Wish the Vish

The Universal Champ, Vishy is defending his World title against challenger Topalov. I wish Vishy all the best for World Chess Championship. For more than two decades Indians are proud of him. He has given every reason to be proud of him. Vishy has achieved far more than India would have expected him to achieve in sports and then to in a non-cricket field. Vishy not only lived up to the hopes of 1 billion people but also excelled beyond that; by winning all format world championships.

In India Vishy is such an icon to chess like Sachin is to cricket (Obviously I am not comparing Vishy and Sachin. And I can’t compare.). Vishy go! And make us proud once again!

I also wish Sachin a very happy B’Day. To me, Sachin- a reason to watch cricket!

The "Vish"

Vishwanath Anand, popularly known as Vishy among the chess fans, has made Indians proud again by retaining the World title. 

World witnessed a scintillating performance by Vishy in Bon (October 2008). This is unprecedented performance in the Chess. In Mexico 2007 Vishy won World title in style without losing a single game and secured the first place before the final round. Even here in Bon World Chess Championship he retains the title before the final round. This shows his strength and his command on the game. Winning the World Championship before the last round and then too he did it twice is just phenomenal. When Anand won World title in 2000 critics said knock-out format favored Vishy as the players have to play fast (which results in blunder) and Vishy is Rapid King. Then again he won in Mexico 2007 in double round robin format; critics said he is not champion of classical format and true test of a champion is classical format. And he outplayed the “classical format” champion Vladimir Kramnik in every aspect of the game. Now he is the champion of all formats. He is the truely “Universal Champ”. He made Indians proud again. He is the complete player and he has all the World titles of every type Rapid game, Blindfold game, Classical game…… you name it. 

Winning the World Title 

Comments from former World Champ Garry Kasparov:

“It was a very well-played match by Vishy. Except for the loss of concentration in the tenth game he played consistently and managed to enforce his style. His choice to open with 1.d4 was excellent. He reached playable positions with life in them, so he could make Kramnik work at the board. Anand outprepared Kramnik completely. In this way it reminded me of my match with Kramnik in London 2000. Like I was then, Kramnik may have been very well prepared for this match, but we never saw it. I didn't expect the Berlin and ended up fighting on Kramnik's preferred terrain. 

A great result for Anand and for chess. Vishy deserved the win in every way and I'm very happy for him. It will not be easy for the younger generation to push him aside.”

Where is the party tonight.......

    The entire team : Kasim, Peter Heine, Surya, The Vish, Aruna and Radek