ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024
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A world champion who is cool but not eccentric, affable and not out of reach, expressive but not aggressive, genius but not arrogant, exceptional but identifiable is the best example to emulate. Anand was the peoples’ champion long before he became the official World Champion. To come from humble background with average circumstances and be able to do what he did, is quite remarkable. Most importantly it proves the power of human will and wit, which can shine as well as anything, however dim the starting light be. No examples to follow, no top coaching or mentors, and still he conquered the territory, where he comes from none had ever truly explored.
The upcoming World Chess Championship may be making news for the reasons of who will win. For me it was the best time to conduct a Soul Event and inspire the kids from the story of a person who did it all by himself, however strong the odds of that being possible were. Even after achieving what he did there is no false air about him, be it performance, behavior or being a role model of inspiration. I do not see a better World Champion ever.
Appreciate what’s good and celebrate what’s truly great. This is the basic philosophy I follow for encouraging kids to do good and be great. Admiration is not a trait of small hearts, and the way I heard good things about Karpov’s fighting spirit and resourcefulness, as well as how great a talent Carlsen is, the very words of the World Champion show how big a heart he has. This great person truly has to be celebrated and emulated by all generations, and I tried my bit to expose students to what our World Champion is like and how you can learn from him.
This is what I gifted him when I had the good fortune to meet him four years ago
This time I conceptualized an image and got it converted into a painting from artist Rajesh.
This is how it looks now…
The King of Lightening
The first thing that I want to say through this painting that any talks of him being old is absurd. You have sportspeople like Sachin Tendulkar and Leander Paes doing so well in physical sports at this age. Chess is a brain sport and you have geniuses like Einstein whose brains were as active at time they died as it was when they were youngsters. So what if there is unlearning, relearning and improvements with experience. There is no way this world chess championship is about an old brain versus new brain. Anand is as young as he ever was and will always be.
The second point which I wanted to make was who controls lightening. Check the previous World Championship matches and see how many times lightning struck. Kramnik, Topalov and Gelfand all suffered at least one outstanding loss when they didn’t think they were losing. This time lightning shall strike more often and more powerful. If you see the board setup of the painting, you can recall what happens when lightning strikes.
There are positive and negative energy places and items. There is a notion that you can attach energy to items. Without going into science or superstition of it, I just used this painting to at least convey the message of the fans to the champion. Here the wishes for Vishy flow…
From students of Springbird School, Sonipat...
... and Students of Jankidas Public School, Sonipat
Girls of VidyaShanti initiative with their mentor at the Technovite Lab office
I went to all the four schools to record wishes there and to give them the chess sets from the Second Planetskool Soul Event they participated in. Their warm wishes are being shown here…
Students of Hindu Vidya Peeth – Sonipat premises
Students of DAV M Public School – Sonipat. Principal V.K. Mittal giving away the chess sets to the students who participated in the soul event in the entire school’s morning assembly. The school children also performed a Havan for wishing success for Viswanathan Anand. Principal Mr V.K. Mittal gave a nice message to the children on how they should be inspired by Anand and try to instill confidence in themselves that they can achieve anything.
The Havan
When you wish someone success, you become the part of the endeavor as well. All these children with all their heart support Vishy, and their youth and wishes are now part of him as well.
If someone is wondering why I and everyone are talking about the world champion, but there is no challenger bashing – the answer is obvious. Magnus’s worries about the venue as Chennai were unreal from the very beginning. Have a look at how the Chennai crowd treated the arch rivals Pakistan after they won a test match of cricket beating India in a tense match.
I do not believe in any distinction or bias because of nationality, colour, monetary status, gender, age, etc. We are all unique and we are all similar. I believe we all should think we have transparent skin, so that we do not have any bias towards others. We should be like a mirror in our behaviour, so that others treat us as their own when they see us.
As much as we love Anand, we are all praise for Magnus as well. Personally I would get inflated with infinite pride to have a son like him, or Rafael Nadal, or a daughter like Hou Yifan. These gems after all, are not only asset to their families but to the entire world. They are the flag bearers of human competence, and even while I root for Anand with all my heart, it doesn’t mean a bit that I want Carlsen to play badly or say negative things about him. He is remarkable and he should continue doing justice to the game. I wish to see remarkable games and Anand to win on merit. I am sure all Magnus worries were over when he visited Chennai some time ago. You are coming here to celebrate the game of chess and I am sure people of Chennai will do the same. We are supporting Anand as we see that his role as World Champion has not come to an end. Firstly, he is as strong as anyone and already overcame enough throughout his career not to be counted lightly. Secondly, he is still needed as the role model for the masses. He is still the lightening king who amazes everyone with his demeanour. The World needs a champion like him to stay on.
Warning the world to brace for the upcoming lightning storm!
This is the best season for the soul event, it’s very easy to inspire kids when you have the story of Viswanathan Anand to tell! Therefore we shall attempt to conduct the third edition of Soul Event in Chennai while I visit there to watch the championship games. The painting too shall travel around 2,200 kms to reach Viswanathan Anand – with all wishes packed in it!
Suneet S Mausil is CEO of Technovite Lab, and is focused on software R&D and education. He is totally invested in Planetskool, an under construction initiative which aims at bringing kids closer and helping them learn better. For anyone who wishes to know more about Planetskool, contribute ideas, please be in touch through our facebook pages.
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