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Young World
Classic moves
M.S.
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Flagging off the NIIT MindChampions Academy, Vishwananth Anand had a lot of tips to offer.
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Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam
Across the States : Viswanathan Anand giving tips.
"When I was six years old, I saw my older brother and sister playing chess and I pestered my mother into teaching me the game as well,” said Viswanathan Anand while addressing about 300 school children across India through their monitors.
Flagging off the NIIT MindChampions Academy 2008-09 series from Delhi, ‘Vishy’ as he is popularly called, gave tips to students on playing chess, across 12 centres through an integrated computer network connecting all NIIT centres. He also patiently answered questions relating to chess and otherwise like “what is the secret of a successful person?” and “why did you choose chess as a career?” posed by the children.
Strategies
During the interaction, Vishy stressed on the importance of the basics of chess which, he said, was an area where “even the grandmasters go wrong”. He demonstrated certain moves and strategies of the game and checkmate positions. He highlighted the benefits of “developing pieces to the centre that will enable it more movement.”
“Bring out the pawns first and then develop the other pieces and don’t move a piece twice until the other pieces are out” are some of the strategies that he discussed with the students who in turn were glued to their monitors observing every point.
Answering a question, Anand confessed that 2007 was a dream year for him. “I had reached many milestones that had eluded me in the past. Winning the Chess Oscar for the fifth time was icing on the cake,” he said. Also accompanying him at the inauguration was wife Aruna who was a silent spectator throughout the session. At the event, Anand also unveiled the horse head-shaped ‘Chess Master’ mascot.
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