Back home after claiming his fourth World Chess Championship title, Viswanathan Anand is now keenly following the FIFA [ Images ] World Cup in South Africa [ Images ], particularly Argentina's star striker Lionel Messi.

"Personally, I like to watch Messi. He is my favourite and I see Argentina to go all the way through," said Anand, at a promotional event in Kolkata [ Images ] on Monday.

"But Spain (the Euro champions) too are quite good. I was very impressed with their football during the Euro championship. They and Argentina are pretty much my favourites. With such a big event going on, you would not like to miss the action. I am trying to watch as many matches as possible," he added.

Anand has a few tournaments lined up at the end of this year and he is yet to begin practice.

"He will play in the London [ Images ] Chess Classic in December and there will be a couple of other tournaments lined up before that," wife Aruna said.