MEXICO CITY, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Indian chess grandmaster (GM) Viswanatham "Vishy" Anand Sunday was crowned at International Chess Federation's (FIDE) World Chess Champion Mexico 2007 in Palacio de Mineria in Mexico City's Historic Center.
"I am very happy to be champion and I especially want to thank the warm treatment I received by all the Mexican people and fans that made this possible," Anand told Xinhua.
"One million children are being instructed formally in India to play chess because, I know Mexico is trying to implement a similar program and I wish the Mexican people success," said Anand.
Anand overcame Russian GM Valdimir Kramnik to claim the title, and bronze came to Israeli GM Boris Gelfand.
"You can imagine how happy I am to win this title without having lost any game in this event," said Anand.
The 37-year-old Indian ranked first in FIDE with 2792 points. The great master once collected 2803 points, becoming one of the only four players in history to break the 2800 mark.
Originated in India or China?? I remember reading somewhere that Chess is based on a board game played in China much earlier than when it appeared in India in 600 AD.
Its not very popular in Pakistan. I used to play when I was teen, there were only three guys in the entire mohallah. We spent many hours playing it during school and college summer vacations.
Its not very popular in Pakistan. I used to play when I was teen, there were only three guys in the entire mohallah. We spent many hours playing it during school and college summer vacations.
well its popular ............ i mean i can find many ppl to play chess wid me ...
though there aint ne national competitions
Well later I discovered many people play chess when I found them playing it in the park. And then we realized that we were playing an imporverished version of the game.
For many, India is considered the cradle of Chess. The words for chess in Old Persian and Arabic are chatrang and shatranj respectively — terms derived from chaturanga in Sanskrit, which literally means an army of four divisions. Chess originated in Kannauj now in Uttar Pradesh, India when it was the capital of Maukhari kingdom in the 6th century.
