By Admin 
Peter Leko knew chess was big in India. He didn’t reckon it was big enough for people to recognise him from just his voice.
The former challenger to the World championship is now one of the most perceptive commentators in chess and is admired for his lucid analyses. “While on a visit to Fort Aguada near here, I was surprised when two young men came up to me and asked if I was Peter Leko,” Leko tells The Hindu. “They told me they recognised me by my voice.”
It wasn’t his voice that took Leko here in the first place, though. He came here as a participant at the World Cup. He made it to the fourth round, where he was beaten by the second seed Arjun Erigaisi; he was the first to take the Indian to the tie-breaks.
Arjun, however, was eliminated by China’s Wei Yi in the quarterfinals. “I was very impressed with the way he had been playing, and I know the whole India was rooting for Arjun,” says the former World No. 4 who tied the 2004 World title match with Vladimir Kramnik. “He had been handling the pressure well, but I think he was a bit unlucky with the pairings.”
The Hungarian rates Arjun highly. “I have done so much commentary on his game and his moves have been the most difficult for me to anticipate,” says Leko, a former second of Viswanathan Anand. “He always comes up with some surprises.”
About the early exit of the other top Indian seeds, D. Gukesh and R. Praggnanandhaa, Leko says: “It happens at the World Cup. Normally the favourites have tremendous pressure because the expectations are very high. One should also acknowledge that all the players here are very strong and extremely motivated because this is kind of a chance of a lifetime.”