World chess champion Viswanathan Anand wants to get over his run of rusty performances in tournaments by playing “a lot of chess” in the coming year.
Speaking on the sidelines of the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year Awards function in the Capital on Wednesday, Anand said, “My schedule is packed till June next year. I want to play well. I did not play many tournaments this year.”
For Anand, who turned 43 on Tuesday, the high point of an otherwise lean year was the successful defence of his world title against challenger Boris Gelfand in Moscow.
The five-time World champion will open his 2013 schedule by playing in the 14-player Tata Steel tournament at Wijk aan Zee, near Amsterdam.
The field is headed by World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen (Norway), who currently holds a rating of 2861, highest in the history of the game.
Anand is seeded fifth, behind Levon Aronian (Armenia), Fabiano Caruano (Italy) and Sergey Karjakin. P. Hari Krishna is the other Indian in the event that has attracted five of the top-seven players in the world. Dethroned women’s World champion Hou Yifan is the lowest rated player in the fray.
Away from chess, when asked about his views on the suspension of the Indian Olympic Association by the International Olympic Committee, Anand said, “Good that it happened after the Olympics. I am not too concerned.
“There is still time to fix the problem. It’s a legal argument and it can be managed.
“For now, let’s not lose focus on training of the athletes and continue the good work.”
