I'd start as fresher in world title match

In an exclusive interview, Anand says he is looking forward to the re-match with Carlsen.

New Delhi, April 16

After five-time champion Viswanathan Anand’s one-sided loss to Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen in the World Championship match last November, many critics just wrote him off, saying that he was past his prime.

But the 44-year-old “Vishy”, as he is famously known among his fans, roared back to form in the 2014 Candidates Tournament to earn back his right to challenge the Norwegian for the World title. Anand remained unbeaten in this double round-robin tournament, scalping some of the biggest names of world chess like Levon Aronian of Armenia, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria.

So what exactly changed with Anand? The Tribune caught up with the man himself for an exclusive chat during his recent visit to the capital. Excerpts….

After losing the World Championship match to Magnus Carlsen, your critics had started writing you off. How difficult was it for you to come out of that phase and keep yourself motivated?

I simply just can’t explain what kind of efforts I had put in to come out of that phase. I took a lot of time not thinking about chess. Maybe, the time spent away from chess was actually very helpful.

How much family support played a part in finding your rhythm back? Do you think your decision to stay away from chess and spend time with your son Akhil helped you in becoming more relaxed?

It was very enjoyable period. I enjoyed my time with Akhil in the remaining weeks of November. For a while, I had no thoughts about my loss and that way, you heal emotionally much faster. I enjoyed my time with my family. I wouldn’t say everything got back to normal after that loss because in London Chess Classic, you saw the after-effects (Anand lost to Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in the quarter-final). In Zurich Chess Classic, I felt better but the results were not impressive. In Bundesliga, I did slightly better. After Bundesliga, I flew back to India and did not look at chess at all for roughly two weeks. I started looking back at chess only when I got to the Candidates Tournament.

Was it more about recovering emotionally from the World Championship loss rather than getting battle ready for a tough 2014 season?

It was a very testing period for me. The result had knocked the stuffing out of me. Even in 2013, there were good and bad moments but I felt the bad moments more intensely than the good ones and that was the unfortunate part. (After the loss against Carlsen), I had simply stopped following chess for a while. It was an unpleasant phase and I prefer not to look back at it anymore.

The win at the Candidates tournament came at a very dark time of your career? Where do you rate this particular title triumph in your illustrious career?

Well, first of all, it’s a great result. By any yardstick, it’s a good result, but having said that, there are some results which you really treasure. This one I will treasure for a long time.

Where do you think it went wrong against Carlsen in the World Championship match?

If you look at my game, my approach was starting to slip. Some errors had crept in my approach towards the game and I had started missing the plot slightly. Well, I do not want to go into the details again. In my previous World Championship matches, I was much more focused because you had the whole team, but even that kind of concentration did not help me much last year. I have no reasons to keep reliving that match. I really wanted to forget it. I would like to play Carlsen as a fresher.

There has never been such a rivalry than the one between the two mighty Russians, Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. Can we expect such rivalry between you and Carlsen?

Well, who knows, but we are just into our second match. Those guys were constant companions for five years or something.

You had hinted last year that one could expect change in your team of seconds. What’s the status?

I did not confirm or deny it. I have a fairly good idea of what I want to change and what kind of work I want to do. The bidding procedure for the venue and month for the World Championship match will finish by the end of this month. I would first like to have these two confirmed, then I’ll decide on my team of seconds.

You are no longer the world champion. Have you made peace with this thought?

Everything you do, you suffer a bit in the beginning, and then slowly, with time, everything gets settled down. The fact that I had played the Candidates Tournament, I can understand that I am no longer the world champion.