Chess - The Scotsman 26/10/12 - News - Scotsman.com OVER the years, many grandmasters have become celebrities, even heroes, in their homelands. But only Viswanathan Anand has inspired enough of his countryman to take up the game that his nation has been transformed into a major chess superpower. The world champion was the first Indian to earn the grandmaster title. He won the world junior championship in 1987, and he also played a memorable 18-game match for the world title against against Garry Kasparov atop the World Trade Center in 1995. Although Anand is now on the wrong side of 40, and not the prolific tournament performer he once was, the world champion's career has been a glittering one. And in the land where Anand is a superstar, his iconic status is inspiring the next generation of Indians to join the world's elite. Since 2008, after Anand won the undisputed world championship, the number of Indians competing in international tournaments exploded from about 3,300 to more than 8,000 - many of whom coming from nowhere. A classic case being the recently concluded 50th Indian championship in Kolkata, where the unknown teenager G Akash became an overnight sensation by winning the national title. And on the back of his win, 16-year-old G Akash (no-one seems to know his first name, and indeed, till winning the title, he was only known in the database as "GA") is now an International Master, and he will also go forward to represent India at the FIDE World Cup in Tromsø, Norway. K Shashikant - G Akash TATA 50th Indian Ch., (3) Sicilian Defence, Rossolimo variation 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 e6 4 0-0 Nge7 5 c3 a6 6 Ba4 d5 7 e5 Ng6 8 Bxc6+ bxc6 9 d3 f6 10 exf6 Qxf6 11 c4 Bd6 12 Nc3 Bd7 13 Be3 0-0 14 Na4 d4 15 Bc1 Nh4 16 Ng5 Qg6 17 Qg4 h6 18 Qxh4 hxg5 19 Qe4 Qh5 20 h3 e5 21 f3 Bf5 22 Qe2 Qg6 23 Rd1 Rae8 24 b3 e4! 25 dxe4 Bxe4 26 fxe4 Rxe4 27 Qd2 Qe6 28 Ba3 Qe5 0-1