Anand's-team

CHESS IS A TEAM GAME: ANAND
Mumbai Mirror | Sep 22, 2015, 04.52 AM IST

Mirror Sports Bureau

Says a player’s success depends on trust and respect for trainers.

Chess may be an individual sport but Viswanathan Anand says it is as much a team game as any other. “Your success will depend on the trust and respect you have for your teammates,” he told a gathering here on Monday.

“There is a huge role for the team because of the workload for a chess player. I can do everything but I do not have that much time. So we share the workload,” the Indian Grandmaster said, elaborating on his point.

Anand has a team of four-five trainers, read seconds, working with him constantly and the Indian maestro strove to explain how he works with them.

“My trainers might have noticed something that I haven’t. They bring that to my notice. The common misconception is that if you’re stronger than them, then what will you learn from them? I might be stronger over the board, but they may have interesting insights. It comes with their way of thinking, because they are different people. Your style of play is so unique to you that you’ll miss everything that falls outside that circle. So it is useful to collaborate,” he said.

He dwelt on the point further, “The second and most important factor is trust. Very often a trainer of mine will tell me something five minutes before a game, saying this move is good in a particular position. When I go to the board, I have to trust him, because I know that he’s spent hours the night before double checking this. Even if I’m not sure of it, I have to tell myself that he must’ve checked this. I will try and figure out that what it is that he has seen.”

At 46, Anand is one of the senior most players on the circuit with an enviable rating of 2816. He is also No 2 in the world, second only to world champion Magnus Carlsen. But Anand is not too excited by the rating. “I have been past 2800 before. Actually my highest rating ever was 2820. So, I am not looking at the number. I would rather want my results to be good. That will take care of the rating,” he analysed.

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