KOLKATA: An idea floated quite casually has led to the foundation of an academy that is showing promise of making India the world’s next chess superpower. Sandeep Singhal, co-founder of WestBridge Capital Advisors, a venture capital firm based out of Bengaluru, asked Viswanathan Anand whether they can do something together in chess after the five-time world champion was on his way out after a lecture session at their office in 2019. Anand assured he will get back.
“Obviously I had some ideas to work on. I grew up with stories of the Botvinnik Chess Academy (where top Soviet players used to train) and saw the Olympic Gold Quest where the foundation takes care of the backend activities of the players. So it was more of a combination of a lot of things that led to the birth of WestBridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA) in December 2020 with the first lecture taking place in January 2021,” Anand stated.
