I am not a bad classical chess player: Anand
31 May, 2007 l 1845 hrs

NEW DELHI, May 31: Viswanathan Anand on Thursday advised the world chess federation (FIDE) to find a balance between “broadening the player base” and maintaining the standard of competition while deciding the criteria for title norms.

FIDE has in recent years lowered the ELO rating required for players to gain their respective titles, as a result of which there has been a spurt in the number of International Masters and Grandmasters.

India now has 15 GMs, a far cry from 2000 when there were only five of them – Anand, Dibyendu Barua, Pravin Thipsay, K Sasikiran and P Harikrishna. Anand said that FIDE’s decision, “at the moment”, has helped in increasing the number of professional players but soon there would have be a check on the “inflation”.

“There are two forces working here. One is the inflation of the GMs and the other is broadening the base. It has to be managed carefully,” Anand said during an on-line interaction from Kolkata.

“Right now, a lot of people are taking part. So, the depth has really grown up. I would say that at the moment, it is 10 percent inflation and 90 percent more players competing.” The interactive programme, organised by NIIT of which Anand is a brand ambassador, featured participants from six cities across the country.

It was a treat for the avid chess followers and the media alike as Anand gave a complete analysis of his game against Magnus Carlsen of Norway at Linares earlier this year. The 2000 World Champion won that match to win the tournament and also became the world number one.

There was brief acrimony initially when FIDE refused to anoint the Indian as ‘numero uno’ but strong protest from the the national federation and fans across the globe forced the world body to change its stance.

Anand said he was now fully focussed on the World Championships scheduled for September 13 to 29 in Mexico. “There will be lot of dynamics involved in a eight-player double round-robin tournament,” he said.

“We top players have the distance (ahead of others), but in a single tournament there is always a danger.”

The soft-spoken 37-year-old from Chennai sympathised with Veseline Topalov who decimated the opposition to win the title in 2005 but won’t be playing this year after losing to Vladimir Kramnik in the champions challenge match in 2006.

“I won’t call it unfair but unfortunate. What happens if the number one seed loses in the first round in candidates match?” he said.

“Topalov put everything in line in that match (against Kramnik). It is a pity but there is no alternative. I guess an ideal tournament doesn’t always happen,”

Anand said. On his superior record in rapid chess as against the classical version, Anand said that probably he consistently made better decisions in an intense match of shorter duration.

Here is the full article.

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