Five-time world chess champion Viswanathan Anand said he was not interested in thinking who would win the next title but believed that he would do it again. “I hope it’s me again. I am not thinking of who will be the next world champion,” said Anand when asked who would be the next world champion.
Anand said he opted out of India’s team for the Chess Olympiad in Turkey, as he did not enjoy the format. On critics who point fingers at his age, the 42-year-old said: “It sounds strange to me and keep on explaining that how a 40 or 42-year-old keeps playing chess. If you love the game and you do hard work you will still do well.”
Terming his world championship fight against Boris Gelfand the toughest of all, Anand said: “When I played against Gelfand, I already played two matches. In a way, I had exposed my cards. Gelfand is much too good a player to miss that kind of materials. I expected him to be difficult and that’s how it turned out. He was able to prepare himself well, having got a few open cards from me. He conducted himself exceedingly well. Last 4 games were pretty intense.”
On world No 1 Magnus Carlsen, Anand has this to say: “He is an amazing talent. He is a kind of player you see once or twice in a century. We drew a couple of times in our last meeting.” Famous for his rapid mastery, he said: “It is a help. But when you are playing world championship, tension is a much big factor than your form in the rapid chess.” About his team of seconds that included Kolkata’s GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly, he said: “We worked extremely hard. But lot of cards were exposed. That’s why, it’s becoming easier for the opponents. That’s the reality we will have to deal with it more and more.”