"Get More And More Girls To Play": Viswanathan Anand After India's Historic Show At Chess Olympiad

Overjoyed by India's remarkable dual triumph at the Chess Olympiad, five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand said that while this marks a promising beginning, there is still much work to be done for women's chess in the country. India scripted history on Sunday as both its men's and women's teams secured their first-ever titles, achieving a remarkable clean sweep of gold medals at the Chess Olympiad. But while in recent times, the men's game has surged in popularity with young Indian talents like R Praggnanandhaa and D Gukesh making waves on the world stage, in contrast, the women's game has struggled to match this trajectory.

"It's a very good beginning. I think still a long way to go because we must continuously keep progressing," Anand told PTI, at the sidelines of Tech Mahindra Global Chess League.

"And more important, get more and more girls to play and I think exactly this result will inspire more girls to play, and that is the hope," he added.

The 54-year-old chess icon who has inspired the current young crop of chess players creating a splash on the global stage was delighted to witness history being created by them.

"First of all that, great pride that it had happened. It's not like the result caught me by surprise, It had been the case for a couple of hours already, so you prepare yourself." "But you're happy to suddenly realize that you're double Olympiad champion, I know all of them for many, many years, and there's also the feeling of being with friends who had great success." "I personally enjoyed being there. I enjoyed listening to the anthems two times. And I knew that the whole world kind of took notice of India's performance," he added.

Although India's performance at the Olympiad is commendable,