Viswanathan Anand as the role model has worked for India: FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich Premium

Arkady Dvorkovich, FIDE president, discusses World championship bids, youth in chess, and plans for the future in exclusive interview.

Arkady Dvorkovich took over as FIDE president in 2018 from Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. The Russian is now in his second term, which he won during the Chennai Chess Olympiad two years ago. He was back in India recently for the closing ceremony of the World junior chess championship at Gandhinagar. The head of the world chess governing body sat down for an exclusive interview with The Hindu. Excerpts:

This year’s World championship match has attracted three bids, two of them — Chennai, New Delhi — from the same country.

Yes, we have received three strong, very competitive bids. It is quite unique, having three bids and two of them from the same country. We haven’t had such a situation for a long period of time. There are of course some big pluses in all bids, strong government support and really good venues. I think it is important to understand the official government position in this respect. For international sports federations, it is important to have the national government’s support. I understand the specifics of India, of course, and the role of the States.

How exciting is it for world chess to have someone as young as D. Gukesh as the challenger in that match against Ding Liren? He turned 18 a few weeks ago.

Now all the youngsters around the world know they have a chance if they work hard. I have been watching his progress as a player for a long time. I am also impressed by India’s other young players. I think Viswanathan Anand as the role model particularly worked for India. At the Chess Olympiad in Chennai, two Indians teams were strong but the younger one did better. And we saw so many Indians competing at the recent Candidates tournament. Arjun Erigaisi, who didn’t play at the Candidates, is doing very well in open tournaments. I think now he will get invitations to play in closed tournaments.

The defending women’s World champion is also Chinese, like Ding. The next one is guaranteed to be from China too, as Ju Wenjun’s challenger is her compatriot Tan Zhongyi. Are you surprised by Asia’s rise in world chess?

No, I am not surprised. I think numbers matter. And the world’s top-ranked country is the United States. So given the population, it is not a surprise. But, the Soviet chess school is still very strong, if you take the whole thing [countries that used to form the USSR].