Anand wants to be part of India team for chess Olympiad
5 Jan 2018 6:12 PM GMT
Chennai: Six-time world champion Viswanathan Anand on Friday expressed interest to be part of the Indian team for the Chess Olympiad to be held in Georgia later this year.
He said this after being felicitated by All India Chess Federation (AICF) and Tamil Nadu State Chess Association (TNSCA) here for winning the World Rapid title in Riyadh recently.
He also claimed a bronze in the Blitz event at the tournament. The Chennai Grand Master, who has not played in the sport's premier team event for a while now and his presence could add strength to the national squad.
While AICF presented him a cheque for Rs 5 lakh, TNSCA gave away a specially designed silver cascade.
Speaking at the event, Anand said it felt happy to be the world champion again after the tough time he had endured in the last year and more.
He said he had missed out for a few years the feeling of people calling him a world champion. His performance in the last two years on occasions has been 'wobbly', with good and bad results, he said.
"It has been a struggle. Part of it was getting used to all the new talents that are coming
up and the way the chess world is changing. Anyway the last two rapid events that I played in did not go so well. I was looking forward to a podium finish, but this (winning the gold in rapid) was unexpected," Anand said.
Next Story
