Anand was my idol, when I used to play chess: Chahal

In the recent episode, fivetime World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand joined host and former India cricketer S Badrinath to share his experiences and talk about the importance of mind skills training and how it helped him as a chess player.

In the episode, Badrinath also interacted with India cricketer and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal to discuss his love for chess. Chahal hasn’t been away from the limelight even during lockdown season, the Indian spinner has been continuously in news for his active social media presence and his quirky online appearances with family, friends and colleagues. While speaking to Badrinath on the show, Chahal revealed his love for chess and how he used to play when he was younger. Anand chose Chahal as his favourite current cricketer, and he was glad to learn that as he drew inspiration from Grandmaster when he played chess earlier.

Chahal said, “I’m glad Viswanathan Anand Sir chose me as his favourite player, when I used to play chess, he was my idol. I played my first nationals of chess in 1998 and at that time I was playing cricket as well. You can’t play both sports at the same time. For chess, you need 10 - 12 hours of training and then 6 - 8 hours for cricket was getting very difficult. So, when I came back from the World Cup, I told my father I will focus only on cricket.”

Chahal also spoke about the similarities between the two sports and explained how chess has helped him become a better cricketer.

While comparing chess and cricket, Chahal said: “In chess you require a lot of patience as every match is about 6-7 hours and you’re playing sitting at one place without speaking much. Similarly, in cricket you sometimes bowl so well but don’t get wickets. So, you have to be patient and keep it in your mind that you are bowling well and you’ll probably get wickets in the next spell.”