Sydney, Sept. 26 :    Sydney, Sept. 26:  India's world No. 3 chess star Viswanathan Anand believes the spadework is being done properly and the possibility that chess will be a demonstration sport in Athens in 2004 'is very bright.' 'I believe what we (the Fide, Spanish star world No. 7 Alexi Shirov and he) managed to do here has put the Fide perspective right in front of the International Olympic Association. I was in a good position in the first game and then in the last moment Shirov escaped, while in the second he was in a better position and then I managed to pull out the right pawn. 'I and the Fide had a discussion on this subject with IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch (who Anand knows well) over a year back (he has not been able to meet him here yet), and he is sold on this subject,' said Anand, relaxing in the lobby of the high-security Sydney All Seasons Menzios Hotel, one of the Olympic Family hotels. 'However, these things take their own course, and I believe it can only be a demonstration sport in Athens and then come into the full Olympic fold from the next Games. I am pretty excited by this prospect, and am definitely willing to be in the Olympics. I am so excited by this I could be in the Olympics yesterday if I could.' Anand said it was obvious that only the rapid chess format will be acceptable at the Olympics, in a two-game knockout mode. 'The classical game will be too long for the interest to be kept alive in such an extraordinarily charged atmosphere as the Olympics. It does not matter if a top player moves out in the early rounds, you must be able to take that chance, and I am all for it.' Anand, incidentally, is the acknowledged world champion in rapid chess. So how does Anand think chess can merge into the special psyche that the Olympics represent? 'Look, chess is not all mental. There is a rather large physical aspect to it as well,' he said. 'For me, I do an hour of workouts each day - including some real tidy somersaults and all that on a new type of machine that I don't even know the name of - and that prepares me for the game. 'Likewise, I believe, there could be athletes who are already eager to take on a mind game, so to say. I mean Anna Kournikova plays chess, and there are others who are into this' But does the common man, the man on the street (those who play), get to ever involve him or herself in the chess world? 'Why not? I mean this has been tried before? The main difference is in the commentary. Without proper comentary, the man on the street will just see pieces of wood. The right commentary, and the technology associated with it, can involve everybody. 'This is not new. I remember in 1990, in Paris, there were 2,000 ordinary people seated enthralled in a theatre hall for nearly four hours observing a top class match,' Anand explained. 'There were top class players, who were specially instructed to 'keep it down', meaning to cut out as much of the technical jargon as possible. The moves were electronically displayed on a giant screen, and the commentators quickly explained what the positions were and how each player was at an advantage and at a disadvantage, by drawing suitable graphs and charts impromptu. 'After a while, the commentators were talking even less about chess, stressing instead on the physical aspect of players - how one was getting agitated, his usual tait, and how the other was scratching his head.... Believe me, this held the gathering of ordinary, down to earth people enthralled for those four hours.' Anand has a point. That, combined with all the fine technology available today, can really make the day for chess. 'Sure. You watch a tennis match on television these days and you see this player has had so many unforced errors or double faults... so much data that we never really knew existed in a game. I mean it was fine to watch the ball go this way and that.' The big question Anand has become less coy these days about the Garri Kasparov issue, and how this special match between them keeps evading the light of day. There was a major match-up scheduled some time back and then Kasparov withdrew at the last moment saying there was no sponsor. There have been more false alarms in this set-up, and this has become almost a stale story today. So when do we get to see this match-up? 'Yes, I guess he (Kasparov) has been dragging this on for too long now, and the basic urge within a player for this can slow down. But then he is a very good player, and he keeps getting better. It is always a pleasure to play him, in any form,' said Anand who arrived here two days back, moved around a bit, did the promo chess games at the Olympic Village, and will be going back straight to Chennai tomorrow. For the time being, Anand seems to have put aside the Kasparov issue. 'My main objective now is the World Cup (to be held in New Delhi from November 25). I am determined to do well in the meet (the final will be held in Iran if no Israeli qualifies for the final, the chance of which is minimal). 'I believe the fact that the world championship is being held in India is a great thing for this country. For a good deal of time, the world will focus on New Delhi, on the top players of the world (except Kasparov and also possibly not Vladimir Kramnik and Nigel Short) and this is a great opportunity to really give a big boost to the game.' India, as host country, will be represented by four Grandmasters - Anand, Dibyendu Barua, Abhijit Kunte and K. Sasikiran. That itself gives India an advantage, and the special knockout format means anybody can move up. 'I remember Kunte from 1986, when I played him in the national junior meet,' said Anand. How is Anand preparing? Actually, it is more through staying out of the game, really. I have been really busy this year, but in April-May I stopped playing and then came back, and now there is this rest period. I will not be back except for a rapid chess meet in November. I want a few days off chess before the meet. That freshens up the mind.' He said it was tiring to be out travelling for so many months on the trot. 'Into hotels and out of hotels, and back again, it's really tiring.' His wife Aruna said it would be nice to have a holiday at home. 'Too much travelling, and any holiday, I want to rush home (in Spain),' she said. 'The hotels are of course good, but you don't feel good. A simple thing like getting a late snack is not easy, because you have to worry about whether the restaurant will shut. At home you just go to the kitchen and prepare a snack.' This transit existence has had its comic quota as well, as Aruna narrated. 'Once I had left instruction at the reception that we were not to be disturbed. Anand wanted a late night snack and forgot his key. When he asked reception to wake me up, they simply wouldn't, despite Anand telling them he actually was staying in that room. Then a guy calls me up and says 'm'am, there is this person named Anand who wants you to open the door now, says he stays in that room.' ' Anand gets little time to do serious reading apart from chess these days. 'I stick to magazines, and newspapers and TV news. Sometimes I surf, mainly chess sites, but I do follow some links sometimes, then lose interest and I go off.' He says he is eager to go over to Calcutta for a match or even a meet, 'but the people there must give me a clear date. I have yet to receive any clear date from them. I am surely eager to be able to fit that city into my schedule.'