CHENNAI: Viswanathan Anand has had a turbulent start to his World chess championship match against Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria. With air traffic at a standstill and trains jampacked in Europe, Anand had to rent a car at Frankfurt to reach Sofia and would be ready just in time for his first official press conference scheduled for Wednesday.
Busy making preparations for the long match starting on Friday, the World champion has not been available for comments. Yet, ToI managed to catch up with him through email where he spoke about his previous matches, his seconds and his upcoming match against Topalov. Excerpts:
You have played matches against Dreev, Karpov, Ivanchuk, Yusupov, Romanishin, Kamsky, Adams, Shirov, Kasparov and Kramnik. Which was the toughest?
Matches are always very special. You have this feeling like Big Brother is watching. Every action of yours is being analysed and reviewed by a team of highly specialized chess players. Match preparation by itself has changed. Nowadays you approach matches differently. Against Dreev I met up with Hellers in Chennai and we worked maybe a week to ten days. He is a good friend and we enjoyed being and working together. Dreev had a big team with him. Similarly for Ivanchuk I had Pattrick Wolff; we worked for some time.
Karpov was the time I started seriously training. I worked with Gurevich in Brussels and that was maybe when I actually approached chess training as a discipline. During the Kasparov match, computers were already playing a role. When I played Kramnik the stakes had gotten higher. You basically hibernate for six-eight months and think of one person. Preparation means a lot. Being mentally and physically ready is also important. Can't say which is the toughest. Only history can judge that.
You have had seconds and how difficult has the selection been?
The Soviets were the famed trainers and seconds. Till I started working with Gurevich I had friends or colleagues and we would work on chess and basically listen to music and enjoy working on chess. It is important to be comfortable with your team. It is a few months of being together, working and basically seeing each other all the time. So it is important that you work well as a team. When you bring in a new person into the team, it is important that the new person works well with the team dynamics.
How will you rate Topalov as an opponent? Which is your most memorable win against him?
He is a tenacious and tireless fighter. He shows a lot of ambition and energy on the board. At this level a victory is very difficult since the players tend to be so well prepared. Maybe 2008 Corus was a good game.
How many tournaments have you played in Bulgaria? How do you find the country?
In 2004 I played a match. In 2005 and 2006 I played the tournament. It is a nice country. The people are warm and friendly. They have a historical chess culture and, like India, have top players in both men and women.
How is your general day when your are in preparation mode, like three or four months before a match?
You keep a regimen. So you work on chess, analyse games and prepare. I also do running, or go to the gym. Of course, you keep some time for rest and take a few days off in between. For the rest you try to be normal!
Busy making preparations for the long match starting on Friday, the World champion has not been available for comments. Yet, ToI managed to catch up with him through email where he spoke about his previous matches, his seconds and his upcoming match against Topalov. Excerpts:
You have played matches against Dreev, Karpov, Ivanchuk, Yusupov, Romanishin, Kamsky, Adams, Shirov, Kasparov and Kramnik. Which was the toughest?
Matches are always very special. You have this feeling like Big Brother is watching. Every action of yours is being analysed and reviewed by a team of highly specialized chess players. Match preparation by itself has changed. Nowadays you approach matches differently. Against Dreev I met up with Hellers in Chennai and we worked maybe a week to ten days. He is a good friend and we enjoyed being and working together. Dreev had a big team with him. Similarly for Ivanchuk I had Pattrick Wolff; we worked for some time.
Karpov was the time I started seriously training. I worked with Gurevich in Brussels and that was maybe when I actually approached chess training as a discipline. During the Kasparov match, computers were already playing a role. When I played Kramnik the stakes had gotten higher. You basically hibernate for six-eight months and think of one person. Preparation means a lot. Being mentally and physically ready is also important. Can't say which is the toughest. Only history can judge that.
You have had seconds and how difficult has the selection been?
The Soviets were the famed trainers and seconds. Till I started working with Gurevich I had friends or colleagues and we would work on chess and basically listen to music and enjoy working on chess. It is important to be comfortable with your team. It is a few months of being together, working and basically seeing each other all the time. So it is important that you work well as a team. When you bring in a new person into the team, it is important that the new person works well with the team dynamics.
How will you rate Topalov as an opponent? Which is your most memorable win against him?
He is a tenacious and tireless fighter. He shows a lot of ambition and energy on the board. At this level a victory is very difficult since the players tend to be so well prepared. Maybe 2008 Corus was a good game.
How many tournaments have you played in Bulgaria? How do you find the country?
In 2004 I played a match. In 2005 and 2006 I played the tournament. It is a nice country. The people are warm and friendly. They have a historical chess culture and, like India, have top players in both men and women.
How is your general day when your are in preparation mode, like three or four months before a match?
You keep a regimen. So you work on chess, analyse games and prepare. I also do running, or go to the gym. Of course, you keep some time for rest and take a few days off in between. For the rest you try to be normal!
Source : Times of India
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