INTERVIEW WITH VISWANATHAN ANAND - II

Who : Viswanathan Anand
About : World Chess champion, 2007
Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anand

How it happened : Interview with Viswanathan Anand
Interview Date: October, 2007
Place: IIT Delhi Campus, New Delhi
Pics: None

His humility and his unassuming demeanor, for a man of his stature, end up surprising you. His subtle, though terrific, sense of humour is even more unexpected. And when you are with him, you can’t help but feel you are with a great, great man. Not to mention, perhaps, one of the greatest sportspersons our country has ever produced. Viswanathan Anand, who recently became the undisputed World Chess Champion was recently in Delhi and he took out some type exclusively for us, to talk about chess, victory, Gary Kasparov and much, much more. Nikhil Taneja has the exclusive interview.

Nikhil Taneja (NT): After your victory, you had wondered as to how your reception would turn out to be when you came to India. Are you contended with the adulation so far or do you still feel the Indian media is prejudiced towards cricket?
Viswanathan Anand (VA) : Well, let me put it this way. My words were probably slightly misconstrued. The reporter asked me about what kind of reception I am expecting and I simply said We’ll see what happens. It wasn’t really a sort of challenge to the Indian people (laughs) or something like that. And the reception has been fantastic, both today(at the NIIT Mind Championship Press Conference) and at the airport a couple of days ago but I think it’s time to move on. The last two days have been fantastic and I have no complaints at all.

NT: You had said once that after you became a Grandmaster, you lost the next few games simply because you didn’t know what to aim for next. Now that you are World No. 1, how are you going to view the games you play now?
VA: I think this time it wont be a problem. The Grandmaster title is somewhat different in the sense that your goals are there and it doesn’t matter what the rest of the field does. So the moment you are aiming for a GM title, you go to a tournament and see what a GM norm is and that’s the only thing you are aiming for. You don’t care if somebody goes 2 points above or somebody finishes behind you. Whereas, I hope at least, winning the World Championship wont change my way of thinking that much at least. Also because, now I am thinking that I want to finish first in the next tournament as well, not that I want to score so many points, irrelevant of what the rest of the field does. But of course, complacency is always a danger but I think I am experienced enough to stop it once in a while and recognize it when it’s happening.

NT: What would you say is the difference between your previous world title and the current one?
VA: I don’t really distinguish between the two personally, but of course, I can’t ignore the fact that the status of the World Championship in the Chess World has changed. In 2000, there were two parallel cycles. Thankfully, since last year, that is no longer the case. So, while I personally know what I did in Delhi and what I did here, I think the Mexico event, the Undisputed World Title, is an added element.

If you’ve missed something for 5 years, then you really want it back. And having missed it also in 2005, in between at least, I had the excuse that there were no events. But in 2005, it started very promisingly and then I kind of fizzled out. So this time I was determined not to let that happen.

NT: What would you say ranks higher, beating Gary Kasparov or winning the world championship?
VA: With the faces he made in that video, I’d say, pretty close!(laughs) But no, honestly, beating Kasporav. (chuckles) Because he always made some great expressions!(laughs again)

NT: Would you like to defend your title against Gary Kasparov if he comes out of politics?
VA: If he’s interested, I am definitely open to it. And you know, if he changes his mind about chess, he’s got a match waiting. I think it would be very interesting if he returned and for me, it would be a nice challenge. I can promise him it will be less physically dangerous to him than his current occupation (laughs).

NT: At this stage of your career, what do you think are the mistakes you are yet to overcome?
VA: First of all, I still make a lot of mistakes. On a good day, you will get away with it. Perhaps, you have hit upon something your opponent can’t exploit and so on. But it’s only at tournaments you see this. At home, it’s very difficult to get into the tournament tension and analyse. But at Mexico, I made a note of some of the mistakes that happened and I’ll definitely be working on it. But this is a continuous process. Even in the most successful tournaments and it’s usually while you are playing a game, and it might even be a really good game, you’ll know that I brought something wrong, I did this wrong and I did that wrong and you have to mentally note it down. After the game finishes, you usually make a list. If I get a week or two where I can concentrate on it, I’ll definitely work on it.

NT: You had mentioned that when you were younger, a lot of senior players like Karpov and Kasparov used to find it very difficult to cope up with defeat to you. Now that you are one of the senior players in the game, with what frame of mind do you play a game with a younger player?
VA: I think Karpov and Kasparov knew this probably instinctively but John None once told me that when you are playing these young prodigies, it is very important that you beat them the first few times. Because they remember all their lives (laughs). I sort of know what he means. Because there are still some guys I’ve lost to, that I have remembered for many many years (chuckles). But what he was also saying is that as they get stronger, if they don’t remember that you beat them once or twice, they start to beat you very easily. So once I play someone young, I make a big effort in the first few games (chuckles). I think Kasparov and Karpov did this instinctively. Though they themselves are separated by each other by 12 years. Kasparov and me are separated only by 5. In fact, I would say, Karpov made the same effort with Kasparov!

NT: So what do you thing is your wife’s biggest role in your victories?
VA: It’s difficult to reduce your wife’s role to one thing but I think she basically just about cover’s everything else that’s not related to chess preparation. And she’s almost started including that as well (chuck). But generally, during a tournament, she blocks everything else off. So she cuts off anybody in the outside world, and you get into this situation when you are just able to concentrate on the game and think about nothing else and that’s a very nice situation to be in. Because when you are 100% in something and there are no distractions, and these could be 100s of little things, like she’ll plan the ticket itinerary herself, take care of all the arrangements so that I don’t have to think about 100 little details.

And second thing is I think she has gotten good at figuring out my mood during tournaments. So she also knows when to say something, when not to say something, when saying something is useless anyway, all those sorts of things. Like couple of times I lose the games and she tries to give me advice and I say, well, I am in no mood for advice, advice is useless, I knew it before the game that if I knew how to do it, I would have done it. And she says, you are going to get angry even if I keep quiet, so I might as well say it! But then we can laugh about it afterwards. But I think by now she is also used to some of these defeats (laughs). Thankfully, they are happening less.

I remember one time, she told me don’t rush anything. Because when you are tense, you tense sometime you make a movie immediately because you can’t wait to find out what the opponent has. And it’s difficult and she had seen me do it a couple of times. And she told me this knowing it’s a crucial game. It was of no use! (laughs) Every time there was a critical moment, I’d think for a while and then I couldn’t take it anymore and I’d make a move. After move 40, I remembered what she told me. It was too late actually! So it didn’t really help in that game but this was a problem I managed to avoid for the rest of the tournament. So that helped a lot!

NT: Russia has always produced a great amount of world class chess players. What is it about the Russian system that propels all chess players to such a level?
VA: I think as important as the Russian system is, I mean, they have an organized system of coaches, the very fact that if you are born in a Russian city, the chances are that there will be a Grandmaster in your city whom you can go for advice. It’s sort of this proximity to strong chess players that breeds more chess players. But I think in India, we need to start developing conditions for that. Clearly, we are way behind the Russians but essentially, the same sort of critical mass is coming here as well.

NT: Who would you say was your most difficult opponent in terms of intimidating tactics?
VA: Umm.. Generally, the computer, because it just sits there and it’s so calm and it doesn’t do anything and it annoys! With most players, at least you can read their minds and it’s a two way thing. With the computer you don’t have that option.

NT: What’s the difference between a computer opponent and a human opponent?
VA: Well, first of all, a human is dynamic. If you do something, he can adjust his strategy accordingly and so on. And we are both trying to trick each other. Okay, the no. of things a human can do is generally greater, but a computer calculates pretty brutally and you get no feedback from it. It’s an alien opponent; you can’t gauge anything from it. So it’s a totally different experience playing the two.

NT: How have computers changed the face of chess as it was?
VA: I think, not only in chess, but in general in the world, computers are changing the face of the world. And the second thing is that computers make you enormously productive. I mean, I am able to work on chess in a way that I couldn’t work on before. Instead of finding one new idea a day and spending all day on it checking all its variations, I am able to find 15 ideas a day and check them faster. And I think you have to learn to work with these tools.

NT: What do you think is the future of chess in India?
VA: I think it’s very bright. If you see the numbers we have in 2007 NIIT Mind Champions, we are already looking at 150,000 and hopefully we can build up. And we have crossed 5000 schools. The future is very bright.

In fact, that’s one of the things we are trying to do it. Incidentally, since chess is very good for academics, it helps you in problem solving and trains your mind in many ways. I think the NIIT Mind Champions Academy is the perfect way to do this.

NT: What do you think should be done to promote chess in India?
VA: I think things like we are doing in NIIT Mind Championship should be done by more organizations. You know, this year we are going to reach potentially a million and a half students. Now, once you have done something like that, your growth in the future is also assured. So, I would attach a lot of importance to such an initiative.

NT: Don’t you think it’s high time the government takes some steps to promote chess?
VA: Definitely. But I think the government has to do that for every sport it thinks is promising, it has to allocate some resources for that. But I hope they will see the results we have in chess and allocate resources accordingly.

NT: So who are the best players we have right now?
VA: At the men side, there are 5 players who are going to play in the world cup. I think that’s a very important milestone. On the women’s side, you have Humpy, who is doing miracles and she is progressing very well. I’d say, overall I am quite content with the way Indian chess is going. After Turkey, she is breaking 2600 now. And she is coming along very well. And the thing I like about her is that she keeps working hard. She doesn’t get contended. I mean, already 2600 seperates her from a lot of other women. But she is still working very hard. Harika is also doing well.

NT: What advice would you like to give to the young chess players?
VA: I would say, just take it easy. Play chess for fun and enjoy yourself. Do the things you like in chess and the rest will take care of itself.

NT: At the end of your career, what would you like your record to read as?
VA: I don’t know. I think this is for other people to judge. Things will always come along. The first thing I can think of is simply to retain my title as long as I can. That would be one thing. But the main thing is I hope I continue enjoying it. It’s not only the world championship. I enjoy a lot of the rapid events I play. There are many events I look forward to , as long as I can keep that, I’ll keep going.

© Nikhil Taneja (nikhiltaneja@gmail.com)