It’s long journey ahead for young Nihal: Chess great Anand

Indian chess great Viswanathan Anand sees signs of greatness in Nihal Sarin but says it’s a long journey ahead for the impressive 14-year-old since there has been a trend of players struggling to replicate success as they age.Sarin did exceedingly well by forcing a draw with five-time World Champion Anand in the eighth round of the Tata Steel Chess Rapid tournament here.Currently ranked world number one in the U14 category, Sarin finished the rapid section of the tournament with just three points with six draws and three defeats but impressed with the calm manner in which he tackled the pressure of playing some of the biggest stars of the game.”Going by the evidence so far, I would not rule it out (Nihal becoming a world champion in future). It’s a long journey forward,” Anand told PTI in an interview.
“At the end, he is just 14. I felt that he would really struggle in this tournament and he would be a bit out of place. It seemed the opposite. He seemed quite comfortable here. Not fully there, but he’s a huge talent what I’ve seen of him.”
Sarin, who became the 12th-youngest GM in chess a few months back, has a rating of 2576 in classical chess. Impressed with India consistently churning out talented chess players, Anand said it seems there is a “movement” but was baffled what happens to them when they start maturing. “The problem with young talents is that you have an impression but they outgrow it very fast. I have no idea about what happens 10 years down the line. Not everybody’s growth is going to be linear but we have got enormous depth of talents. Some of them will break through,” Anand said.Apart from the Thrissur boy Sarin, India also have seen the rapid rise of Chennai’s 13-year-old R Praggnanandhaa who hit the headlines by becoming the second youngest Grandmaster in chess history this year.”I think what we have already is a movement. It’s steadily producing lots and lots of players, and slowly the movement is taking the game of chess forward in India. I’m very happy with the steady growth that we have had.”