The world chess champion and Grand Master Indian Gukesh attributes to Viswanathan Anand for having played a crucial role in the rapid growth of sport in India. He revealed how Anand’s key initiative during the COVVI-19 pandemic helped young players develop and raise Indian failures to new heights.
Learn more
The five -time world champion in Viswanathan Anandan chess was inspiration for almost all chess players, but it was not only his out -of -phase achievements that helped India become a power of chess. The current world champion of GUKESH failures on Saturday addressed the role of Westbridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA) in the rise of Indian chess in recent years.
Anand created the Westbridge Anand Chess Academy in partnership with Westbridge Capital during the Pandemic Covid-19. He started working from January 2021 with five chess players. The first batch of mentories included Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, Nihal Sarin, R Va Vahali and Raunak Sadhwani.
Gukesh of this lot won the world chess championship in December 2024, defeating the great Chinese master Dingn, while Praggnanandhaa won the “Wimbledon of Chess” Tata Steel Masters 2025 in February of this year.
Praggnanandhaa’s sister, Vasihali, has also recently become the third Indian woman.
In 2024, male and women’s Indian teams also won gold medals at Olympiad chess for the first time.
“ Discussing failures with Vish anand is motivating ”
GUKESH, while appearing in India Today Conclave, explained how the Westbridge Anand de Anand’s chess academy had led to the rise of India as superpower in the world of failures.
“I think that many factors play a role here (Gukesh has declared by speaking of the rise of Indian chess). I think that one of the biggest contributions, without a doubt, is Vishy (Viswanathan Anand) Sir made, not only with his achievements, not only an inspiration, but around December 2020, he joined Westbridge to launch the Westbridge Anand Academy. I am a part, I am a student at the academy and the vision of Vish Sir was to select the best talented young people at the time in the locking because there was no tournament, “said Gukesh.
“It was online and many people did not work so hard. So it was a great moment for us to take this advantage. It was super exciting for me, and I am sure that many young people, because getting into contact with Vishy Sir, to discuss failures with him regularly, was so motivating that the locking, the pandemic, did not feel like a waste of time. We actually worked very hard, ”he added.
Earlier this month, Gukesh went to the best world career ranking of three. He has an Elo note from 2787 and will try to cross the 2800 mark, making him the third Indian to do so.
