Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his team will felicitate World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand on the opening day of their first cricket Test against England, beginning in Chennai on December 11.
Dhoni will present Anand with a one carat diamond ring, worth approximately Rs 5 lakh, at a function organised by the All India Chess Federation, it was announced in Chennai on Saturday.
Anand has returned home after defending his world title against Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in a match at Bonn, Germany in October.
The Indian chess ace has for the third time won the title after he first crowned himself in 2001 and then in 2007 and 2008 asserting his supremacy in all the their formats -- knock-out, round-robin and matchplay -- respectively to be among the all time greats of the sports.
The cricketers will be in Chennai to play their first Test against England after the match was relocated to the southern metropolis from Ahmedabad following the terror attacks in Mumbai.