We do run the gauntlet of receiving a reprimand when we send across a copy of Viswanathan Anand’s latest title, Lightning Kid: 64 Winning Lessons from the Boy Who Became Five-Time World Chess Champion (Hachette India) to Aashrita Guttula. The 14-year-old Chembur resident is busy preparing for her 8th standard finals. The only reason we don’t is that she is also an MSSA chess champion, and devoted to the game just as Anand was.

Aashrita Guttula reads the book. Pic Courtesy/Hachette India

“This is the fastest I have read a book on chess,” she admits to us. It took the young champ a couple of pages before Anand’s story took hold. Published in January this year, the book is a simple, bite-sized take of Anand’s life through 64 chapters. But it is not your usual chess book, as Guttula explains. “I don’t read a lot of books on chess. Most books are about techniques, strategies, and choices made by the players during the games. This title is about stories; it shows how chess went from being a hobby to something bigger for Anand,” she says.

The language is simple, and the descriptions are anecdotal. Guttula adds that the book does not ‘explain the games’ as much as document his journey as a prodigy through games. From the sibling rivalry that pushed him from badminton into chess, to the games with his mother, and listening to ABBA and The Petshop Boys while staying with a friendly Spanish friend and chess lover during a tournament, the stories are fun.

Guttula shares, “I really liked the game he played with Vladimir Kramnik (1994), I think he drew that game. It was extremely interesting because he played that game during his mother’s passing. He had to go through a lot, and he played one of his best games at that time despite such emotional burdens.”
With the game now in its peak in India, it might be time to remind the new generation of the OG who started it all.

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