Anand,The King in battle of Pawns.

Anand, The King in battle of Pawns
by Jagdish Dube on Sun Jun 21, 2009

Vishwanathan Anand: The king in the battle of pawns.
21 Jun 2009, 0208 hrs IST, Abhimanyu Chakravorty, ET Bureau.

If you thought that brawn is mightier than brain, then checkmate. For in the battle of pawns we know who the king is–it’s not a Singh or even a Khan this time. It’s Vishy. Full name: Vishwanathan Anand.

The defending world chess champion, Vishy, was in the capital recently to play live chess across seven cities with the winners of a competition, cleverly christened ‘Vish come True’. “Vish come True is a national chess competition organised by NIIT (IT training and services giant), wherein the winners get a chance to play with me in the grand finale. School students are encouraged to come forward and play chess, as the game helps improve concentration and decision making abilities, thereby enhancing academic performance among children.”

Novelty is the most important thing in chess and who knows that better than the master himself. “I generally first see what kind of player I am facing. It is important to get your opponent to a position he least expects. Then you try and establish patterns as to what he does. If the opponent needs a win at all costs then he may adopt a very risky approach and my job would be not to allow it. Important thing is to remember all nuances in the position and be prepared for a long battle,” said Anand when SundayET caught up with him over a cup of coffee.

Here is the full article.