What Anand’s Visit Means to Africa
Tomorrow Viswanathan Anand will set foot down on the African continent. This is reportedly his first visit which is significant for a number of reasons.
- First, no other sitting World Champion has visited the continent in recent memory (or perhaps ever). This is revolutionary for a number of reasons and may represent a “homecoming” of sorts for a hero of humble beginnings. Certainly as a player from a developing country, there are a number of social similarities that Anand can identify with and he will come with sincerity and humility.
- Second, Anand is admired widely on the continent from north to south, east and west. India of course has a sizeable Indian population in places like Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa, so there is certainly a precedent for the India-Africa detente. IM RB Ramesh visited South Africa in 2003 and was warmly welcomed. In fact, Anand will stop in South Africa and will no doubt want to see a cricket match.
- Third, India and Africa are experiencing increasing cooperation on the economic front and Anand’s visit can perhaps result in a chess diplomacy. Perhaps a chess exchange can develop between the continents with Africa gaining access to one of the most successful models in recent chess history.
- Fourth, this will represent the legitimacy that chess needs for future sponsorship. Botswana’s NIIT branch can be a major player in chess sponsorhip and perhaps other African branches can make an investment to chess on the continent. Other corporations may study the success that NIIT’s investment has brought to India. Of course, this is publicity worth millions of dollars. Anand’s blazers and shirts with “NIIT” have already become a familiar fixture in tournaments he plays in.
- Fifth, this is a fantastic coup for chess. It demonstrates the universality of the sport and the fact and people around the world can be intrigued by a game that crosses so many geographical and social boundaries. Forever the statesman, Anand’s visit will bring legitimacy and may inspire a generation of players. Despite the one billion people in Africa, it is a sparsely populated land mass (80 persons/square mile). The continent is so vast that China, Europe and the U.S. can fit inside of her borders. Imagine chess catching fire on such a massive scale. African federations should be planning to capitalize off of this special event.
Elite players and chess media typically pay little attention to the African continent. Thus, chess struggles for attention from sponsors. However, Anand will not be the first elite player to visit Botswana. GM Judit Polgar visited Botswana back in 2001 and gave a couple of simuls and a workshop.
Unfortunately, there was little fanfare in the international media of Polgar’s visit. African media was equally abysmal in the coverage despite Polgar’s prodigious and historic accomplishments. GM Nigel Short has also visited Botswana as well as Zambia, but both were for political reasons and in ended controversy. Short had visited Kenya earlier and was warmly accepted.
Let us hope African continent will not miss this opportunity and that Anand will get a rousing welcome and African hospitality! Congratulations Botswana for bringing a chess hero to Africa!
I appreciate the points made; his egalitarianism and his warmth play well on the Continent, as they do elsewhere. His strength and quiet confidence may well inspire youth and give them an additional connection to the game. I would hope that sponsors follow suit, because what is good for Africans in chess is good for the chess world. Thanks, Shabazz, for your continued attentions to this important aspect of International Chess.
Yes. Vishy is the first non-arrogant contemporary chess champion. He is a very good face for chess (although I am going for Topalov in 2010).
Thanks for being so Informative brother Shabazz ,however this is exactly what was suspected. Peace.
visvanathan anand came to Botswana and played chess against 40 of the best young students from all over Botswana and beat us all simultaneously Wow isn’t it amazing.
To everyone who likes chess.
Anand also visited Durban and I wrote a report on his visit – see https://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/keithru/anandvisit.html for this. However, he is definitely not the first World Champion to visit the African continent.
I remember playing against Dr Max Euwe when I was still a schoolboy, in a simul held in Durban in 1974 (my game ended in a draw). In 1974 Dr Euwe was touring Southern Africa on a fact finding mission, when he was the president of FIDE. Dr Euwe also played at the Johannesburg international tournament in 1955 and gave numerous simuls throughout SA in 1955.
Then there was Karpov, who visited South Africa in 1993 as a guest of the ANC. He played a number of simuls in Johannesburg.
Looking at the wider continent, how could you forget that Fischer played at the Interzonal in Sousse 1967? More recently, both Kasimdzhanov and Topalov played in the FIDE Wch 2004 held in Tripoli. They are both FIDE world champions.
I would not think the idea of Anand visiting without donating anything will help anything in Africa.It would be far fetched ,India probably has bigger problems itself.Hope he enjoyed the holiday.
I have also visited South Africa, Angola, Namibia, Mozambique and Malawi and was warmly welcomed everywhere (not forgetting Algeria and Libya). Indeed after I met the Malawian Sports Minister in 2006 and put the case for the necessity of supporting chess, the country was represented at the Olympiad for the very first time in Turin. I might add that even in the two places where I received a mixed reception – Botswana and Zambia – I was welcomed by the players.
Kawaguchi Inamoto
No no no, you are missing the point. Anand’s visit was not about charity. The only donation that Botswana sought was about his knowledge in chess, but that he delivered. Botswana and South Africa are not that desperate for material donations.
Peace
Nigel Short.
Your visit to Botswana was for political campaign, different from what Anand came for.
Peace
I have now found my old newspaper cuttings! The 1974 visit of Dr Euwe was reported on in both of our local newspapers in Durban. Both papers had a photo of the simul as well as some interesting comments on the FIDE/South Africa situation. Email me if you would like a copy of the cuttings.
Mr. “Record breaker Bolt”, perhaps you would be so kind as to divulge your anonymity, if you are going to make snide comments . As to your remark:
“Nigel Short.
Your visit to Botswana was for political campaign, different from what Anand came for.”
Quite correct. I wasn’t asked to go by my large corporate sponsors, for the simple reason that I don’t have any. I would have done so gladly (and no doubt more meritoriously, in your view) if I had.
Nigel is a childhood hero of mine .Nice to see his posts here and congratulations for retaining number 1 spot in UK.
I would love to see more Grandmasters visit countries like Chad,Guinea,Togo,Mauritania to promote the game in future .
The May 1974 issue of “The South African Chessplayer” says that Dr Euwe played 12 simuls on his visit to Southern Africa, scoring almost 91% (+259=34-11). The venues were as follows: Johannesburg (3), Pretoria (2), Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London, Durban, Salisbury, Bulawayo. His tour lasted for about 3 weeks, so he would have spent only a couple of days at each venue. I cannot find a detailed itinerary, but it is doubtful that he had time to visit the Cape townships.
After Dr Euwe’s visit I bought his 2 books “The Middle Game” and they kept me busy for months. He was certainly a great teacher.
I remember the Nigel Short visit to Kenya. I was an eye witness and got the privilege of playing a blitz game against him (in fact he dismantled the entire Top 20 Kenyan contigent 20-0 or something like that.)
I did not see him as a controversial person. In fact I was amazed that he would spend a couple of hours blitzing with a bunch of ELO 2000-2200 players and in between instructively pointing out improvements and suggestions. It was pretty cool. I don’t think he was paid to come to Kenya. This mingling wth the Kenyan players was a good gesture from him. He was friendly and easy to get along with. At some point we even forgot he was a celebrity and just treated him like one of the local players.
I think African chess, especially the less developed African chess countries, have a predeliction toward politicising chess issues very strongly. It happens alot in my country as well. Maybe that’s what happened in Botswana. My hunch is that it was not the Botswana players who ignited the politics…most likely it was the local chess officials.
Some 5 years back the mainstream newspapers in Kenya took out all the chess columns. They were of the opinion that the game was not of much interest to the Kenyan public. It is only recently we have managed to get chess back into the mainstream media.
Maybe the local federations need to work on the image of chess in their countries. I think it starts with them. The media, newspapers etc will start to pick up on the stories once they see the local man is interested.
If Anand came to Kenya and strolled around all the major sites in Nairobi everyday for a whole month, chances are he will not be recognised at all! The number of chess players here is so small. So how is the media going to pick up on his visit?
I also wonder apart from Botswana and S.Africa how many other media houses on the continent actually knew Anand was in Africa.
Mehul is correct in his assessment of Nigel Short. Yes, his visit to those African countries was on behalf of Bessol kok (in a Bessel Kok vs. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov election). However, in life, it takes some kind of strong conviction to make us do what we might otherwise not venture into in a million years and that is the way these things work. Whether it’s for chess promotion or for politics, or the combination of both, what Nigel did was commendable.
Personally, I like men who take a stand on issues and pursue what they believe in. Nigel Short and Jackie Ngubeni of South Africa together supported Bessls Kok with the kind of passion that I am yet to see anywhere in the chess world. At least everyone knew where they stood during that election and that is what was important. They did not stand on the fence like some did. They gave their all to what they believed in.
Even though Nigeria supported Ilyumzhinov during that election, some of us felt impressed by the issues and the courage exhibited by Nigel and Jackie that we were compelled to stand shoulder to shoulder with them for their spirited fight during that election. After all, we are all Gens Una Sumus – one family.
Having said that, judging from his actions above, if Nigel believes in a cause, we can be sure that he will purse it energetically as he did during that election. So don’t be surprised if he comes back to Africa someday to promote chess. I guess what he will need is some kind of invitation and proper planning. We definitely need Grandmasters like him to work with visionary chess officials in Africa .
And yes, to quote Mehul in 22 above.. ” He was friendly and easy to get along with. At some point we even forgot he was a celebrity and just treated him like one of the local players”. That is the way Nigel Short is from the little I saw of him at the Turin Olympiad. This is an accurate assesment of the man.
As for the question posed by Daaim, ” ….. the issue is what lasting effect can a chess master have in these countries. I felt Anand’s visit was not given any attention whatsoever in the African press. This is the World Champion visiting” . My answer to this is proper planning….
If I am on the ground somewhere in an African country (I do live in Houston, Texas for now) and a big GM or a world champion for that matter is coming to town, you can bet that all the schools and all the media in that country will be aware of this. I will even arrange for the GM to have a simul right in front of the national assembly where the law makers are or somewhere near the Presidential palace if it’s in Nigeria. What’s the point of this? Take advantage of the visit while you can. Bring the chess master in front of those who can do something about chess in that country. Make it easy for them to interact with the chess master and more…… Again my short answer to this is proper planning and promotion galore.
Now this is not saying that the Botswana chess officials did not plan well for this event (and they did very well for even organizing this visit in the first place and i dont have all the facts to even say much here) but just articulating what I will do if I were to plan such a visit. It’s a sport that is at a disadvantage already. We just have to maximize our efforts at every opportunity that opens up to us. That is my point.
Anand’s Durban visit:
https://www.chessbase.com/previewdetail.asp?newsid=5749
And of course its news worthy!!
Yes, I remember that Max Euwe gave a simul in Salisbury, Rhodesia, and gave up I think 3 draws. GM/Count Alberic O’Kelly de Galway also visited around about the same time.
Does anyone know the history on why an individual giving a simul has all white pieces? FYI: I have emailed Fide, Chessbase and blogged Susan Polgar’s site requesting a flip feature to provide all chessplayers with the chance to analyze the game from the Black point of view and i have begun the necessary work off the board to change this discrimination in case an adequate response is not given, which of course should be anticipated,we are living in a time of change, right? Peace.
Brother Shabazz thanks for a most interesting response, i looked up the idea of choice and it is defined as the process of thinking -process of judging-for merit of multiple options and selecting one for action. Historically the “traditionalist have invariably “chosen” the white pieces so this behavior leads one to believe or conclude that this “choice” may in fact be an “opprotunity” which means a chance for advancement or progress{i.e. Whites advantage of the first move.} .As chessplayers we are hopeful that the World Champion 2800+ wouldnt need such a huge advantage in a simul or would fall prey to “conditioned behavior” or what Fischer termed “the old chess”.