After his majestic feat of two World Chess Championship titles, Viswanathan Anand is now eager to see whether his countrymen give him the same grand reception that they had extended to Twenty20 World Cup winning cricketers.
Anand's dazzling achievement is coupled with the Indian ace crossing the magic ELO rating of 2800 for the second time in his career and continuing his top ranking for the third time in succession since climbing up the FIDE charts in April this year.
After ending his nearly seven-year wait to reclaim the world title with an undefeated run in the Mexico city on Saturday, Anand said he came to know about the grand welcome that the cricketers had been given and was sure that at least his chess friends would be there to receive him.
"Yes, I heard about it (the welcome given to the cricket team). It would be interesting to see what kind of reception I get when I come to India by the end of this month (October)," Anand told PTI over phone from Mexico in an exclusive interview.
"But my friends from chess would certainly be there as always," he said and added that "here in Mexico everyone understood the importance of this event".
{{/usCountry}}"But my friends from chess would certainly be there as always," he said and added that "here in Mexico everyone understood the importance of this event".
{{/usCountry}}The first undisputed world champion since Garry Kasparov, who parted ways with FIDE in 1993, Anand said he was relieved after accomplishing the feat.
Even Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, who had defeated Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in a match-play, was not the undisputed champion.