The End of an Era : Sachin and Anand

November 16th 2013 would go down in history as the day when the careers of two great sportsmen of India came to a dramatic close.While Sachin gave a stirring farewell speech on his home turf,Anand made a invisible statement that he is becoming old for this game. I was fortunate enough to be at the Hyatt Regency to witness Game 6 of the World Chess Championships, after four hours of play i could see Carlsen clearly relaxed and getting up from his chair often to take a walk while Anand hardly looked away from the Board for the entire 4 hours. Anand looked tensed and putting a lot of pressure on himself and eventually lost a drawn rook ending game.No World Champion should lose two drawn end games in a row like that. It is normal for Carlsen to drive the game towards a dull position which looks like a draw and then make some very precise moves to make gold out of a slight advantage.Anand should have been prepared for it in his preparation, clearly old age has caught up to him and the torch has been passed.And I was there to witness it.


We all know that the void left by Sachin would be filled by many capable hands of Indian cricket but the void which is going to be left by Anand might never be filled. That is a disappointment for the Chess enthusiasts like me in India.