King’s Gambit Right attitude = huge difference: Vishy Anand

 

 

 

 

 

COMPLEMENTING the moves of pieces in the game of chess, Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand on Friday expressed his views on a range of issues with great ease. He was calm and confident during the whole interactive session organised here by the Indian Institute Management (IIM), Nagpur on Friday. The five time World Chess Champion took his time to react before every question posed to him and chose apt words to make his ultimate point -- right mindset can make all the difference. Anand was polite and composed during the 30-minute interaction, and never felt the need to raise his voice. Yet, like his brilliant chess moves, he succeeded in establishing a perfect bond of communication with moderator Jagdish Mitra, Chief Strategy Officer in Tech Mahindra, and also with the gathering of management students, faculty members and others watching the interview.

 

Commenting on the initiative called Olympic Gold Quest, Anand said, right after the Sydney Olympics in 2000, the initiative was launched basically to change the mindset of Indian participants. “The players failed to understand that they were on a mission. The initiative was launched to change their attitude,” he said, adding that a lot of things might look difficult initially, but if the approach is right, eventually they would succeed. “There is a substantial amount of change in the attitude of Indian players with regard to sports and even the Government allocation is constantly going up. Government is also building infrastructure which is a good sign of growth in this field,” he said. “But the underlying driver is the attitudinal change of people here. As a nation, we have decided not to make mockery of our participation in the games, but to win medals. The players have also realised that they have to make their participation exciting by winning gold,” he said.

 

During the course of the discussion, when the moderator told the audience that the Grandmaster calculates 64 moves in advance while playing chess, there was an outburst of clapping in the hall, but Anand managed to give just a smile.

Anand also spoke on the importance of small sports events and highlighted the need to involve a large number of people in the field of sports to achieve big in this sector. At the outset, he remembered his first visit to the city, way back in 1985, to compete in the Junior Nationals. Anand said he spent 10 days in Nagpur along with his mother. “Things have now changed a lot in the city and I am happy to see the world-class campus of IIM, Nagpur,” he pointed out.