AICF bestows honour on Anand

Oct 23: Newly crowned World chess champion Viswanathan Anand was bestowed with great honour on his homecoming by the All India Chess Federation (AICF) at a function held here on Monday evening.

The ceremony had the esteemed presence of Asian Chess Federation (ACF) president Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, Test cricketer Rahul Dravid, AICF president N. Srinivasan and Secretary D.V. Sundar.

Anand was presented a silver trophy by the ACF president Al Nahyan. The AICF also presented a cash award of Rs ten lakh to Anand in appreciation of his feat. In addition The Punjab Chess Association President honoured Anand with a replica of the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

ACF president Al Nahyan complimented Anand for the World Championship win. “You will inspire many to strive for excellence, and Asia thanks you for that. On behalf of the ACF, I congratulate you for your spectacular victory”.

“These receptions mean as much as the World Championship,” said Anand at the function.

“I’d like to thank the AICF and the Tamil Nadu State Chess Association. It’s amazing to see all the kids here. I hope I can win a few more tournaments so I can come back for a few more,” he added.

The function was attended by lots of sports personalities including stars like Koneru Humpy, Dronavalli Harika, GM Dibyendu Barua, cricketers K Srikkanth, W V Raman, V B Chandrasekhar, L Balaji, table tennis star S Raman alongwith Tamil Nadu Ranji team cricketers.

Dravid felt honoured to share a common platform with the World champion, “I initially felt I would be out of place sharing the dais with a truly great world champion, but I decided I wanted to meet him since I had never met him before,” said the former Indian captain.

“Three things make Anand very special. Firstly, winning the World Championship twice is an amazing statistic. Secondly, he has shown the way for the rest of the country. He has set path and a benchmark. Finally, the substantial effect he has brought on to his sport has been tremendous.

About Rahul Anand said, “I have always admired Rahul’s personality and his game

“Whenever I watch him, I find his attitude and personality quite similar to mine. For one, we’ve both been called consistent”.

Lauding the efforts put in by the new AICF President N Srinivasan, Anand said ''I can see that chess has been benefitting from his leadership. Srinivasan has been giving the sport the right direction.''