The Hindu : Sport / Chess : It'll be nice to be World No. 1 again: Anand

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It'll be nice to be World No. 1 again: Anand

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: With the defence of the World chess title out of the way for two years, Viswanathan Anand is preparing for four classical tournaments in as many months, beginning October.

In the country for over two months after retaining the World crown against challenger Veselin Topalov in Sofia, Anand will return to action with a simultaneous display in Mainz, Germany next month and then face Norwegian Magnus Carlsen in a rapid match at Kristiansund, Norway.

Thereafter, for the first time in many years, Anand will be seen in four classical chess tournaments in quick succession at Bilbao (Spain), Nanjing (China) and in London before looking to regain the Corus chess title at Wijk aan Zee in January.

Talking on the sidelines of a NIIT-organised panel discussion titled “Impact of chess on life skills and academics” here on Saturday, Anand said, “since winning at Linares, the defence of the world title (in 2008 and again in 2010) was on my mind. It will be nice to regain the world No. 1 spot but I try not to think about it. I know, if I do well in the classical tournaments till January, I am sure to get closer.”

Currently, with a rating of 2800, Anand is third on the world ranking list behind Carlsen (2826) and Topalov (2803). When talking of Carslen's “phenomenal” rise in the ranking list, (from 2772 in July 2009 to the current 2826), Anand chose to compare it with what Bobby Fischer did in 1972 and Garry Kasparov in 1999.

On Magnus

“Magnus plays believing he can beat any one. The training session he had with Kasparov (last year) only reinforced his self-belief and he has gone on to play some splendid chess thereafter.

“Players like Topalov, Kramnik and me now have something more to get motivated about. That should be the right way to go about it. Players are working hard to find a way to stop Magnus but it will take some time.”

Anand, due to leave on Wednesday to meet his upcoming commitments in Europe, resumed training for the past month.

“It takes a game or two (of competitive chess) to get your sense of danger working in a given position. I am actually looking forward to it,” said Anand.

In the past month, Anand also watched, with added interest, Rafael Nadal regain the Wimbledon title and Spain win the World Cup.

The joy of Anand, a resident of Collado Mediano, near Madrid in Spain for around 15 years, was understandable. Answering another question, Anand said he had not heard of any allegation of sexual harassment in chess. “This subject should be dealt in a broader sense and not kept limited to sports.”

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