Great life from the top

INTERVIEW: India’s chess king Anand enjoys life from the top
By Joaquin Cavanna Mar 1, 2011, 8:47 GMT

Madrid – India’s Viswanathan Anand, the old and new king of world chess, is a happy man after getting back to the top of the sport this week.

‘Being number one again is a very pleasant feeling. I was (number one) for the first time in 2007, and then I was number one for a year-and-a-half or more,’ he recalls in an interview with the German Press Agency dpa.

‘When I lost the number one spot, I did not get it back. So in that sense it is rather a pleasure to go back to that position,’ he notes.

Anand, 41, lives in Collado Mediano, a little mountain town less than an hour’s drive from Madrid. And he likes Spain.

‘It was easier so as not to have to travel so much between tournaments. People are very open, very nice, there is the best weather in Europe, the food it pretty good. I feel 10 or 20 per cent Spanish. Me and my family have a great relationship with that country,’ he says.

And Collado Mediano itself has clear advantages.

‘It is a place where I escape from chess. After a great tournament, you go there and what you want is to rest, to switch off, to be in the mountains. It is a very idyllic place.’

Anand’s native India, however, also has a lot going for it in the eyes of this champion.

‘In fact it is simple things. Someone comes up and tells you, ‘On that day we were awaiting your result, and when you won we slept well’. That kind of thing is hard to explain.’

As to being number one, Anand is proud but cautious.

‘Nowadays there are three or four people who are separated only by two or three points. That way, there is always pressure on your rivals, but that pressure does not come from being number one.

‘I used to be number one with a four-point lead, and now it is two points.

I’d rather focus on chess and not think too much about that. But I will not deny that it is a pleasure to have got it back.’

Anand is conscientious about his play.

‘I run or go to the gym. What chess players need the most is the ability to withstand tension for many hours. So anything that improves that performance will do. I usually lift weights, do muscle work some days, other days it is more aerobic stuff. The important thing is to do it everyday so as to keep the tension alive.’

He knows that computers have somewhat changed chess, but he is not bothered about that.

‘The computer is essential now, the internet too. Everyone has games available five minutes after playing. Technology almost gives no one a big advantage, because everyone is forced to having it.

‘You can thrive in the way you use the computer and find the balance, but if you cannot do it again on the board under pressure or you cannot solve problems that arise, what good is that?’

Anand has his own recipe for success.

‘Let’s put it this way: technology is a tool for all, but everyone has to make it work for them. At the highest level this is very competitive, and you have to keep working.’

The new tools have not suited everyone.

‘I think that the Grand Masters of the changing times have been able to change their play, they have been able to adapt,’ he says.

‘But there are others who are even older for whom the computer belongs to a different generation. They could never get used to it.

‘Because of computers, the average age in the elite of chess is going down. Now it’s 20-something, and it used to be 35. Now people play a lot, practise a lot and gather experience a lot faster.’

Still, the changing game can be blamed on other factors too. The fact that there are no great rivalries anymore, for example, is according to Anand due to splits within chess.

‘Two federations, two world champions. That happened in 1993. We solved that problem in 2006, and now I think chess is gradually recovering.’

Source: http://www.monstersandcritics.com