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NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 27:
 

Chess maestro Viswanathan Anand being felicitated at the diamond jubilee celebrations of  amilnadu State Chess Association in Chennai yesterday. P R Venketrama Raja, president of the association, J C D Prabhakar, vice-president and D V Sundar, secretary, AICF, are among those present.

        It was a memorable occasion for the Tamilnadu State Chess Association (TNSCA) which came into being (on 26 April) six decades ago. A grand fete was organised to commemorate the same here yesterday and Chennai's pride Viswanathan Anand, the numero uno was at hand to soak in the celebrations.

        Speaking on the occasion, D V Sundar, secretary, All India Chess Federation, said TNSCA is a role model for chess associations all over and the sport.

        Anand, who was the chief guest, said, 'It is great to be back with old friends and share the old stories.'

        He also wished the TNSCA, on the occasion. Two of the five founding members - A V Sriramulu (founder-secretary) and P S Vaidyanathan - were present at the function.

        The fifth annual awards were also given away. Fifteen Tamilnadu players who won World, Asian and National titles in the 2005 and 2006 received cash awards.

        Prominent among those present were K Sasikiran, national champion S S Ganguly and former national women's champion Swati Ghate.

        The celebrations commenced with three simultaneous displays with GM J Deepan Chakkravarthy of Madurai scoring 22.5/23 and IMs M R Venkatesh and V Saravanan scoring 19.5/20 and 19/20.

        International arbiter V Kameswaran had a photographic exhibition displaying historic pictures at the venue.

        Earlier, talking to reporters, Anand termed his recent victory in Linares and subsequent allocation of the world No.1 status as 'magical.'

        On the controversy surrounding the ranking, he said, 'it's very funny it happened that way.' '(I) don't want to rehash that story. Done is done.'

        International Chess Federation on 3 April bowed to widespread pressure and crowned Anand as the world's number one player, after initially depriving him of the top position. 'There are no more innocent times in chess, at least for me,' Anand quipped.

        Anand said he was looking ahead to the world championship in Mexico later this year. He also said that the information explosion in chess, with over 30,000 games being added to the database every year due to the advent of technology.

        Atulya Misra, Member-Secretary, Sports Development Authority of Tamilnadu said 'Chess Cafes' would be set up in all the districts in the State. 'We will set up some of them in the near future in some villages,' he said.