Never be shy of taking risks: Anand
Friday, December 19, 2008

New Delhi (PTI): “There are many chess games going on in life and one should never be shy of taking risks,” says three-time World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand.

Interacting with management students and professionals across 19 cities in the country in a programme ‘Strategies in tough times: Lessons from chess’, Anand said contrary to playing it safe, taking risks sometimes increases one’s chance of emerging winner.

“I remember something which happened to me years ago,” said Anand, who visited the Capital for the first time after retaining his World Championship title in Bonn, Germany, by defeating Russia’s Vladimir Kramnik.

“In 2000, I was not doing well at Dortmund, so I decided to only avoid defeat in the remaining games. But that hurt me quite a lot,” he said.

“And there I learnt that sometimes safety first approach does not work. It stops growth. One has to take risks, that’s what life is all about. One cannot be safe all the time.

“But you should not wait for bad times to learn the lesson, you should start working on your strategy in good time,” he said.

The 39-year-old chess ace also said, “risk taking should not be confused with aggressiveness or defensiveness. The approach should suit the situation you are in.”

Anand credited his recent successes in the World Championships in Germany and Mexico to his year-long preparations and strategising.

“I started preparing a year before for both the tournaments. I conceded areas where he (Kramnik) specialises in and worked on new aspects of the game. I really enjoyed training for the match. There is so much to discover. Kramnik was considerably surprised by my work with black and white.”

Source: www.hindu.com

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