My performance dropped this year: Vishwanathan Anand
Nandini Kumar / DNA
Sunday, December 20, 2009 2:12 IST

Bangalore: His name may be the quintessential synonym for victory, but the year 2009 has not been a favourable one for Viswanathan Anand, the reigning world champion who has had more defeats than wins this year.

After an astonishing run in 2007 and 2008 — when he won back-to-back world championships defeating greats like Vladimir Kramnik — Anand had to be content with second place in this year’s World Blitz Championship in November. He managed 28 points in the tournament, three behind the winner Magnus Carlsen.

In the Tal Memorial Chess Tournament, Anand went down to Levon Aronian in his final round match and eventually finished fifth. At the World Rapid Chess Championships, he was ousted in the preliminary round of the tournament.

Speaking about his mediocre performance this year, Anand said, “This year has been a mix. It was not a bad year but compared to 2007 and ’08, my performance has clearly dropped off. There are lessons to be learnt from that and I will be working a lot harder for next year.”

Anand, who is in the city for back-to-back events organised by NIIT, will be seen in action at Corus (Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands) early next year apart from playing at the World Championships in Sofia, where he will defend his title against Vaselin Topalov. “I must say that my opponents have raised their game and that’s one of the reasons why my results have not been so good. It’s not that I have lost focus but when you are in a sport for so long, they (opponents) get used to your way of playing and I need to develop new strategies.

“Corus and World Championships in April are extremely important and I think it’s time to really focus and win,” he said. Speaking about the growth of chess in the cricket-crazy country Anand says, he is mighty excited about the potential the indoor sport has in India. “I think the biggest problem with chess is that, although it’s a spectator friendly sport, one has to know the rules to follow and enjoy the game unlike other sports. But over the past few years, chess has really grown in India and there is so much potential that it’s exciting for me,” he said.

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com

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