BBC Chess Article on Why Chess on the Rise in India
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
The BBC has just released a very nice chess article on why Chess is on the rise in India. The world chess championships are under way in Russia, where Viswanathan Anand defends his title. His success is widely credited for the growing popularity of chess in his home country, India, the nation widely believed to have given the game to the world.
He's been described by some as the Sachin Tendulkar of chess, a role model to thousands of Indian school children and arguably one of the country's most successful sportsmen. Vishwanathan Anand is India's biggest chess star, and was the first in the country to secure the game's highest honour, by becoming a grandmaster.
Anand gained international acclaim in 2000 after he became world chess champion, a title he has now won four times.
The 42-year-old from Chennai is currently in Moscow, competing against Israel's Boris Gelfand for his fifth title. The score is currently two points apiece after four draws.
Chess has a particularly strong following in Delhi, Calcutta and across the south of India. The state of Tamil Nadu, where Anand is from, was even in the bidding to host the current world championships, losing out to Russia. Chess has risen in popularity in the years following Anand's first triumphs, says Bharat Singh, the secretary of the All India Chess Federation.
"The game has really grown in the past six or seven years particularly," he says, highlighting the fact the number of grandmsters (GMs) in India has tripled in that time frame, to 27 GMs today. The number of international chess masters in the country has also tripled (to 76) in the same period, and India is in the world top 10 in rankings. Read the full article here.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com
Hi everyone,
The BBC has just released a very nice chess article on why Chess is on the rise in India. The world chess championships are under way in Russia, where Viswanathan Anand defends his title. His success is widely credited for the growing popularity of chess in his home country, India, the nation widely believed to have given the game to the world.
He's been described by some as the Sachin Tendulkar of chess, a role model to thousands of Indian school children and arguably one of the country's most successful sportsmen. Vishwanathan Anand is India's biggest chess star, and was the first in the country to secure the game's highest honour, by becoming a grandmaster.
Anand gained international acclaim in 2000 after he became world chess champion, a title he has now won four times.
The 42-year-old from Chennai is currently in Moscow, competing against Israel's Boris Gelfand for his fifth title. The score is currently two points apiece after four draws.
Chess has a particularly strong following in Delhi, Calcutta and across the south of India. The state of Tamil Nadu, where Anand is from, was even in the bidding to host the current world championships, losing out to Russia. Chess has risen in popularity in the years following Anand's first triumphs, says Bharat Singh, the secretary of the All India Chess Federation.
"The game has really grown in the past six or seven years particularly," he says, highlighting the fact the number of grandmsters (GMs) in India has tripled in that time frame, to 27 GMs today. The number of international chess masters in the country has also tripled (to 76) in the same period, and India is in the world top 10 in rankings. Read the full article here.
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com
Labels: india chess, Viswanathan Anand
posted by Chess Blog Admin @ 10:08 AM
4 Comments:
At May 18, 2012 at 10:22 AM ,
olga, moscow said...
India does a Russia but Russia is the best
At May 18, 2012 at 10:40 AM ,
amrit puri, knights chess club, new delhi said...
the article is quite right but it misses a very basis point. poverty and population are india's major problems. very talented chess players as youngsters eventually have to give up because otherwise how will they get a job. most resources are also focused in the south. chess is all south india where it is in schools as well and india is really two countries - south india and north india. the literacy rate is very high in south india which allows people to follow something intellectual like sport much easily. Apart from Parimarjan Negi I don't see anyone from North India making a big place in chess at the moment.
At May 18, 2012 at 3:04 PM ,
Anonymous said...
vishy has inspired a whole generation
At May 18, 2012 at 3:40 PM ,
Anonymous said...
Interesting article we need to hear about israel too?
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