Monday 16 / September / 2024
Muscat: It’s confirmed. Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand will be visiting Oman from May 12.
The chess maestro from Chennai or Tiger of Madras, as he is popularly known among legions of his fans, Anand will be in the Sultanate’s capital on an invitation from International Chess Academy of Oman (ICAO).
The former multiple world champion’s visit, which according to ICAO is made possible by the sponsorship of Zawawi Group’s Alawi Enterprises, will be a five-day affair with the possibility of it getting extended by a couple of days.
The ICAO is bringing Anand to Oman with the primary objective of promoting the game in the Sultanate and to provide encouragement to the children to continue to play the game they love.
Confirming the news of Anand’s visit, Academy’s manager and chief coach Ismael Karim said, ‘Vishy is visiting Oman from May 12’.
Ismael Karim, an International Master who previously served as Oman national team coach, first thanked Zawawi Group and Alawi Enterprises for ‘readily agreeing’ to back the ambitious project.
“I would like to thank Zawawi Group and Alawi Enterprises, especially (Director) Alawi Al Zawawi, for making this possible. Without their support it would not have been possible to realise our dream of bringing Vishy to Oman,” he said.
“When we approached Alawi (Al Zawawi), he readily agreed to the proposal as was the case when Kasparov visited Oman,” he said referring to former Russian world champion Garry Kasparov’s trip to the Sultanate in 2014 which was also made possible by Alawi, who is also an avid chess enthusiast.
Then the ICAO coach sat down with the Zawawi Group CEO Kasiraman Swaminathan to work out the modalities.
“Thanks to their interest and knowledge in chess they gave a go-ahead for our plans. All they wanted was to run the whole affair professionally, which I assured that’s what ICAO stands for,” Ismael Karim said.
“So here we are preparing for Vishy’s visit now. We have to thank Alawi Enterprises and their brands Muscat Pharmacy, Zahara Travel and DHL.”
Venue: Avenues Mall
Giving details of the actual activities planned for Anand’s visit, he said: “Vishy will be here on a five-day visit and probably two additional days which will be more of a private affair.
“Anand will arrive on May 12 and the following day, he will play a simultaneous exhibition match at the Avenues Mall,” he said.
Asked about who will get the opportunity to challenge Anand, who became India’s first Grandmaster in 1988 and then went on to win five world championship titles (2000-02, 20007, 2008, 2010, 2012), he said: “Our primary aim is to encourage the children and to inspire the kids who play chess with Vishy’s words of wisdom. So majority of them will be children as well as top Omani talents.
“We will be conducting five tournaments in Indian schools, which will be like selection events for the exhibition match,” he said.
“From each of these five events, the top boy and the girl will play with Vishy in the exhibition match.”
The five tournaments will start with the first one on April 16 at Indian School Al Seeb. The second one is scheduled for April 21 and will be played at Indian School Al Ghubrah where students of Modern International School will also be competing.
They will be followed by competitions at the Indian School Muscat (April 23), Indian School Al Wadi Al Kabir (April 30) and Indian School Darsait (May 7).
“In addition to the ten schoolchildren, we will be picking eight Omani talents. To select the Omani players, who will come from all over Oman, we will have a tournament on May 12 and the winners will stay back to play with Vishy the following day,” Ismael Karim said.
There will be a couple of slots for the sponsors, he informed.
The ICAO coach also said: “On May 14, Vishy will deliver a lecture and will be involved in an interactive session with the children at the academy. This session will not be an open event but an exclusive one for the academy students.”
On May 15, Anand may visit a few schools but the programme will ‘depend on how things work out’.
Stating that Anand’s visit is going to be a great opportunity for the children to learn and get inspired by the legend, Ismael Karim said: “As I said our aim is to popularise the game and visit of Vishy will surely inspire the children. Our ultimate idea is to make such visits annual affairs. I have no doubt, if everything works out well, we will achieve that objective.”
