India now has a large tournament circuit supported by both state largesse as well as private corporate sponsorship. An impressive ecosystem has developed and chess is taught in schools and private coaching centres. Anand's NIIT-sponsored programme has itself pulled thousands into the game. Anand's successes, coupled with his unassuming and media-friendly personality, gave chess a good branding. He demonstrated how a nice guy from a good middle-class family could be spectacularly successful at playing chess. The successes of the next wave - Humpy, Harikrishna, Sasikiran, Ganguly, Parimarjan Negi - helped to reinforce that impression and also proved that chess could provide a financially viable career.
Chess is not an expensive game to learn or practise, though the costs can rise exponentially. It can be played by almost anyone. Many of India's best players are from relatively low-income backgrounds. Resources are easily available to anyone with a smartphone or an Internet connection. Chess-playing ability seems to be associated with high concentration levels, good visual/spatial ability and mathematical logic. These are all things that Indian parents want to instil in their children. Studies in the United Kingdom and Sweden back the anecdotal impression that children who play chess do better academically. Olympiad winning nations like Armenia teach it in state schools.
There can be little doubt that chess has become an excellent brand in India, thanks to Anand and the ones who followed in his wake. In fact, the advertising industry overuses chess symbolism in trying to get the brand associations to rub off across segments as diverse as information technology, personal finance, white goods and even realty. The game's links to India's cultural moorings are widely known. It also has strong resonances with most people working in science and technology-oriented professions. In India, various private sponsors have supported tournaments in various locales; the Tamil Nadu government has also put a fair amount of resources into hosting the ongoing world title match. This should boost the game's popularity by several notches. It will be money well-spent if it brings more youngsters into the game. It is impossible to judge whether chess actually inculcates mathematical skills by encouraging people to use the relevant parts of their brains, or if it enables the gifted to learn how to focus in a disciplined way. It is probably a bit of both. The nature versus nurture debate is irrelevant anyway. Statistical correlation suggests that chess players do well in a wide range of high-value professions. In any case, chess is egalitarian with no race or gender barriers. It is physically demanding and promotes physical fitness in those who play it seriously. It is, in sum, the perfect game for India. Anand's stellar career has made this point very well indeed.