We just had a quiet birthday

‘We just had a quiet birthday’
Last updated on: December 21, 2009 09:48 IST

World champion Viswanathan Anand turned 40 on December 11. The lightning kid of the chess world has indeed grown up! But, for Shobha Warrier who first interviewed him 15 years ago when he was a young man of 25, Anand hasn’t changed a bit in the last decade-and-a-half.

At that time, he had spoken about aspiring to become World champion; he has fulfilled that dream and gone on to accumulate several other accolades from the game. But despite the stardom and being the world champ, Anand is still the same.

Do you make it a point to be in Chennai for your birthday?

I am here (for his birthday) for the last couple of years. December is a nice time to be in Chennai. Earlier, I used to have tournaments in December.

How different was your 40th birthday from the earlier ones?

40 is a milestone! Otherwise, we had a quiet birthday; we wanted to keep it quiet. We had lunch at home. My parents had come over; we spent some time together, and in the evening, we went to Vidyasagar (an organisation that works with children and young adults with cerebral palsy and neurological disabilities).

Source: http://sports.rediff.com