Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand deserves special kudos for clinching the world chess championship crown on Sunday after winning four and tying 10 games during the tournament in Mexico City. Besides the title, Anand has received an attractive packet of $390,000 or Rs. 1.5 crore. But this is not all. 

Over 127 years since the chess world championship is on, only 17 fortunate men have had the opportunity to seize the title. Although the game is played seriously in more than 160 countries, Anand is the only champion from outside the European nations and the USSR. Hence, he surely deserves a super star status for his outstanding feats.

Although the craze over cricket in the sub-continent has over-shadowed Anand’s achievement, his victory has been clean and complete. When he entered Mexico City Anand was the top seed and he dominated all through till he made the last move on the chess board to conquer the world. What is more significant is that Anand has won the world title twice playing under two different formats!

However, for Viswanathan Anand there is no room for complacency. Soon after clinching the world title, he came down heavily on the FIDE championship rules that necessitates a game between him and the former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, who finished second in the championship, within a few months’ time in order to hang on to his world title.

Speaking from Madrid, his current home, the 37-year-old Indian GM ridiculed that the FIDE championship rules were not in the benefit of the game, but only helped the authorities to keep their position in the world body. “These complicated rules were framed last year only to win a few votes and has nothing to do with the game. I hope that this cycle would not be repeated in the future,” he remarked.

The rules are ridiculous as it stipulates that whoever emerges victorious from the game between Anand and Kramnik will then play the winner of the match between former champion Veselin Topalov and the claimant of World Cup to be held in Russia later this year.

Meanwhile, even as Anand says that he has been enjoying his victory, back home the triumph has become sweeter with the Tamil Nadu Government announcing a cash award of Rs 25 lakh on Friday. An official press release said that Anand has brought laurels to the country as well as the State by winning the coveted world championship on Sunday. Chief Minister M Karunanidhi too congratulated the ‘Mater of the World’ and granted the cash prize on behalf of the Government, it added. 

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