Viswanathan Anand right on track, says Krishnan Sasikiran

Kolkata: Impressed by Vishwanathan Anand's twin titles this year, Indian chess Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikaran said that the five-time world champion is right on track for the coveted FIDE World Championship showdown against Magnus Carlsen.

"The way he bounced back winning candidates and Bilbao (recently) speaks volumes about Anand's determination. Certainly, he's on track," the fourth GM of the country said here today.

Fresh from his stint with Anand, Sasikiran did not divulge the team preparation ahead of the world championship scheduled to be held in Sochi from November 7-21.

Backing Anand fully, Sasikiran said: "He did not play that badly during the World championship in Chennai. Had it not for the few blunders he did in the middle, the result would have been completely different."

Sasikiran was an integral member of India's first ever bronze medal winning team at the Chess Olympiad in Norway in August and he said it would give them a big boost in the country.

"I'm sure things would start looking better in terms of getting sponsors after our historic win in the Chess Olympiad. We may think of organising big tournaments (like Bilbao Masters)," he said.

Sasikiran who also won an individual silver from the third board of the Open category said team game was a lot different from individual.

"Team game is all about complementing and backing each other. Thankfully we all did well and at the same time we maintained a fine strategy with coach RB Ramesh. Both the factors played in our win," he said.

Sasikiran was here to inaugurate the Chess For Youth Championship at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.