As he braces to take on 44 players sitting at a U-shaped table, Vishwanathan Anand takes a sip of water.
For him, playing chess is as casual as drinking water. Quite the unassuming person, the chess wizard shakes hand with each of the 44 players before he makes the first move. As he walks past, he quickly scans the board, makes his next move and on and on.
It was a pleasure to watch him play. As pleasant as watching Sachin Tendulkar bat or listening to Hariprasad Chaurasia's flute.
As his fans and kin of the players watch him with bated breath, Anand defeated all of them. Some of them even resigned after a few rounds.
As ever, Vishwanathan Anand is untouched. The World No. 2 says he wants the tribe grow enormously in the country. “I would like to take the MindChampions Academy to more schools to draw more and more children to chess. Chess gives children confidence in life and studies have found that the mind game helps them academically too,” he points out.
The academy he started in association with NIIT covers 6,000 government schools.
He has a word of advice for children and those who want to become professional players. “It is important to be physically fit. I generally begin preparations one month before a tournament starts. I usually take the first and last weeks off and undergo rigorous training the remaining two weeks. It also involves physical exercises. You know, international matches get on to your nerves. You need to be physically fit to take the pressure off you while playing crucial matches,” he points out.