New Delhi, September 10, 2004

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Viswanathan Anand, India's finest chess player ever, is back home for a short break after a great year once again. The NIIT Brand Ambassador, with two classical chess titles besides retaining his Chess Classic of Mainz title, is headed once again for a brilliant year, during which he will also lead an Indian team at the Chess Olympiad in Spain in October 2004.

Anand, who won six titles, five of them in rapid, in 2003, has been in winning form once again. In 2004, he went one better than 2003, by winning both the Classical events he played in Wijk Aan Zee and Dortmund. Last year he won only the Wijk Aan Zee event, besides finishing second at Dortmund and tying for third at Linares. This year Anand did not play Linares.

Anand is now widely regarded as the best all-round player in classical chess (two hours for 40 moves format) and rapid chess (where the time is restricted to as little as less than half an hour for a game). He is also one of the best in blitz chess, where a player is required to complete all moves in five minutes.

During his visit to India, Anand will be traveling to different cities to interact with the youngsters and share his success mantras. He will be talking to the students at Somaya College and Mithibai College in Mumbai, where he will also be unveiling NIIT’s National IT Aptitude Test (NITAT) 2004.

NITAT is the first ever nation-wide talent hunt for IT manpower. The test determines IT Aptitude by combining key functional abilities with necessary behavioral traits and is expected to become a benchmark for the industry, akin to grading systems like GRE, TOEFL and JEE.

Anand has been deeply involved in a project with NIIT, called the NIIT Mind Champions Academy, to take chess to schools across the country. As part of this initiative, the chess grandmaster will be launching the NIIT MindChampions Academy’s First Schools Chess Tournament in Hyderabad. Dr I V Subba Rao, Principal Secretary, School Education, Government of Andhra Pradesh will also be present on the occasion. The tournament will be simultaneously held in schools across the country where NIIT and Anand launched NIIT MindChampions Academies last year.

In yet another event at Hyderabad, Anand will be unveiling NITAT 2004 in the presence of Mr Shakti Sagar, Managing Director, ADP.

In Delhi, Viswanathan Anand will be felicitated at a public event with the Union Minister for Human Resource Development Mr Arjun Singh gracing the occasion. Anand will also be spending time with celebrities in Delhi over a game of Chess.

About NIIT
NIIT, an acknowledged leader in the IT and IT-assisted training space offers Learning and Knowledge Solutions in 33 countries. Training over 500,000 learners annually, NIIT is the only Asian Education and Training Organization to feature among the IDC Top 20 Global IT Training market leaders, for four consecutive years.

NIIT's education offerings include: GNIIT--an industry-endorsed program for students seeking careers in the IT and BPO segments; CATS--offers training programs on advanced technologies for IT professionals; Swift--a platform for equipping ordinary people with basic computer skills; NetVarsity.com offers a blend of content, technology and services while NIIT@School--a turnkey, IT integration program that provides computer-based learning in government and private schools.

NIIT's range of offerings in the e-learning domain are bolstered by its SEI CMM Level 5 assessed Knowledge Solutions business (KSB), which has emerged as a leader in the field. NIIT KSB offers integrated learning solutions that range from strategy and design to development, implementation and administration.

Its customers include Fortune 500 Companies, Universities, Technology Companies, Training Corporations and Publishing Houses.

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