When Viswanathan anand left chennai for Frankfurt in february, the city was waiting to see M.S. dhoni back at Chepauk. The Southern metropolis was also talking about the latest rajinikanth film, ‘Darbar’. All those classical music and dance stages were still alive, though the season had ended.The novel coronavirus has changed the world, almost unrecognisably. anand is relieved and happy that he can finally be home again; that he can spend time with his wife Aruna and son akhil, after being quarantined in bengaluru on his arrival from Germany. He is also glad that he can play chess from his comfortable, familiar workstation at his home in Kotturpuram.

Yes, the five-time World champion wants to play in a tournament again, but he doesn’t know when he can do it.“I don’t know when chess will return to where it was before,” he tells over the phone. “It seems some countries are coming out [of the lockdown], but they are not completely out of danger, while others are still in an earlier stage.” He adds: “Only when the vaccine comes, can we breathe easy. A part of me hopes that by august or september we will at least be used to this and no doubt there will be a lot of precautions still. It could well be next year; I am getting used to that reality.” 

He is also getting used to playing competitive chess online. He had done quite a bit of that while he was stranded in Frankfurt. And he played some splendid chess, belying his 50 years consider his 17-move demolition of World No. 4 Ian Nepomniachtchi at the Nations Cup. “I was very happy with the win against Nepo,” he says. “The funny thing is when I was preparing this line in the morning, this particular variation came up and I thought I should familiarise myself with it. I also liked the way I played against Teimour Radjabov, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Ding Liren.  I thought my result at the Nations Cup was very good and stable and that was nice.”