It's not often these days that we get to see a Pakistan team playing in India. The Chess Olympiad in Chennai from July 28, though, will feature a team from the neighbours and it will be led by one of Viswanathan Anand's contemporaries --- Amer Karim.
Amer, who won the Pakistan National crown last month, has been part of five Olympiads. For the 52-year-old from Lahore, the upcoming Olympiad offers another chance to visit a place he is familiar with and meet players he has been friends with for a long time. "Anand is among the many Indian players with whom I have a good relationship. Anand and I shared the dormitory during the Asian Junior championship at Hong Kong back in 1985 where Anand won the title and became an International Master. Over the years, I have met Anand on a few occasions and he is an example of how players should conduct themselves at all times. It will be great to catch up with him again," Amer told TOI on Saturday.
Anand, on his part, was pleased to be meeting his old friend. "I'm happy to meet him in Chennai and welcome him to my city. I remember we played in Hong Kong which was one of my first international events," Anand recalled. During the Asian Juniors in 1985, Anand beat Amer en route to winning the tournament. While Anand went from strength to strength to become a World champion, Amer's progress in the sport remained limited.
Despite being on the circuit for close to four decades, Amer could only go on to become a FIDE Master. "Unlike sporting disciplines like cricket and hockey, chess in Pakistan hasn't got the support it should have had earlier. However, with new officials at the helm of Chess Federation of Pakistan, the sport is seeing a revival," Amer mentioned.
Learning from the India chess model
Amer believes if Pakistan is to produce strong chess players, it needs to bring in youngsters into the sport. "If you look at India, players are encouraged in schools to take up the sport. A majority of their top players are youngsters and AICF (All India Chess Federation) has done a great job in promoting the sport. We need to follow the same model here," Amer added.
There's a good following of chess in major Pakistan cities and specific pockets of Punjab, a province in Pakistan. Amer is clear that it won't be long before Pakistan gets its first Grandmaster. "There is a lot of quality and we will soon have a few GMs from our nation," he said.
Amer, the captain of the Pakistan open team, feels his team has a good mix of youth and experience. "Junaid Sohail is a 17-year-old who is a strong player. In the open team, we also have the seasoned Waqar Muhammad and young guns like Ehtesham Ul Haq and Muhammad Shahzeb. It's a good team that can surprise many in the tournament," said Amer, part of the Pakistan team that topped Category E during the 38th Olympiad at Dresden, Germany in 2008. The women's team too isn't short of talent and has strong players in Mehak Gul, Wasif Zenobia, Noor Fatima Rashid, Sehrish Rehman and Aleena Zahid.
