HT Brunch Cover Story: Meet chess ace Viswanathan Anand and his one-woman army

The photo session is under way at Viswanathan Anand’s home in the discreetly swank apartment block in Chennai’s Kotturpuram. The scores of medals won by the five-time world chess champion are in small frames lining a wall, and chess sets occupy various niches. The photographer has asked Viswanathan – Vishy to friends and fans – to take off his spectacles because the light is bouncing off them. Aruna Anand walks into the room, sees Vishy without his glasses and returns with an anti-reflective pair. He slips them on, laughing. “Now it’s the hall of mirrors,” he says.