Viswanathan Anand preparing hard for his clash with Magnus Carlsen
By Jaideep Unudurti, ET Bureau | 2 Jul, 2014, 06.18AM IST
“Lots of work, coffee and Coldplay,” sums up Viswanathan Anand as he begins training for yet another world championship.
He is gearing up for the summit clash against incumbent Magnus Carlsen, which begins in Sochi on November 7. He is confident the location will work work him, “I think it will be a very good venue, having played a lot of events and a world championship match in Russia. I can say that the event will be very well organised.”
“The Russian chess federation is always led by a very capable team and I am sure they will put together a very good event both for the spectators as well as for the players,” he adds.
Anand has returned after a bronze medal finish at the World Rapid Championship held in Dubai in June. He spoke to ET just after the last round of the World Rapid and later continued the conversation from his Chennai residence.
Despite defeating Carlsen in their individual game, he could not prevent the Norwegian from annexing the world rapid and blitz crowns. Anand was all praise for his rival’s ability, “full credit to him, he responded very well, his defeat was very unpleasant but he won two games (after the loss) as if nothing had happened.”
On the last day, Anand looked poised to take the title but it was not to be. Three draws in the last three games meant he finished half a point behind the world champion. “It is a shame that my performance dipped quite a bit”.
Was it because the Carlsen game used up a lot of emotional energy? “That would be the assumption. You never know. It could be that, (or) it could be simply that I was tired.” The twin tournaments had a gruelling schedule—the rapid saw 5 rounds per day for three days followed immediately by 10 rounds a day for the blitz.
“In the nights you are just exhausted. I go back every evening, just lounge about for half an hour and fall asleep. I tried to do some work in the morning but it was not productive. It is wellknown that it is hard to prepare in such circumstances. It is about structuring your thoughts” he said.
The encounter between Anand and Carlsen in the rapid event was the cynosure of all eyes. Even the arbiters, normally a staid lot, whipped out their cameras. Did Anand put in something extra into this clash? “No,he says, because I didn’t know when I was to play him, it didn’t make sense to prepare for him because you don’t which colour and you didn’t know what circumstances” Was it weighing on his mind?
“I didn’t have the time. I knew if we had an encounter, it would be good to play agood game and that one was a game I wanted to do well. Having said that, I didn’t have time for these pieces to fall into place”.
There was a lot of speculation that this would be the last time Anand and Carlsen would face each other before their match. Anand has confirmed to ET that this might not be the case-—his next event will “most probably in Bilbao”.In all probability they will meet in the Grand Slam final in September held at the Spanish town dubbed the “cathedral” of world chess.
Anand also indicated that he may play a few more rapid events to keep himself in match-fitness. Asked to name his top efforts from Dubai, Anand said “overall the Magnus game was good”.
No chance.
Nakamura can play simul between these two inferior GMs with time handicap and still win. Thats why he was not invited. Carlsen is a joke and Anand is old. With that, only one conclusion comes to mind. Nakamura is the best. Bar none.
No doubt that Anand will want Nakamura to help train him – given Naka’s stellar record vs. Carlsen.
🙂