Time For Bharat Ratna For Vishy Anand!

Viswanathan “Vishy”Anand is a “Shatranj Ke Khiladi” of the outlier type. Dressed to the nines, articulating views on the board game — sharp and precise — Vishy as he is affectionately known in the world of chess can be witty too. India’s first and breakthrough Grandmaster in 1988 brought to the table a sport that was far from the rest in popularity ratings in India. But three and a half decades after his phenomenal achievement, India has given to the chess world 85 Grandmasters 124 International Masters, 23 Women Grandmasters and 42 Women International Masters. No wonder the Russian Grandmaster, World Champion Garry Kasporav, after India’s double gold (men and women) at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest quipped: “Vishy’s children have grown” to which the Indian champion said: “I am flattered.” Vishy is backing Tech Mahindra’s big push for the Global Chess League as an icon board player of the franchise Ganges Grandmasters. While Tech Mahindra, a promoter of the GSL with FIDE and CEO of the GCL, Sameer Pathak are delighted at India’s fireworks on the 64-square board in Hungary, Vishy expressed optimism about the growing popularity of the sport in India with multi-million followers  and feels that more and more will become stakeholders of Chess. He was spot on saying that the present generation do not cease to surprise and the double gold at the recent Olympiad is only the beginning of better things to come. So,  after  around four decades of making chess popular in India of his own  deeds and finally showing the way for the GenNext has the time arrived  for him to be conferred the Bharat Ratna?