accident in Orissa on Sunday wherein five young chess players from Andhra Pradesh met an untimely end.

The function began with the entire gathering observing a minute silence in memory of the departed souls and a statement from the organisers was read out and condolences were extended to the bereaved family members. Later, Anand also expressed similar sentiments and wished a speedy recovery to the others, who were injured.

Mr. Balasubramaniam, vice-president, NIIT, speaking on the occasion said that they were fortunate to have Anand as the brand ambassador and he also lauded Anand's achievements in the international arena.

Thereafter, Harikrishna was felicitated and Anand presented to him a memento on behalf of the organisers. Speaking about the youngster, Anand said that Harikrishna along with Rejabeov of Armenia are seen as potential World champions by Anatoly Karpov. He said that Harikrishna was a `tough guy'. Anand had seen this youngster wearing only a tee shirt during a tournament in Wijk aan Zee when it was six degrees below zero. ``I wonder if he will do it again with only a tee shirt in Moscow, where it could become thirty below zero,'' said Anand.

Anand said that it was nice to be back in Hyderabad - a city he had first visited while taking part in the sub-junior National championship in 1982.

``Now there are a lot of young kids coming up from this region. I am now the `uncle' within the chess fraternity. It makes me happy to see that so many young children are taking to the sport and doing well in it. Chess has become a mainstream sport now, and it is wonderful that sponsors like NIIT are getting involved with it,'' he said. ``I may be the first Indian World champion but I am sure I won't be the last,'' he added.

Later fielding a volley of questions from the large gathering Anand showed that he is as adept and quick in dealing with those questions as he is with his moves on the chess board. Regarding the rift between the FIDE and some of the top players, he said that each has a different point of view. Though the split has hurt the sport to some extent, but it is likely to be included as an Olympic sport, said Anand.

He said that he would like to play in India but ruled out the possibility of starting a chess academy at present. However, added that when he is no longer an active player he would think about it.

Asked when he would take on the computer Deep Blue, Anand said that Deep Blue has retired from chess and is now doing weather forecasting. To another question he said he was aware that former World champion Bobby Fischer was playing on the internet under different names but Anand himself had never played on the net except once when he found it too tiring. Comparing Karpov and Kasparov he said each had a different style and an accurate comparison was not possible. Anand also felt that India is on the right path although it will take a long time to achieve the status of a super power in the sport such as Russia, which has more than one hundred Grandmasters. He felt that one must learn quickly from failures but should not think about them for that may result in depression.

``My hobbies are movies, music, cycling and swimming and I like living near the mountains in Spain. It is a beautiful country and the people are very nice,'' he said. He related a humorous incident when he was travelling by train. A fellow passenger asked him what he did for a living and he said he was a professional chess player. On hearing this, the passenger advised him to quit chess and take up something more worthwhile wherein a steady income is assured . ``Making a living from chess can be insecure and uncertain. That is unless you can become like Viswanathan Anand,'' said the traveller, who obviously had not recognised the World champion.

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