More Chess Grandmasters due to Chess Inflation: Anand

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

In an interesting interview to an Indian newspaper in Mumbai, World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand has said there is a sudden spurt in the number of grandmasters because of "inflation". "It seems that chess is undergoing inflation," he joked. "GM titles are mimicking it. Earlier, it was very difficult to complete a single (GM) norm because there was a big gap between a top-ranked player and his rival. These days there are more average players, so they garner more points with wins," added Anand, who was in Mumbai to interact with school kids.

"It's happening because there are stronger players now having similar (ELO) ratings. These days the kids ask me about how I open with black pieces etc. Just goes on to show how the awareness about the game has risen," he observed.

Anand went on to applaud the achievements of the new crop of youngsters who have done India proud. "Chess as a game develops concentration, patience and ability to draw conclusions. That's why I became part of MCA to popularise chess in schools and the results are great - we recently got a under-12 champion in Murali Karthikeyan through this initiative," the 42-year-old informed.

Terming his fifth World Championship title as the "most difficult one" to achieve, Anand said, "Normally I try not to read newspapers or websites to keep focus on my game as you might get affected by some comment or other."

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