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The Rediff Sports Interview/ Vishwanathan Anand

'Karpov is the world champion in political lobbying'

T he year gone by wasn't all that good for Grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand. At least not how he hoped it would be in terms of success on the chess board. Just a couple of good tournaments including a 5-1 victory over Anatoly Karpov. By his own admission, it was indeed "a lousy year" though he had the honour of winning the Chess Oscar for the second consecutive time for his fine showing in 1998.

The 30-year-old World No 2 was in Madras recently to spend some time with his parents, as the 'big' match between Garry Kasparov and him was cancelled. Shobha Warrier caught up with him at his home. He was relaxed and in a mood to talk. Which he did for nearly an hour.

Do you generally make any New Year resolutions?

I make resolutions but not on January 1st. It could be in June or in September or anytime. I don’t think January 1st has got anything special. I work differently. If I have a really good tournament ahead, I might tell myself, 'okay I have to be on the right track. I must win this', or something like that. I might take resolutions of that sort. So, it has nothing to do with any date. It could be at any time in the year. Same with the millennium too!

Do you plan your tournaments well in advance for a particular year?

Yes, as much as possible. You know when most tournaments are held. They have been like that for decades. So, they are fairly stable. But there are also many new tournaments emerging every year. For instance, there is a new tradition in Israel, just started. Now I am going to play a tournament there. This is the first year or the second year of the tournament. Obviously, it was not easy to plan that far in advance. But it is quite nice to plan things.

Do you plan in advance how you are going to play a game against a particular player?

You keep working in general because chess itself is constantly changing and you cannot plan well in advance. What you can do is, get yourself in the habit of working so that you are more or less up-to-date.

In what way is chess as a game changing?

I mean the technical stuff. The theory, evaluations, etc are constantly changing.

1998 had been a dream year for you. You won the Chess Oscar, won tournaments at Linares, Madrid and Frankfurt, but 1999 was not as good as 1998.

It was pretty lousy. Okay… but I had had one really good result, excellent result, in Holland. After that, it was a very, very average year. Yes, I had a very good result in Spain where I beat Karpov 5-1. I had these two very good results, a couple of stable results and then one really bad result. So, there was nothing special last year. I was working for the climax, which was the World Championship against Kasparov, and it didn't happen. You can do nothing about that. Obviously, 1999 was not my best year.

By the end of every year, do you analyse all the games that you had played?

In general, yes. But a year doesn't mean much to me. If you are playing badly, for instance, in April, then in May you have to do some work and figure out what’s going on. It is not like, every December you look back. It’s not like an accounting year. You are continuously working on your game. Yes, I do look back often but it has nothing to do with the end of the year.

Was it because Kasparov came back with a bang in 1999 that your results look not that good? He achieved a remarkable rating of 2852.

He had a spectacular year, especially the first two events. I think he won everything that he played this year. I think, it is also clear that this year’s Oscar will go to him. But I don't think it is because he had a good year that I had a not-so-good year. It so happens, after two years, sometimes you get a bad year. If I keep on winning year after year, it will be very easy. It is true he played extremely well. But he played very well in Holland and I did equally well there. I was just half a point behind him. I wouldn't say his good play affected me. Probably, well, at Linares I had already gone wrong.

Some experts say the rating of 2852 is very difficult to achieve. Is that so?

No, not really. He had some very good results and he got it at the right tournaments. In the lower category events, you get only less points. Whereas he did them in category 19 and 20 events and as a result, his ratings went up proportionately.

Do you feel he is unbeatable? Is there any aura of invincibility around him?

He is very good. I don't think he is invincible.

How do you describe him as a player?

Is the whole interview about him?

No, no…. I am sorry.

I was just joking.

Chess is a game where mental toughness is essential. Is physical fitness also as important? Does physical fitness help you become mentally tough?

Yes, absolutely. You have to be able to concentrate and concentration, okay, is a mental thing. But you need physical stamina. Of course, you need to train to concentrate. It is not enough to be able to run ten kilometres. You need to train yourself to concentrate. You can do training exercises like practicing by placing a clock and thinking for half an hour and things like that. It is very easy to get distracted. You cannot let your mind wander.

You have to really be able to concentrate. It is also physical because if you don’t have the energy, if you have a weak body, your mind is also weak. Only a strong body has a strong mind.

What kind of exercises do you do to remain physically fit? Do you play any other games?

I do a lot of exercises, but not so much games with other people. I tend to do things alone. For example, I go cycling. I don’t go with any group; I go alone. I also cycle at home. I go swimming. Once in a while, I play some tennis or table tennis. But in general, I try to do exercises alone.

Are you basically a loner?

No, not at all. If you want to exercise at 11 o'clock, it is very difficult to find partners! They all go to work.

When you are cycling alone, do you try to concentrate?

No, I think it is too much. I don't think you should be obsessed with the idea of concentrating. You should build up concentration naturally.

You are the number two chess player in the world and you have been playing chess for a long time. How much has the game changed you as a person?

I don't know. I think people evolve over the years anyway. It is very difficult for me to say about myself. Just because I am a top player, nothing changes.

Life is different for a top player, isn't it so?

It is. I don't deny that. On the other hand, I tend to meet other top players too. So, I don't think it is something so special. Okay, certainly it is an achievement. But it is not like, 'okay I am a top player. So, I am different'. I think I am a very normal person. I don't think I changed this way or that way because I am a top chess player.

You are a celebrity in India. Is it because you stay in Spain that you feel your life is as normal as anybody else's?

I think it all depends on how you deal with it. If you are a sportsman, you will always have fans. Generally, I don't think, it bothers me that much. In fact, I like it. It is a pleasant feeling that what you do means something to lot of other people. On the other hand, life goes on…

You are the first Indian to break into the international chess scene. Till then it was dominated only by Europeans and Russians. How did they look at a person from India winning major tournaments?

I think only the press looks at it from that angle. The organisers were quite happy initially because a player from India was there. Okay, may be in the first year, people talk, 'there's an Indian in the tournament, let's see how he plays'. After that, it doesn't matter much from where you come. They realise it doesn't make much difference.

Yes, there was some novelty value in the beginning. But now they just see me as Anand, they don't see me as a player representing any country. I don't see the other players in terms of their nationality too. Very often, you speak to them and you know them as friends, that's all.

What is the kind of relationship that exists among the top chess players? Can you be friends?

Of course, we can be friends. In fact, among the top ten, I think, almost all of them have at some point, come and stayed with me in my house. I have gone out to dinner with almost everyone in the chess world. Sometimes, after we play a game, we go out and eat together. Generally, I think, the relations are excellent.

In general, I am friends with boys of my age, or let's say five or six years younger but not more than that. They are the ones I tend to hang on. You get to know people in the circuit after a while. Then, even age doesn't matter. There are fifty year olds with whom I go out for dinner quite often and then you don't think of the age difference at all. After all, we share so much time in front of the chessboard and that is what counts.

Of course, there are always one or two people I wouldn't really become too friendly with. I wouldn't say, there is a problem. For instance, Karpov and Kasparov. Their rivalry is quite intense, still they talk to each other. But there is a certain amount of tension between them. That is one famous example. Also, Korchnoi had this tense relation with Karpov. For the lower part, this is not the norm.

Do you have such tense relations with anyone?

No, not too much. I mean, in general. If I really don't like someone, we just avoid each other. We don't make a big deal out of it by fighting or anything of that sort.

When you go out for dinner with a chess player after a game, do you discuss chess or something else?

We discuss everything. We discuss chess too. Sometimes we discuss a game we played or something like that.

Karpov is in his forties and Kasparov in his thirties. What do you feel is the reason why they remain at the top even at this age?

They are both all-time greats. You can also say the same thing about Korchnoi. Korchnoi, I would say, was there at the top more by the force of his will power. But these two are really all-time greats. But it is not the norm. What they are doing is something really amazing. Karpov has been at the top for almost thirty years, since 1970 roughly, when he broke into the top twenty! So, he is in the top twenty for the last thirty years!

It is because of a lot of factors. It is will power, it is talent, it is luck; it is a bit of everything. There are many great players who did not have Karpov's luck. Sometimes they don't make it in the crucial events, sometimes their family life was not happy and sometimes they have health problems… A lot of such factors can intervene. They are talented, they have tremendous will power and they could overtake whatever problems that came along and thus they could stay at the top.

In general, I would say, definitely Karpov and Kasparov had luck. It is not to take any credit away. For instance, we can look at someone like Keres or Spassky. The State did not support them the way it supported these people. Still, I would definitely place these two as all-time greats.

Karpov manages to play only in the finals of the FIDE world championship, while the other players have to go through several hurdles. Last year, you went to play against him tired, after playing for a month. Is he not manipulating the championship?

I think, it is just a farce! I consider Karpov as the World champion from 1975 to 1985, that is it. I do not consider him world champion any point afterwards.

Didn't you protest last year?

There is no use. He is very good in politics and FIDE basically was very irresponsible in what they did. They made him the world champion for the second time. This time, he had no right to it. And then, he got the privileges of the World Champion, like playing only in the last round and so on. Anyway.. I consider him an all-time great because he was the world champion from '75-85. After that, he is the world champion in political lobbying. FIDE really disgraced itself by doing this.

You must be very disappointed because the much-awaited match between you and Kasparov did not take place.

Obviously.

The whole world was looking forward to the match.

I was really looking forward to the match. But sometimes, these things happen. You cannot do anything about it.

Will it take place sometime in 2000?

I don't know. There are some chances. I think it is better not to get excited about it till it actually happens. In fact, I can tell you honestly that in the last one month, I haven't given it any thought.

Newspapers described it as the match of the titans.

There were many people who thought it would really be an exciting match. It might have given a real boost to chess at this time. Chess is becoming very popular these days.

Why couldn't they find a sponsor?

They had a sponsor but at the eleventh hour, he pulled out and they didn't have time to find another sponsor. I think, if they started looking, they could have. It might be April, it might be June… things might change. So, there is no point in speculating till it actually happens.

Continued: 'I have to improve, not just to beat Kasparov but anyone'

Photographs: Sanjay Ghosh

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