‘Would’ve preferred India over Sofia’

EXCLUSIVE: espnstar.com caught up with Vishwanathan Anand, who said he would have loved to play the World Championship match against Veselin Topalov in India.

By Rajarshi Gupta

Anand is a picture of calm and humility even after a high-octane match against Topalov in what most would have called hostile conditions in Sofia.

With the World Championship tucked firmly under his bed, the Indian chess ace is unperturbed by all the talk from the Topalov camp and some rather unwarranted comments from the legendary Thomas Luther.

In Delhi to launch the Mobile Science Lab from NIIT, espnstar.com caught up with Anand for a candid chat, where the Master opened up like never before.

Excerpts.

Rajarshi Gupta: Your journey by road to Sofia for the World Championship game against Topalov is now well documented but that could have been avoided had you got enough sponsors to play the match in India.

Vishwanathan Anand: Well, I would have loved to play the match in India. That would have been really nice but at the end of the day I don’t have any complaints. I see the whole situation as a curtain raiser. The whole journey by road (Anand had to cancel his flight after the volcanic ash incident gripped Europe) turned out to be an adventure. I watched the Lord of the Rings in the 40-hour ride, kept a calm head and I enjoyed playing in Sofia once I reached. You can’t do much about a natural calamity and I tried to be as relaxed as I could on my way to play the match.

RG: Your wife (Aruna) went to recce the venue before the title clash but the international media started smelling something fishy. That must have got to you.

VA: I don’t know why the controversy was created. It’s a tradition – representatives of both rivals go and check out the venue before a match and it is something very innocent. My wife did not mean anything by it.

RG: Maybe that is where home advantage could have played a vital role. Is home advantage a factor in chess? In this case, you could have avoided a rather long journey as well.

VA: I don’t think home advantage is a factor when it comes to chess. It is all about how you prepare yourself mentally ahead of a tough game. So yes, like I said, I cannot complain about having to going to Sofia. It was a great experience.

Maybe if you are playing at home, the pressure gets balanced out by crowd support but there is nothing more to it.

RG: Magnus Carlsen, who could be your next challenger to the crown is reportedly being trained by Gary Kasparov. Both these men and Vladimir Kramnik helped you out against Topalov.

VA: Look, I know how to differentiate my rivalry on and off the board. It was a great gesture from Kramnik to come and help me despite the fact that I beat him in 2008. We’ve been good friends for a long time now and all Kramnik, Kasparov and Carlson did was share some ideas with me. It is not about how you practice but what you take from it to your game. I didn’t give Carlsen my life’s worth and he didn’t give me his. We can still compete and be intense about it.

RG: Will you rate your rivalry with Topalov as the most intense of your career so far – given the frenzy and the hype around the match?

VA: That would be a difficult question to answer but yes the Sofia contest was the toughest match I’ve ever played. In my earlier contests, things did not last that long but Topalov is a fighter and a great player and he makes chess interesting. He is the kind of player who forces you to take risks and forces you to respond and as a competitor, I could have never lost focus against him.

Everything was tilting one way or the other throughout the match and we didn’t have a winner till the 12th game. The intensity was breathtaking and I would not like to compare my opponents through the years but yes, the match against Topalov was an extreme challenge.