Chess grandmaster’s menu: What Chef Suresh Pillai cooked for Viswanathan Anand, Gukesh

Celebrity Chef Suresh Pillai, who once aspired to be a chess player, prepared a special dinner for grandmasters Viswanathan Anand and Gukesh Dommaraju. The event served as a personal milestone for the chef, who maintains a lifelong passion for the game of chess.
Why it matters
It provides a human-interest look at the intersection of professional culinary arts and elite sports culture in India.
When he was a schoolgoer in Kerala, former Masterchef BBC contestant and celebrity Chef Suresh Pillai pawned his mother’s gold earrings for ₹300 to take part in a chess tournament in Kollam. “The experience was overwhelming. I lost in the first round. I went to the bathroom and cried because there was no way to make back the ₹300,” says Chef Suresh.
The article is a feature piece focused on personal narrative and celebrity interaction without political or social bias.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in