Viswanathan AnandNEW DELHI: The English vocabulary sometimes feels the loss for words while describing what Viswanathan Anand is to India and its chess legacy. There is a particular kind of stillness that follows the Chennai-born Grandmaster into a room, the stillness of a man who solved most of what chess could throw at him decades ago and has nothing left to prove to anyone in it.
For over a month now, that stillness has been sitting in a very different chair. On July 24, 2026, Anand became interim President of FIDE, world chess's governing body, after Arkady Dvorkovich voluntarily stepped back from his duties under European Union and Swiss sanctions.
The role is temporary by design as Anand's term runs out with the FIDE presidential elections on September 26. But for the two months he holds it, the man who has spent a lifetime being chess's most recognisable player is also, quite literally, running the sport."
com during an exclusive interaction, with that familiar half-smile doing most of the talking before the next sentences catch up." It's more work than being deputy president.
When I was the deputy, I only had to step in when Arkady (Dvorkovich) couldn't make it. Now, in fact, I have to conduct a lot of the federation.
But I've been doing it out of India mostly." The extra weight of countless responsibilities hasn't meant more miles, though."
Actually, I've travelled less, but because I had already made plans like this. I've been attending many, many more meetings, quite often, very long Zoom meetings with lots of people from all over the world to discuss FIDE matters," added the former five-time world champion.
The intensity, he says, has already peaked and passed." There was a period last week when that all peaked," he revealed.
" Now everything, the agenda, is set for the General Assembly in Samark and at the end of the year. For the last few days, it's been a bit lighter."
And with that, amid the Zoom calls and federation business, the game of 64 squares has called in a more familiar manner. Anand returns to the Global Chess League (GCL) this year with Alaskan Knights.
None of that administrative weight, it turns out, has dulled his appetite for the board." I can tell you my hunger for the GCL trophy is still there.
