Hi, curioisty about this champ, who has been living abroad for career reasons is bound to be there. Maybe, I can throw some light on the issue. I am a sports journalist and I happened to visit Anand and his wife on a trip to Madrid to cover the pre-Olympic hockey qualifier. Besides giving u information about my experience -- the couple were extremely nice and hospitable -- I asked Anand quite a few times in my interview about his decision to shift base and the reasons were pretty simple. The chess hub was in Europe and some people in Spain, whom Anand knew, were keen that he makes their country his base. It's helped Spain's reputation also. A lot of sportspeople and coaches I know, are also based in Barcelona, coming from other countries. Its also becoz of the friendly weather condition in Spain. What Anand has done is what a lot of us in India do, to pursue our goals. Dont we move from North-East to Delhi, or from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi, Jammu to Mumbai, Kolkatta to Bangalore etc etc--primarily with the intention of fulfilling our dreams. I guess Anand plays chess because he loves it, I dont think he started playing chess with a focus on getting rich! Fame, I can understand, but, where is the question of selling loyalty in his case. I respect the right to be sceptical but I am sure we need to look at the body of Anand's work for his country over the last 15-20 years, instead of jumping to conlcusion becoz we dont like certain things that he is accused of doing.
