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 Former
World Champion, Viswanathan Anand today singled out GMs Krishnan Sasikiran and
Koneru Humpy as the brightest stars on the horizon among Indian youth
in the competitive world of chess.
Accompanied
by his wife Aruna, Anand
participated
in a felicitation function got up by Asia's IT major, NIIT, for his
recent big title triumphs at Eurotel
Trophy, Prague and a hat-trick of wins at German soil in Chess
Classic Mainz.
Anand
said, "We have enormous potential and our junior players have all come of
age in Age Group competitions in the world for players upto the age of
20. Their progress has been phenomenal. Harikrishna and Humpy have
been doing well in the circuit." Anand,
nicknamed the 'lightning kid' a decade ago, when he broke into the
top, said "'Sasikiran has broken into the top 50 and presently is
ranked 40th in the world. He is one who is going to improve upon this
like Humpy, another strong player".
Asked
whether he expected the young brigade to pose a challenge to him,
Anand said "None will find it easy. In general, I would like to be
paranoid".
On
the sponsorship received by the youngsters, which was lacking in his
time, Anand said "It is a good sign, as otherwise, these youngsters, who
have the ability to raise their game, will find it difficult to break-even".
Stating
clearly that he would not participate in the Olympiad in Bled,
Slovenia, the
World Cup defending champion said "I will be preparing for the
Hyderabad World Cup, starting from Oct 8, on my return from
Moscow."
On
his ambitious plans for starting an Academy, Anand said "I
wanted to test the waters. I have learnt a lot from the five
day camp, which I held for seven top Indian players last week. I would
like to build on that".
Anand
disagreed with a question put by a reporter, on whether GMs would be
better FIDE administrators and said "We are rivals on the Board.
Perhaps it will not work out that a player could be a good
administrator."
He
said, "The FIDE can do a lot more for the betterment of the game.
Though reunification took place in Prague recently, it will take about
two more years for the results. However, the FIDE should be in
constant touch with the players before they decide on rules and
formats, besides other things."
Anand
opined that FIDE would have to go in for better marketing and move
along professional lines. Weekly or monthly ELO ratings would be more
useful than the present six months and one year ratings, he said.
Giving
an account of his performance this year, Anand felt that it has been
'generally encouraging'. He said he would be leaving for Moscow on
Sept 5, 2002 to play in the "Match of the
Century" between the Top Ten in
the World versus Top ten Russians, starting on Sept 8, 2002.
Anand
also launched NIIT's 12th Bhavishya Jyoti Scholarships to help students
garner the right aptitude to pursue careers in IT and related areas. “NIIT is not only at the forefront of India’s IT revolution but is also
creating mind champions out of young Indians by opening the doors of opportunity through its different educational programs,” Anand said.
Lauding the role of Indian mind in helping India Inc. build a strong
brand equity, Anand said, “Indian software professionals have an exceptional
capability to provide innovative and quality IT solutions to global customers. No wonder more and more companies around the world look
towards India for outsourcing the IT requirements.”
Mr.
L Balasubramanian, Senior Vice President, NIIT said that NIIT's offerings find a fine analogy in
Viswanathan Anand and manifest a perfect match between Anand and NIIT
because - Both are Indian achievers. Like NIIT, which has presence in 38 countries, Anand is a global
player, having won a number of World Championships. Mr
Balasubramanian, added,
"Anand
is the greatest sportsperson India has ever produced, with an enviable
track record in the game of 64 squares."
Agencies
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