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 A
rousing welcome was accorded to an illustrious son of the city of
Chennai at Chennai Airport at 1330 Hrs on Saturday, September 16th,
2000. The glut of champions the city of Chennai is making these days,
Sasikiran, Vijayalakshmi, Aarthie and Kidambi to name a few, is the trickle that was
started by a pioneer, answering to the name Viswanathan Anand.
And the mixed gathering of kids, officials, onlookers, press, chess fans
and sports lovers welcomed Grand Master Viswanathan Anand who
won the inaugural World Chess Cup 2000 held at Shenyang, China on Sep
13th with unbridled joy. Anand who will be
making another attempt to win the World Championship crown later this
year at New Delhi, hopes
that Chess will be a competitive sport at least in the 2008 Olympic
Games. Anand returned home to a hearty and warm welcome from
young chess players for whom he is the icon and Tamil Nadu Chess
Association officialdom.
Answering questions at a brief but crowded press conference, Vishy Anand said he would be playing in two rapid games against Grandmaster
Alexei Shirov of Spain at the ongoing Sydney Olympics where Chess is one of
the demonstration sports. Anand said the World Cup competition was like a training ground for the World Championship to be held at New Delhi this
November. Being a knock-out competition like the World Championship
matches, the World Cup served as good preparation, he said adding
that he was happy about winning the cup.
Anand said he would return to Chennai after participating in the
Sydney Olympics demonstration games and would leave for Spain to train there
for the World Championship matches. Asked how he rated his chances of becoming the World Champion this time, Anand said anything could happen in a knock-out format. But my next aim is to become the World Champion, he said hopefully.
 It
was sort of homecoming for the Prince of Chennai and an ecstatic one
at that. The sense of warmth and love that Anand exudes with one and
all is a sight to watch and has to be seen to be believed. The placard
on the hands of well wishers and kids said "Anand
Ananthame", a tamil caption meaning "Anand
is always a joy" and surely that is a final word
on the champion who has a permanent place in our hearts.
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