Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan knows a thing or two about warfare on a 64-square chess board, Grandmasters and the Elo rating system.

Named after Hungarian-born Arpad Elo, the rating system calculates the skill quotient of chess players and helps grade and distinguish players in the highly competitive world of chess.

On Friday Mr. Chavan was happy to receive a select group, comprising the five-time FIDE world champion Viswanathan Anand, GM Abhijit Kunte, Maharashtra Chess Association president Ashok Jain and MCA vice-president Aniruddh Deshpande at the Sahyadri Guest House here.

The World Junior Chess Championship 2014 is scheduled to be held in Pune from October 5 to 20, with participants expected from over 70 countries.

Mr. Chavan was not only thrilled to meet Anand but he also agreed to be the chess competition’s patron. The Chief Minister sprang a pleasant surprise by asking Anand, the brand ambassador for the event, what his Elo rating is. “He [Chavan] really surprised me. It’s very rare for a Chief Minister of a State to ask a question about my Elo rating. Obviously he does follow chess at a very high level,” the chess legend said.