Magnus Carlsen: ‘We’re at the beginning of the Chess Revolution in India Which Started With Vishy Anand’

 Five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen believes that India is only at the launch of a ‘ chess revolution ’. The country has seen an explosion in grandmasters in recent times, with the figures rising from just 20 before 2010 to 82 in the last 13 times.

What’s indeed more heartening for Indian chess is that there are presently nine Indians in the top 100 spots of the FIDE classical chess rankings Viswanathan Anand( World No 9), Gukesh D( No 13), Vidit Gujrathi( 26), Arjun Erigaisi( 30), Pentala Harikrishna( 32), R Praggnanandhaa( 47), Nihal Sarin( 53), SL Narayanan( 85) and Aravindh Chithambaram( 100). Out of them, players like Gukesh, Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa and Sarin are still in their teens.

I suppose we’re just at the morning of a chess revolution that started with Viswanathan Anand getting a grandmaster and ultimately winning the world crown. What we’re seeing now, it’s only going to get better. India is producing GMs at an advanced position than ever ahead. Especially a player like D Gukesh is breaking into the world’s nobility at an early age. I suppose he’s going to be the trend rather than the exception. I suppose they have a lot to look forward to, ” said Carlsen after his side, SG Alpine Masters, had lost to the Balan Alaskan Knights in the Global Chess League.

Carlsen is teammates with Gukesh, Arjun and Praggnanandhaa in the GCL and has been spending long hours over refections talking about chess positions.

“ All three of them are really good. I’m just letting them do their thing and also answering any questions that they might have. But I suppose they’re really good. utmost of the time they don’t need my input.

“ The three Indian cautions in the platoon, they’re really intriguing to talk to when it comes to chess. They calculate extremely well. Pragg has shown in the titleholders Chess stint online that he's extremely good at rapid-fire chess that’s when he’s at his stylish. The chess that he’s playing then suggests that he's taking indeed a further way. It’s been really emotional to see. ”

Despite the defeat, the Alpine Masters are on top of the GCL standings with the Ganges Grandmasters with 12 match points.

“ It’s strange that I've won two games out of six, and those are the only games we've lost. I suppose I played a decent game and showed decent fashion. As for the others, they’ve done extremely well so far. Especially Pragg, who won again on the last board. He’s just doing amazing. The women’s boards as well have performed super well. It’s an unfortunate result, but we keep going, ” said the world no 1, who added that he now looks at the television defences during his own game to see the position of his teammates ’ boards to decide whether he should fight for a palm or settle for draws.

On being asked how he was enjoying the platoon event, he said “ I didn't suppose so important about the format of the event in terms of the scoring. But it’s really good. There are numerous boards with different strengths. But the brigades are overall fairly equal. This means every match is going back and forth. For the last many days, brigades were choosing to play white but also black was doing well. also, the moment it was a massive comeback from the players with the white pieces. I suppose the format is really good, it inspires fighting chess and instigative matches. For me, I suppose this is the way forward. ”

After the five-time world champion decided to lose his right to defend his crown, China’s Ding Liren came the world champion. When asked how different his life had come after letting go of the throne, he said, “ The thing people don’t realise is that my life isn’t so different now than it used to be. I’m still playing events, preparing for them, and travelling around, I enjoy it immensely. This is what I was doing before I started playing in the world crown. And this is what I plan on continuing to do for a while. ”

He was also asked who he saw taking over the mantle as an each-time great after him.

“ I don’t look at ‘ who after me ’, yet. I was asked this question 11 times agone. It was a friend of my father who asked me what I was going to do 15 times when ‘ someone who’s better than you comes on.

TAGS: D GukeshMagnus, CarlsenR, Praggnanandhaa, Vishwanathan Anand