Anand talks chess and more

CHESS / INTERVIEW
‘Always do something that you like’

“I’ve discovered some nice countries and made lots of friends that I would never have otherwise done. Chess has clearly opened a lot of doors for me,” says Viswanathan Anand in a chat with Rakesh Rao.

From learning chess to learning from chess, World champion Viswanathan Anand has come a long way. All along this fascinating journey, Anand has overcome challenges, stayed away from controversies, and charted his course to success by staying focussed on the job on hand.

Having regained the World title and reinforced his position at the top of the world rankings, Anand is now on a “vacation” in India. Now, the game’s finest ambassador has some time to acknowledge what chess has given him and also see how it can be promoted as a spectator sport in the country.

Anand also shared his views with Sportstar on next year’s World Championship match against challenger Vladimir Kramik of Russia; the complex rules, his preferred championship format, the possible return of the team of “seconds” and more. This “pretty practical” practitioner of the cerebral sport has lots to say.

On the influence of chess on his life: Chess has had a huge influence on how I’ve turned out as someone, who has travelled to a lot of countries. I like visiting countries and I think, at least, I retain little pieces of the many countries that I’ve been to. That experience wouldn’t have come to me without chess. Probably, there are a lot of lessons I’ve learnt from chess. Like, if you want something, you have to work hard and so on. The easiest analogy you can draw is from my chess experience. Probably, the reverse is also true but in this direction, it is much more. And a lot of my friends, perhaps a majority, have something to do with chess because of the nature of the sport. I’ve discovered some nice countries and made lots of friends which I would never have otherwise done. Chess has clearly opened a lot of doors for me.

Whether chess can be a spectator sport: It definitely can be a spectator sport. If you have seen chess online, then you see that it has all the ingredients to be a spectator sport. In fact, it is in a certain sense. The question is how we can translate that to say, television or something. The first thing is, we have to organise a classy, nice event here (in India). You need commentary. More than even time control, I’d say that commentary is more important. If we can have a short time control, then just highlight the main moments, what’s happening. I mean, I’ve seen spectators blown away by chess. It’s no longer that I am worried that chess can’t be a spectator sport, but we also have to break the perception at some point that chess can’t be a spectator sport because a lot of people say that ‘there is no point, I can’t watch chess’. So we have to get past that. I think, once you have one successful event and a few people can see what’s going on, then you’ll have something to build on. But in many places, they do pretty good events. I mean, at Wijk aan Zee or Linares, you have a lot of spectators. But I think commentary is the main thing that you have got to do.

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