Timely intervention by Indian Chess team’s captain N Srinath and by officials from the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) helped Chess player Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand to focus fully on his game at the quarterfinals of the Chess Olympiad, without having to worry about power disruptions.
India’s Viswanathan Anand was scheduled to play the quarterfinal game in the Chess Olympiad on Friday, the same time when a power shutdown was scheduled by the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) in the locality of his residence, Kotturpuram in Chennai. “When we came to know that there was going to be a power shutdown, we were ready with alternate arrangements to avoid disruptions in the game,” Aruna Anand, Viswanathan Anand’s wife told TNM. The building has a backup generator, but there was still a worry that there maybe some sort of disruption.
Chess Olympiad is a biennial tournament which gives more importance to team work than individual accolades. Usually held offline, this year’s Olympiad had to be moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic and saw the participation of teams from 163 countries.
N Srinath, the non-playing captain of the Indian contingent, however, had other plans. Before the day of the match, he requested an official at the TANGEDCO to ensure that power supply is restored before 5pm on Friday, to ensure that Anand’s match goes uninterrupted.
According to the rules of the Olympiad, a player will receive a one-time warning for disruption in the internet connection for a duration of two minutes or less during the game. If a similar disruption happens a second time, the player is given a yellow card and a third time during the same game, the player is shown a red card. India was declared joint winners at the finals along with Russia on Sunday. However, on its way to the finals, a few players from the team did lose due to unexpected disruption in the internet connectivity.
“If the connection gets disrupted during the game, the onus is on the player. Hence Anand had all backup plans to implement, in case the electricity goes out. But, due to Srinath’s efforts, we got back the power supply on Friday by 2.30 pm itself, ensuring that we did not need to use the backup plans at all,” Aruna said. She also thanked TANGEDCO officials and Srinath for taking the efforts to ensure a conducive environment for Anand to play in. The game ended in a draw. India however went on to win the quarterfinals defeating Armenia by one point.