Finally, Viswanathan Anand is home. Well, almost.
The five-time World chess champion, who had been stranded in Germany for about three months because of the coronavirus, landed in Bengaluru on Saturday, but he would have to wait for another fortnight to reach his home in Chennai. “He has gone into 14 days of institutionalised quarantine,”Aruna Anand, his wife who also doubles up as his manager, told The Hindu over phone. “He is relieved and happy that he has at last been able to reach India.”
She added that Anand was grateful to the central government for facilitating the return of the Indians stranded in different parts of the world. “He appreciated the efforts the governments took in this regard,” Aruna said. “It certainly would not have been easy to organise all these flights.”
Anand had gone to Germany in February to play in the Bundesliga. The deadly virus stopped the tournament.
With Europe being badly affected by the pandemic, the genial genius was forced to prolong his stay at his apartment in Frankfurt. He continued to play chess online, though.
He spearheaded a fundraiser for the PMCARE, as top Indian Grandmasters took on the rest of the world in simultaneous games. He also competed in the Nations Cup online tournament, in which he came up with some stunning displays, including a 17-move win against Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi.
The lockdown also saw Anand make his debut as a commentator for the Candidates tournament at Yekaterinburg, which was the only major sporting event in the world that seemed to have eluded the virus for a while, until it too was stopped.
