4 months ago
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For long, Viswanathan Anand has lived beingness retired of suitcases.
As India’s chess ambassador for galore decades now, Anand has played tournaments each crossed the satellite and accrued India’s sporting beingness connected the planetary stage. Even today, this semi-retired chess nonrecreational is inactive astatine the apical of the crippled – successful fact, helium had an awesome tally astatine the 2026 Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and Blitz Tournament successful Kolkata recently.
“I person been travelling for astir 50 years for chess, and person not been portion of galore things backmost location due to the fact that of my career,” helium recalls, “I present bask the elemental moments of life, particularly being with my family. Living good is being capable to admit beingness and chess.”
At 56, Anand tin present yet bash what helium has agelong been wanting to; bask a lazy time astatine his Kotturpuram residence successful Chennai, play a spot of array tennis with his son, Akhil, and walk clip connected languid conversations with his wife, Aruna. In fact, Anand was contiguous passim to enactment his son, Akhil Anand, during the 14-year-old’s solo creation accumulation called Morphogenenesis held successful Chennai successful August 2025. “As a father, I consciousness that I should present beryllium much contiguous and bask being a family,” stresses Anand, “I effort to unwind from question oregon from a tourney by doing nothing. I play a batch less, truthful I really bask grooming and playing. Many things that I would taken for granted... I present look guardant to. I bask this feeling of tiredness aft an event. I consciousness astir similar a six-year-old erstwhile I play a bully game. Gratitude is possibly the word.”
Maybe it is. This signifier has besides fixed the chess champion the accidental to instrumentality up speechmaking much seriously. “I person a wont of going backmost to books that I person work and re-read a portion that I americium funny in,” helium reveals, “Inner beingness of Numbers (Simon Singh) is 1 specified book. Currently, I americium fascinated by the book, Why we die by Venki Ramakrishnan.”
When he’s not pursuing chess oregon reading, Anand, similar astir Chennaiites, loves his filter java and devouring the newspaper. So, what is that 1 indulgence that makes his time better? “I emotion a bully nap aft lunch,” helium says, “Even erstwhile I americium astatine a tournament, the nap is non-negotiable. I find that it astir energises maine for the remainder of the day.”
Viswanathan Anand volition beryllium successful speech with The Hindu’s Sports Editor KC Vijaya Kumar connected January 18 (11.15am) astatine The Hindu Pavilion, The Hindu Lit for Life 2026. For details, sojourn https://www.thehindu.com/lit-for-life/
