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It was extremely tough, says Anand

Rakesh Rao

— FILE PHOTO

Viswanathan Anand.

NEW DELHI: With the much-awaited World chess championship clash against challenger Vladimir Kramnik just over two months away, Viswanathan Anand swiftly got into the winning mode at Mainz on Sunday.

Up against three of the most attacking chess players — the unpredictable Russian Alexander Morozovich, prodigious Norwegian Magnus Carlsen and the uncompromising Hungarian Judit Polgar — Anand once again proved why he is the undisputed king of rapid chess, more so at this German venue where he is undefeated since the action shifted from Frankfurt in 2001.

Anand topped the four-player league and then, in the four-game final, took the winning lead against Carlsen in the third game on way to a 3-1 verdict.

Most cherished win

After completing the job in hand, Anand took some time off to share his views with The Hindu. He looked back at his unbeaten run in this annual event and rated this year’s challenge as one among the toughest he ever faced. The triumph in 2000, at Frankfurt, remains close to his heart since he won a strong six-man event, that included Gary Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik, with a round to spare.

“This year (the field) was clearly extremely strong. Each one of us has a distinctive style. And my three rivals go all out in all games. They have very sharp, tactical and creative styles. So if you are in a good form you can win and the inverse is also true. If you are not in good form, there is every chance that you lose a lot of games,” assessed Anand .

The one-sided nature of the final surprised Anand since he did not consider himself as the ‘favourite’.

“Magnus is the poster boy of the computer generation. He can play games in one minute so my quick reflex was a limited advantage. The result could have gone either way.”

Can play anything

On his two victories in the league over Morozevich, Anand said, “He is one of the most creative players and can play almost anything. So preparing for him is extremely tough. I was able to win the first game and in the second, Morozevich blundered and that enabled me to get a good position. By the time Magnus proposed the draw against Judit (in the concurrently played league game), I think he knew that I was winning and he had qualified for the final. Actually, we were all contemplating the statistics of a three-way tie-break and luckily we all averted it.”

Anand gave Judit her due even though she finished last. “Judit is a very sharp player and she can find a lot of tactics in any kind of position. If you see against Morozevich, she saved the situation so many times and started attacking immediately once she got comfortable. In 2003, in our match in Mainz, for example, we (out of eight games) didn’t draw a single game. That shows her ability to fight. So, in the first game, when my position was not exactly winning towards the end, I had to give back material to force the draw. In the second game, I was better but could have maybe played more precise to win.

Most magnanimous

The champion was most magnanimous in showering praise on the Norwegian wonder-kid.

“Magnus has progressed a lot this year and at 18, I guess, he can only get better. He is also a person who has interests outside chess. Very knowledgeable on many things and very well behaved. This year has been almost perfect. He won Corus, second in Linares, won Foros and Baku. He has matured a lot and shows a lot of tenacity. In the chess world, we all see him as champion material.”

Moving away from chess, Anand said he would be following India’s fortunes in the Beijing Olympic Games. “India has a lot of promising talent and slowly we see other sporting disciplines being talked about in the Indian media. I would hope we get a medal or a few. But will just keep fingers crossed.”

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