The silver jubilee of Anands golden triumph

The atmosphere is festive at the Royal Opera House on this pleasant Tuesday night. It is the final of the third season of the Global Chess League.

Before the final, there is the playoff for the third place between Ganges Grandmasters and PBG Alaskan Knights. And on the top board, the clash is between Viswanathan Anand and D. Gukesh, the reigning World chess champion.

Gukesh’s older opponent — by only 37 years — has won the World title five times. Wednesday marks the 25th anniversary of the first of those titles. Anand won India’s first World chess championship in Tehran on December 24, 2000.

It remains one of India’s greatest sporting moments. Even now, it isn’t often that an Indian wins the World title in a truly global, competitive sport.

A quarter of a century after that unforgettable Christmas Eve, Anand remains the most popular Indian chess player. You could see that yet again here during the past days of the GCL.

On the league’s opening day, which was also the day when Lionel Messi was in the city, you met a young woman who paid ₹1,300 so that she could get to meet Anand, her sporting hero.

The legend from Chennai signed on her chessboard. Anand is not just the most loved of our top Grandmasters, he is the most accessible, too.

That he continues to play top level chess, though only occasionally, matters. His presence draws more people to an event. And chess, for all the achievements India has had over the last few years, still could do with more marketing.

The game in India wasn’t anywhere near this big when Anand won his and India’s first World title after beating Alexei Shirov in that one-sided final in the Iranian capital. The first part of that World championship was played in New Delhi, where he also charmed his fans who thronged Hotel Hyatt Regency.