Vishy Anand to tackle 40 math wizards simultaneously at ICM

New Delhi :

It promises to be an exciting encounter of its kind as chess ace Viswanathan Anand takes on 40 math wizards at the same time in August.

Anand, the world chess champion, will engage 40 best mathematical minds in a game of chess, perhaps the most cerebral of all sport.

The contest will take place on the sidelines of the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM), the biggest and the most prestigious such gathering in the world, being held in Hyderabad in August.

The Grandmaster himself is a keen follower of mathematics as he feels it approach to problem solving is similar to that in chess.

"I am quite looking forward to attending the congress and maybe even hear some lectures," Anand was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the ICM organising committee.

Anand's first introduction to a mathematician was through a book 'The Man who knew Infinity', a biography of the legendary Srinivas Ramanujan.

"I was intrigued by his natural genius. That was my first introduction to a mathematician," he said, adding that he was keenly awaiting the opportunity to play 40 mathematicians at the same time.

"Both chess and mathematics are closely linked and lot of our methodology in problem solving are similar," said Anand who ranks Andrew Hodges's 'Inner Life of Numbers', a book on 'Fermat's Last Theorem' as among his favourites and frequently read books.

Emanuel Lasker, the mathematician well known to algebraists for the 'Lasker?Noether Theorem' was the world chess champion for 27 years between 1894-1921.

The game of chess originated in India in the sixth century and was called Chaturanga.

Chaturangam in Sanskrit, refers to four divisions of the military -- infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots which later evolved into the modern pawn, knight, bishop, and rook.

The modern form of the game is somewhat different from the Indian version and evolved in Europe in the 15th century.