When Vishwanathan Anand won a chef’s competition during Norway Chess Tournament

He has participated in the prestigious Norway Chess Tournament’s eight of 12 editions so far. While Viswanathan Anand is set to return to Norway next month as a commentator, his most favourite memory of an event that is being billed as the Champions League of the chess world is not with black or white pieces on the board. In fact, it came on a rest day.

“It would have to be the time I won. the cooking… the chef’s competition. I was the most surprised of all, but my wife might top me. These rest day activities are often lots and lots of fun, so that’s a good memory,” Anand said via videoconferencing during an event that saw the Norway Chess organisers interact with the Sports Journalists Association of Mumbai members.

What did Anand cook, though? The legendary chess player remembered every bit of his just like any of his famous faceoffs against his arch-rivals. “We were given some ingredients. It was Halibut sauce, plus Halibut plus Hollandaise sauce, which we had to make and we were supposed to cut some greens as well to go along with it,” Anand recalled.

“My team member was Ding, who had injured himself in a cycling accident, so he was only able to cut vegetables. And he just cut them so finely, because there’s nothing else he could contribute for one hour or a bit more, so he was just very methodical. I thought when I put the dish into the oven and I forgot to turn it on and I realized I forgotten to turn it on, I thought I must have messed up any chances I had. But luckily it was only a few minutes and then it turned out a bit okay. But my Hollandaise sauce was the winning ingredient.”

While Anand used to be the lone flagbearer of India’s challenge during the tournament’s early years, Norway Chess has witnessed increasing Indian participation. While three of the 12 participants last year were Indians, this year will witness D. Gukesh, Arjun Eragaisi, Koneru Humpy and R. Vaishali taking on the best of the best chess players in the world for a whopping prize money.

Anand was confident that Gukesh will be ready to a repeat of the World Championship title match against Magnus Carlsen’s on the latter’s home turf. “I expect a very exciting battle. Gukesh will not lack motivation or the determination to go after Magnus. But Magnus is also highly motivated by the challenge of playing against our young players,” Anand said.

“I have seen him in multiple tournaments whether it’s Kolkata or the World Rapid Blitz, he eagerly looks forward to these match-ups and so we have the perfect storm. I think we have the right to expect some great battles.”

Norway Chess will host its 13th edition from May 26 to June 6. Having emerged as one of the most sought-after events in the chess calendar by the Grandmasters and enthusiasts alike, Norway Chess has introduced multiple engaging innovations that offers a sneak peek into a player’s match-day proceedings during a match.

Kjell Madland, the Managing Director and the brain behind Norway Chess, hoped that the event will not only generate partnership from the Indian chess ecosystem but could well expand into hosting a leg of the event in India soon.