Self-rediscovery

Anand says he wasnt playing in his style,which in turn affected his classical performance

Earlier this month at Grenke,Viswanathan Anand won his first classical tournament in almost five years. In an interview with The Indian Express,the World Champion speaks about his indifferent tournament run leading up to the win,the role of home preparation in his games and the Candidates tournament that will decide his challenger for the world title. Excerpts

It was your first classical win since Linares 2008. Considering your schedule in the last five years has been more or less geared towards the world championship cycles,was the lack of classical tournament wins a concern?

Last year after Moscow World Championship match against Gelfand I was very eager to play tournaments,just to get back into the feeling of playing events. I was always a tournament player and enjoyed different events,rivals and formats. But in June 2012,Bazna got postponed and I had to wait till September before I got to play in Bilbao. I guess somehow that affected my game and I felt that I was not playing in my style. I wasnt able to get positions that I liked playing. So yes,in a way I was very keen to get back the ability just to play and enjoy tournaments.

There have been championship cycles during which you havent played too many tournaments and some during which you have. Youve mentioned elsewhere too that you wanted to play more,around the turn of 2012-2013. Do you think the decision has helped to work yourself back into rhythm and form?

In the last four years I have played 3 matches,so more or less you finish one and you get a small window of space to play tournaments and then its back to match preparation. This time I decided to consciously try to play more and maximise the tournament play space.

Following a few of your recent wins,there has been a media chorus which labels them home-cooked. Does it bother you that wins get belittled this way,or that preparation isnt recognised as an integral part of any sporting activity?

Really,this is the first time I am hearing this8230;The game against Levon Aronian Tata Steel Chess tournament,January,2013 everyone puts in the evergreen list ,i.e. all time classics. Chess is a game like any other where you need to prepare well to react on the board,so I find this allegation absurd.

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How difficult is it to dissociate your results in tournaments good or bad from your form and general mindset going into world championship?

World Championship matches are just very different in nature. How you play before or after doesnt matter. It only matters if you win the match. I try not to let the tournament results affect me. In 2008 I did badly in Bilbao before Bonn championship match against Kramnik. No one would have expected I would play so well in Bonn soon after Bilbao.

A word on the Candidates tournament? Would it be fair to say that in a strong field,Magnus Carlsen,despite his rating and stunning tournament form,may not be as huge a favourite as is generally thought of? What is your view on the field assembled this time?

Well,I dont want to comment as they are all playing to get the right to challenge me. I can say that Carlsen,Kramnik and Aronian have exhibited great form recently,but in London Candidates tournament,March 2013 I would say there are no clear favourites,everyone will try to play their best chess and show great preparation.

Anand spoke ahead of the on-going Zurich Chess Challenge

Anand held

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Zurich: Viswanathan Anand played out his second draw at the Zurich Chess Challenge,holding world number two Vladimir Kramnik of Russia to an easy draw in the second round. The other game of the four-players double round-robin tournament between Boris Gelfand of Israel and Caruana also ended in a draw. So far,all the four players are tied on one point each. PTI