Viswanathan Anand believes the chess World Cup will inspire India’s budding players. “Most top players when they were young went somewhere and saw someone and they thought they wanted one day to be like that,” he said here on Tuesday, shortly before the second round of the World Cup got underway. “We have lots of top Indians playing here and I hope the youngsters will come and see their heroes.”
Anand, a former World Cup winner and now FIDE’s deputy president, said the top three seeds — D. Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and R. Praggnanandhaa — were good enough to take the top three spots.
“There are a lot of older players who are motivated enough,” he said. “Levon Aronian has already been on the beach here for a week and he has clearly taken it very seriously. There is a wealth of talent in this competition. And as a tourist spot, it is wonderful that Goa is showcasing its ability to organise a large-scale event.”
Goa’s Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the government would continue to support tournaments like the World Cup. “This will help us bring a brighter future for sports in the country,” he said.
“We have already hosted several important sports events in the last two or three years, in games like table tennis and beach volleybal,” he added.