Viswanathan Anand only superstar now!

Next seven days are going to be historic in more ways than one, at least from the country’s sports point of view. On the one hand, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar will play his last international match (Test starting on Thursday) of his two-decade-long career. On the other, world champion Viswanathan Anand will be defending his world title against the young Magnus Carlsen.

Both the superstars are gunning for glory in their respective home towns. Sachin on the Arabian Sea shore in Mumbai. Anand on the Coromandel coast in Chennai.

This cricket-crazy nation has left no stone unturned to make Sachin’s testimonial memorable.

Why not? The maestro has smashed all possible batting records in the world of cricket. He has been a world cup winner once, scored maximum number of international runs and centuries. You name it, he has it. And, every Tom, Dick and Harry is trying to grab eyeballs with some Sachin-related stunt to hog the headlines.

Unfortunately, the Sachin mania, which has gripped the entire nation, has overshadowed Anand’s fight to defend his world title. Anand has been world champion on five occasions and if he manages to checkmate Carlsen, which I am sure he will, it will be his sixth crown.

If Sachin is credited for driving world cricket attention to India, Anand is among those grand masters, who have halted Russian domination on the 64-square board game. After Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov, players like Alexander Khalifman and Vladimir Kramnik were ready to carry on the legacy. But the man from Chennai threw cold water on their plans. And, mind you, being king for five consecutive years amidst the knights and bishops is no joke.

Anand’s contribution to chess is much more than Sachin’s for cricket in India.  When Sachin arrived on the cricketing stage, the gentleman’s game had tasted a big success in the form of the 1983 World Cup victory. Of course, Sachin has taken it further ahead.

Anand, though, started from scratch. He was the first Grand Master of the country. Like Sachin, Anand is equally charismatic and has own aura for the past two decades. This was evident on December 24, 2010. Guest of honour, and also catalyst, on the grounds of Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, Anand saw 20,486 players create a new world record of simultaneous chess play at a single venue. The obsession for Anand had swept Gujarat, then.

Unfortunately, that Anand mania is completely missing today. Chief minister Narendra Modi had promised all possible support for chess when the world champion had arrived here. But the government has failed to generate interest. When Anand defeated Boris Gelfand in Moscow in 2012, the state government had just no time to felicitate the world champion. And now, again when Anand is defending his title in Chennai, there is hardly any promotion done.

Why has the state government lost interest in chess and Anand? Or has its love for chess, though cosmetic, been swept under the carpet for the time being?

There is no doubt that the peak where cricket has reached today is all due to Sachin. The amount of money flowing into the game is due to the Little Master. But Anand deserves and needs backing. Else, how many individual world champions has India produced?

India has produced lots of sports stars. But, superstars are too few and the majority belong to cricket. Anand is a superstar! Let us be part of his mission.