Anand showed determination and courage: Father
PTI, May 12, 2010, 01.02am IST
NEW DELHI: It was Viswanathan Anand’s dogged persistence that played a major role in his retaining the World Champions title, says Viswanathan Iyer, the proud father of the chess wizard.
Anand retained the World Chess Championship following a stunning victory from black pieces in the title deciding game against Veselin Topalov in Sofia, Bulgaria.
“When he lost the first game itself, it was a big upset. But he got back into the game very quickly and each and every game showed his talent,” he said.
Not only beating Topalov but reaching the venue for the battle was a big challenge for Anand as volcanic ash in European skies disrupted the air route and he had to take a tiring road route to reach Sofia.
“It was an ordeal. He couldn’t get there by flight as it was cancelled and had to travel by road. It is not easy after two days of travel but Anand is like that, he doesn’t bother himself by these things. His determination played a major role,” he told a TV channel.
Asked to compare his win over Vladimir Kramnik in 2008 and the current victory over Topalov, his father said, “In chess you have to adjust to the opponent. He played differently with Kramnik, who is a theoretician and adapted himself well against Topalov who is very tactical.”
Anand’s wife Aruna said it was a special challenge considering what they went through in the last weeks.
“We feel extremely happy to win in such style. It was nice. It was a very tough match as it went back and forth and also getting there was difficult with this volcanic gases. He also had some mis-communication with the organisers.
“So it was a special challenge and it is nice he came out of it in flying colours,” she said.
Anand’s mother Susheela was happy with his son’s achievement but winning titles is not the only thing she wants from her son.
“I want him to continue to be a nice man. Anybody can be good in games but I want him to be a nice person also,” she said.
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Both are nice people.
As usual, the mother gets it right.