National chess federation chief hails Anand's feat

CHENNAI: Hailing Viswanathan Anand's feat of retaining world chess crown as the 'greatest achievement and unique one', All-India Chess Federation President N Srinivasan said on Thursday that it reflected the growth of Indian players in the
world scene as the country had also won the world junior (boys and girls) titles this year.
    
"It is a unique victory because he had retained the world champion title. It is an outstanding achievement and every Indian is proud of Anand. Every sportsperson in the country will be happy," he said here, reacting to Anand's win over Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in Bonn.
    
"Abhijit Gupta and Dronovalli Harika are the current world junior boy's and girl's champion (they won the titles last month). Vishy crowning himself with glory retaining the world champion title should augur well for furthering India's hold on world chess scene," Srinivasan said.
    
"This victory will definitely enthuse and give filip to all young Indian aspirants in the sport," Srinivasan, who is also the Secretary of the BCCI, said showering praise on Anand.
    
"Anand is a humble and self effacing person. Achievements sit lightly on Anand's shoulders. He is truly a great champion. I am sure he will remain at top for more than another decade," he said.
    
Pointing out that India boasts of over 8,000 registered players in the FIDE umbrella, Srinivasan said, "It is a tough job for any individual to remain on top amongst the over 16,000 active ELO players under the FIDE and Anand needed to be singled out as the best in the world considering the challengers around him."
    
Taking pride on the exploits of young Indian chess players, who consider Anand as their role model, Srinivasan noted that "the AICF expects a minimum of five medals from our players who are competing in the ongoing World Youth Chess championship in Vietnam".
    
D V Sundar, Secretary AICF, said, "Anand has been inspiring our young talents with his achievements. He is considered as a one-man army. No other Indian has in any sporting discipline achieved such feats. I say this because chess represents much more countries affiliated to FIDE as compared to even International Olympic Committee," he said.
    
"Anand's wins have been constantly reflecting the victories of Indian players in different categories. Even the undivided soviet Union had not been able to achieve this feat, which now remains with India. This year has been much more fruitful for our players on the world scene," he said pointing out to the deeds of Gupta and Harika.
    
Talking about the ongoing World Youth Chess Championship, Sundar said that "Padmini Raut is assured of title in the U-14 category irrespective of what happens in her match today. Baskaran Adiban (U-16) is just a point away from the title. Sayantas Das of Kolkata and Pratisha Bodda (Andhra) in U-12 and Vihit Gujarati (U-14) are the other players in the medal bracket already".
    
He said that the championship title in World Olympiad has been the one that India need to win most.
    
"With Anand's status in world chess added to the growth of our young talents, the AICF hope that we will win the Olympiad in about eight years time."