When Alexander Grischuk made his first visit to India, he was 17. He had arrived as the 46th seed for the World chess championship. The Russian caused a sensation, reaching the semifinal. He, however, went down to Alexei Shirov (who would then lose in the final to Viswanathan Anand).
It took Grischuk another 23 years to return to India, for the Tata Steel Chess India tournament in Kolkata. By that time, he had picked three World blitz titles, had been the World No. 3 and had become only the eighth player in history to cross 2800 Elo points.
He had also created a huge fan-base not just for his fascinating style of play but for his sense of humour as well. He didn’t speak much in Kolkata, but when he did, he made people laugh.
