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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday rewarded the newly crowned world chess champion, Grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand, with Rs. 20 million. Anand beat Israeli Boris Gelfand in a four-round tie-breaker after the 12-match contest was tied at 6-6. Three of the four rapid chess games were drawn but the 42-year-old Indian edged out his challenger in the second game. Anand met Jayalalithaa at her official headquarters, where she presented him the cheque. The world champion was accompanied by his wife Aruna and he discussed the steps that need to be taken to promote the game in the state. "We spoke a little bit about the match. We spoke about chess. She was very well informed about all the details of the match. I thanked her for her incredibly kind gesture to announce this award. We spoke about great support for chess, introducing chess in schools from seven to seventeen. And I think this will do a lot for chess in Tamil Nadu in the future. We will produce the next generation of great chess players," Anand said. He added that support by the state government to the game of chess would provide impetus to it and it would make it popular among the young people. "Of course all kinds of support are important. But this kind of institutional support from the Tamil Nadu government and making it a part of the school curriculum, I think it gives a very firm foundation. It gives a very good basis for the future of chess in Tamil Nadu. And I think once you have those numbers, corporates will get involved and of course that will take the game to a higher level," Anand said. His title win last week was his fourth in a row - he has also won in 2007, 2008 and 2010.

Jayalalithaa rewards Vishwanathan Anand with Rs 20 million