Viswanathan Anand feels unpredictability is good for sport

KOLKATA: Viswanathan Anand is all for unpredictability in Indian sports. The five-time world chess champion believes in having a system, but at the same time he does not feel that champions are produced only through it.
“It’s good to have a system, but at the same time you should leave space for some unpredictability in it. I don’t think it will work well if you reduce Indian sports to some specific method or system to produce a winner,” he told TOI on the sidelines of Kolkata rapid and blitz tournament here. “Norway did not do anything specific to get Magnus Carlsen. In the same way, I don’t know if Iran has any programme but now we have (Alireza) Firouzja,” he reasoned.
However, at the same time the India No. 1 feels a system in place does help the sport to grow. “Although I have not watched the systems in other countries closely, I know many countries have some programmes. But obviously there’s not always a correlation between the programme and churning out of champions. But yes it should help to some extent,” he said.
In that aspect Anand feels Indian chess is looking up. He is happy to see a bunch of young talented players and is excited to work with them now. “In chess all the elements are coming in and the pieces are slowly falling in place. The game has benefited a lot during the pandemic with more and more online events and people following them too which are all good signs,” he said.
The maestro is not disappointed that none of his countrymates could make the World Championship cycle after him. “See most countries don’t break through to the next level. It sometimes happens, sometimes it doesn’t,” he pointed out.
However, he advocates patience. “I know how Russia supported the game after the fall of the Soviet Union. They went through a whole rebuilding process. But it took a long time. Now Russia is perhaps the strongest chess nation in the world with the best women and junior players too,” he said.
He is also hopeful of good days ahead for India chess. “We have the raw material, the talent, but we should continue working on that to get to the next stage,” he remarked adding that he is in touch with GM-turned coach RB Ramesh who had nurtured most of the rising players.