KOLKATA: It seems that five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand is diversifying into other aspects of the game. India's first Grandmaster will be wearing different hats during the country's biggest rapid and blitz tournament that will be held in Kolkata from November 17.
In spite of not being present as a player this time, Anand is expected to be omnipresent at the Bhasha Bhawan inside the National Library of India, the venue of the event during the five days of the meet.
Anand will be playing the role of a mentor to the Indian young brigade that will feature Grandmasters Nihal Sarin, R Praggnanandhaa, Karthikeyan Murali, D Gukesh, Raunak Sadhwani, Arjun Erigaisi and R Vaishali.
"I will interact with the youngsters, try to give them some tips and try to spur them on," Anand, who won the blitz tournament in the inaugural edition of the tournament here in 2018, said during a virtual media interaction on Saturday.
Interestingly he had already got some of them namely Praggnanandhaa and Nihal as teammates in the recent online Chess Olympiad too.
Anand will also be part of the commentary team. "The itch is always going to be there to play, but recently I've been dabbling a bit in commentary and find that enjoyable too," he said. "I will see this tournament from another angle and will be trying to explain what's going on. I can also do a bit of commentary here and there," he added.
This tournament can thus act as a dry run for him for the upcoming World Championships in Dubai from November 24 where he will also be seen doing commentary.
"Basically, I will be all over the place," Anand summed it up rightly.
