'Pattaya Kelappu Thala' and 'Lick, Maskarlsen, Anand': Only Indian Chess Fans can Help you Understand This!

You got it right: That's a hoarding - pat in the middle of Chennai - for cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar. A group of fans have put it up.  

India is a cricket-crazy country with crazier fans. Walk down Chennai streets and there's very little banner space left for chess fans. Either it's cricket fans taking away space to wish their "god" a farewell as he plays his final test series before retirement this November, or it's Chief Minister Jayalalitha's banners announcing the World Chess Championship in Chennai.

It's almost a ritual to cheer for your favourite sports hero. If there's no space on Indian streets, it's elsewhere... on Facebook and Twitter! Considering chess is not all that a street sport, this was expected. Definitely more Indian chess fans in the cyberworld (than the streets of Chennai).

First up was NIIT Limited, Viswanathan Anand's long-time sponsor, who started the #Wish4Vishy (http://www.wish4vishy.com) hashtag for a national movement to enable every Indian to cheer for reigning World Chess Champion and NIIT MindChampion Viswanathan (Vishy) Anand, as he prepares to take on challenger Magnus Carlsen. 

Another NIIT creative poster (though not specifically on Carlsen versus Anand):

Then, we have Amul tweeting away the following poster via @Amul_Coop:

Amul, with the tag line, 'The taste of India' is well known for funny and witty ads featuring the famous 'Amul girl'. Their advertisements are a tradition in themselves featuring the most-talked about event of the week in India. 

Amul is an Indian dairy cooperative, and is sometimes even referred to as Anand (!!!) Milk Union Limited because it is based in Anand, Gujarat.

The text on the Amul hoarding reads, "Lick, Maskarlsen, Anand" a smart pun on the names of the chess players as well as a line that says, "Make your move." 

For the uninitiate, 'maska' refers to butter. Amul is the #1 butter available in India since generations. Bun-maska (bun and butter) is the hottest street breakfast you can find anywhere in India on any given morning.
  

This poster comes from 'Veni, Vidi, Vishy' - a social media chess campaign that will also run on Facebook and Twitter through the World Chess Championship. 

The creative idea, copy and design are all by Qruize's marketing team. Qruize Technologies Pvt. Ltd is a young research driven Information & Communications Technology Company based out of Chennai.
Qruize decided to first wish Viswanathan Anand in the local language Tamil with: Pattaya Kelappu Thala. That roughly translates to "Rock on boss". They will upload more cool posters on their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/qruize throughout the World Chess Championship.

Here's another of Qruize posters, a little easier for international chess fans to understand!

Ram Vellayan of Qruize says, "Initially, we wanted to run the poster campaign because we love Anand. We are proudly made in Chennai. But, then we also feel there is lukewarm response to the World Chess Championship in the national media."

Vellayan says, "For example, on Friday, on the eve of the first game, top Indian newspapers do not have the chess match on their front pages for their North India editions! It's only for their South Indian editions. Look at top news sites like Rediff, NDTV etc. They have one chess story for every 100 cricket stories. That's when our resolve to run this creative campaign got stronger."

As a chess fan, you just need to do a small social media search. You will be checkmated by the options available.

One particularly hot chess page is Chess Club Live on Facebook. They have a massive, massive, massive following of over 43,000 Likes (or people who have enlisted for their updates). There's a chess news update on the page every two minutes in all time zones. Phew!

There are thousands of chess groups on Facebook, and we cannot even start listing them. A single search will leave you zapped at the very number of chess groups you could join right now what with virtually each one of them talking about the World Chess Championship in Chennai.

For twitter, you have the excellent Twitter guide by Eric van Reem on MateinChennai.com. The official hashtag for the Anand versus Carlsen World chess Championship is #FWCM2013. There's another very popular one #AnandCarlsen and much more easier to remember as well. Let's hope one of them trends on Twitter in India during the World Chess Championship this November.

Magnus Carlsen has himself been tweeting a little via @MagnusCarlsen and Vishy Anand has tweeted a little via Vishy64theKing. 

If you like our selection of stories surrounding the Anand versus Carlsen Chennai World Chess Championship, do like our Chess Magazine Black & White Facebook page as well. ;)

Online, or offline, right now majority of chess lovers in India are rooting for Viswanathan Anand. At least everyone in Chennai is. 

However, no matter where you are, and no matter whose side you are on, let's cheer for chess. 

This Anand versus Carlsen Chennai World Chess Championship 2013 is going to bring great joy to all chess lovers for sure. -- Rajat Khanna

(Photo (left): Outside the venue Hyatt Regency in Chennai)

* When World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand supported cricket

* World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand the credible brand ambassadors (videos of advertising)

* Summary of watching Carlsen versus Anand Chennai World Chess Live links

* Sachin Tendulkar is playing the first Test against the Caribbeans in Kolkata from November 6 to 10 and the second - Tendulkar's 200th - is in Mumbai from November 14 to 18.
* Anand vs Carlsen World Chess Championship schedule 
* No Pressure, Anand tweets away
* Two Indian Legends: Sachin Tendulkar and Viswanathan Anand
* Anand on SportsKeeda List of Indian Sportspersons

Read More

Two Indian Legends: World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand, Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar

World Chess Champion Viswanathan Update: Here's a cool article for Indian sports lovers on two legends: World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand and Master Blaster Sachin Tendulakar by Valsala Menon via DNA India:

Champion stuff from Sachin Tendulkar and Viswanathan Anand

Sachin Tendulkar and Viswanathan Anand during a rare meeting between the two legends in Mumbai in 2001. - Reuters

There is so much in common between the careers of Viswanathan Anand and Sachin Tendulkar, India’s best sportsmen in the last 50 years. Both are 40-plus. Both are still performing. And both have made significant adjustments to their game/technique at different points in time.

Coincidentally, both were impetuous and aggressive when they started out. They just wanted to destroy the opposition. If Tendulkar took on the world at 16, Anand was consuming foreign Grandmasters with super-fast moves when he was 18.

Interestingly, both have had admirably long careers. Grandmaster RB Ramesh says it is difficult to prolong one’s career in a physical sport (cricket) and, in that sense, Tendulkar deserves a lot of praise. But he is quick to add that cricket is a team game and so Tendulkar did get support from his mates.

Ramesh, by his own admission, took to chess accidentally. He wanted to be a cricketer. His brother, GB Prakash, was already a good junior chess player. A head injury at the age of 11 forced him to give up cricket. “You see, as school students, we were always looking for idols. We had Viswanathan Anand in 1988 and Tendulkar in 1989,” says Ramesh.

Ramesh adds Anand and Tendulkar have always been exceptionally motivated. “When we thought Tendulkar was going to suffer after his injury in the mid-2000s, he came back and changed his aggressive style to start a new innings,” says Ramesh.

The tennis elbow prompted Tendulkar to curtail his stroke-play, but the master that he is, Tendulkar overcame the hurdle, adopted a different approach and scored runs in tons in both forms of cricket. In fact, he fared better after that injury.

The free-flowing strokes gave way to the more productive and practical accumulation of runs with less spectacular flicks and nudges. His appetite for runs increased in the second half of his career, and he played on for well over two decades.

Remarkably, Anand showed the same appetite in his mid-30s. Having won his first world title in 2000 at 31, Anand did not have any special targets because of the uncertainties in world chess.

Garry Kasparov had just lost to Vladimir Kramnik in a rival world championship and there was no unified competition. Anand was winning tournaments like before, but had to live with the criticism that he had not beaten the strong players of his generation in a long match.

And by the time the unification took place in 2007, he was already 38. And with a second world title under his belt, Anand was ready for his next challenge. This is when he, like Tendulkar, showed admirable motivation. He thought he had to stop wagging tongues. He worked hard with a team that was to stay with him for five years. Vladimir Kramnik, Veselin Topalov and Boris Gelfand, all disappeared into history as Anand made light of his age.

It was really a challenge for Anand to get used to the intricacies of match play. He was no longer the quick, rapid-play master he was in the 1990s and early 2000s. He took all his time to find moves over the board and a became totally different player altogether.

Arvind Aaron, who had played with Anand at the junior level and travelled with him extensively, finds a rare ability in both the chess champion and the cricket maestro. “Both of them are not tired of trying new things,” says Aaron.

“It may be a shot in Tendulkar’s repertoire. In Anand’s case, I have first-hand experience because when he accepted a challenge to play six computers in a simultaneous exhibition in 1997 in The Hague, I asked him why he took up such a dangerous task. He said he liked to look at things differently and wanted different challenges,” Aaron adds.

Deep Blue had just beaten Kasparov and Aaron’s concern was that Anand was facing a six-pack computer. As it turned out, Anand won three of them and drew three, winning the match 4.5-1.5.

“I watched that match and the most interesting aspect was that Anand was sipping coffee regularly while the machines were thinking. It was a funny sight,” Aaron recounts.

One of the oft-quoted comments of both Tendulkar and Anand is, “I would continue to play as long as I enjoy the game.” Tendulkar will no longer play competitive cricket after November 18, but Anand will probably continue to play on, looking for more challenges.

Read More

When World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand Played Cricket... and Supported Sachin Tendulkar!

Do you remember when World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand picked up the cricket bat, only to leave it? Thankfully, at that! It was for an advertisement video that you will like.




Hope you did not miss our complete post on how World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand is considered a dependable brand ambassador?

Meanwhile, these days, India is abuzz with the announcement of cricket star Sachin Tendulkar. The Little Master's final two Tests will clash with the World Chess Championship match between Viswanathan Anand and his Norwegian challenger Magnus Carlsen scheduled to be held in Chennai from November 7 to 28.

The first Test against the Caribbeans will be played in Kolkata from November 6 to 10 and the second - Tendulkar's 200th - will  be held in Mumbai from November 14 to 18.

Hopefully, a cricket fan himself, Viswanathan Anand won't be distracted from the cricket happenings as he plays chess against the World No. 1.

It was last year when Sachin Tendulkar was struggling with his form that he  received support from five-time World Chess Champion  Viswanathan Anand who urged him to continue playing as long as he wanted.

“Criticism is fine, but if you still like playing it’s crazy to stop for no reason. In sport there is no question that it favours young people in general. But I really want to play chess still,” the 43-year-old Anand had told reporters here at a promotional event.

“I am lucky to have the chance to play and I intend to use it. I imagine the same for him (Tendulkar),” India’s first Grandmaster (1988) said.

Terming 40 as just a number, Anand had said it’s funny when one is questioned about age.

“The first question people ask is when are you going to retire? And if both of you want to retire, can one of you retire... It’s a little bit funny. In my case, I don’t think there is any fundamental change from December 10, 2009 to December 11, 2010. But it seems to affect the way people see you,” Anand, who turned 43 on December 11, said.

The chess wizard clubbed Tendulkar, former India captain Sourav Ganguly, tennis veteran Leander Paes as three top icons he had seen.

“In general I have seen a lot of Leander Paes... I might have started a few years earlier but Sachin and I have been there for quite a long time. Sourav was there for quite a good part there as well. I think most of our careers we share together,” he said.

Asked whether age was a factor, he said, “I don’t think the number 40 has any particular significance with chess. In chess, you definitely get more time.”

“There is a certain wear and tear in physical sport.

There are sports like football and tennis, where people would be amazed if you continue beyond 32-33.”

However, Anand said he did not wish to play beyond 50.

“I think 50 is kind of a barrier. For me, I don’t expect to be playing top chess when I am 60. But still there are a few years left. In the meantime, I want to enjoy as much as possible.

But Anand said he would like to win as many world titles as possible.

“I have not fixed any number to it. It’s as many as they will let me in,” he had remarked with a smile.

-- Zainab Raza Undulusi (with inputs from PTI)

Read More