'Chess Now is a Different Sport From our Time'

Viswanathan Anand, five-time World Champion and India's first Grandmaster, on mentoring a generation that hasn't lived without computers, how far can AI impact the game, and more

- By KATHAKALI CHANDA

In 1987, it took Viswanathan Anand eight months to secure customs clearance for a computer that he had received as a gift to prepare for his games. About a year or so later, he would go on to become India's first Grandmaster (GM), the highest title a chess player can achieve.

Nearly 40 years and five World Championships later—at a time when, as he puts it, “thinking in chess is entirely done through computers”— Anand remains as relevant as ever. While he's a bit more picky about tournaments now, his chess canny remains as razor-sharp as ever. Just recently, he took down reigning world champion D Gukesh, 19, twice in the third edition of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League, which was conceived by Anand Mahindra, chairman of the Mahindra Group, and shaped by Anand himself.

In Mumbai to play in the league, Anand sat down for an exclusive chat with Forbes India, discussing why a league format works for an individual sport like chess, how shedding baggage helps the modern generation of players, and why, despite the strides AI has made, it will remain a tool in the hands of humans. Edited excerpts:

Q You are India's first ever GM. India now has 91. Can you talk us through the key inflection points of chess in India?

Probably 1988, when I became a GM, was the first time the sport caught people's attention. Because like the Olympic gold medal, it's one of those things that we didn't do for a long time and then suddenly we did it. The World Championship that I won in 2000 must have been the next big step, equivalent to the 1983 cricket moment in chess.

And, later, the pandemic was a huge inflection point. It gave people a lot of time to follow chess players, while sitting at home and trying to think of things to do. I always say chess would have missed the boat if the pandemic happened 10 years earlier, because we wouldn't have had the bandwidth to take advantage of it. In 2020, it was the perfect time.