Chennai: Eric van Reem (46) of the Netherlands is now literally part of five-time world chess champion Viswanathan Anand's family . Living in Germany, the logistics man at Lufthansa was roped into Team Anand by Aruna in 2009, luckily just a few months before the unexpected 40-hour journey to Sofia from Frankfurt to face Vaselin Topalov for the Indian's fourth world title in 2010.
“My first assignment for Team Anand started with an amazing adventure. I became important to the team after the successful road journey ,“ Eric said.
When it looked clear that they wouldn't be able to fly due to cloud ash, Eric arranged for a taxi and managed a 40-hour journey with only a 10-hour break in between at a hotel in Budapest, Hungary .
“The shortest way to reach Sofia was through Serbia, but Anand, Aruna and (Surya Sekhar) Ganguly needed visas. So we took the longer route via Romania. The weather was bad, roads were full of pot holes and due to our different nationalities, it took us longer to get clearance at border control. But the trip helped us bond and know each other better,“ he added.
The team that left Frankfurt at 11 am on April 18 reached Sofia at 3.20 am on April 20. While everyone was aware that Anand watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy during the journey with only the last one hour of the movie left to be seen, Eric shared an interesting anecdote, when he revealed that Anand made it a point to watch the movie, the first thing at Sofia. “We all went to bed as soon as we reached Sofia and around 11 am, there was a knock at my door from Anand, who wanted the movie CD. It was only after watching the movie that Anand settled down in his chess lab,” Eric said.
The Dutchman’s main role in Team Anand is to take care of logistics, media interactions and prepare for training camps.
With a degree in English and Dutch literature, Eric also pens a blog while travelling with Anand. His mateinchennai.com is one of the best blogs that gave information about the preparations of the defending champion for the Big Match against world no. 1 Magnus Carlsen. According to Eric, Anand swam every day apart from 10 kms of walking to get fit for the ultimate championship.
The Chennai trip has more or less been a holiday.
“Aruna is in-charge here and Chennai being Anand’s hometown, we have less work. So we visited places like the Marina Beach in the city,” said Eric.
( Source : dc )
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