Chess - ‘Seychellois players have a lot of potential’ – Grandmaster Anand |11 October 2017

Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand has said he sees a lot of potential in young Seychellois chess players.

The chess legend said this last Saturday when he met a group of players and even had a chance to play against them. GM Anand played a simultaneous game with the first, second and third place finishers of the Seychelles-India day chess tournament last Saturday at the ex-National Assembly Hall, in the National Library building.

For one and a half hours, GM Anand battled with the 14 players and in the end won all his games.

“The Seychellois players have a lot of potential and my best games were against Ragul Pillay, Sergey Prokopyev and Dericka Figaro,” said GM Anand.

One of the players, Ragul Pillay said: "It was as dream come true for me to play against Mr Anand. It was a wonderful experience and I got to learn a lot from the game".

Dericka Figaro on her part said: "It has been truly an experience to play with GM Anand. His style of play is very positional and tactful. I am satisfied with my game against him and I have surely learned a lot from this experience.”

“It was an honour for me to play against GM Anand. From the opening to the very end of the game, which lasted for more than 50 moves, he did not give me a hint of counter play. I felt like a kid with whom a tiger plays with when he is not in a hurry and wants to enjoy fully the anticipation of a delicious meal,” explained Prokopyev.

GM Anand’s visit was in commemoration of the Seychelles-India Day celebrations from October 6-8, 2017.