‘I play less but that means I’ve more energy for events that I play’

At 52, five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand is going strong on the chess board. He plays only occasionally now–a decision he says he took 18 months ago–but when he does, he still matches the best in the business. At the Norway Chess tournament earlier this month, he defeated world champion and eventual winner Magnus Carlsen before finishing third. During the event, he also briefly re-entered the top-10 of the world rankings, 31 years after he first featured in it. It made him the first player over 50 to be in the top-10 since 1990. Last month, he also finished joint-second in the Superbet Rapid and Blitz Poland tournament, his first competitive event since December, 2021.

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Anand is currently in New Delhi for the inauguration of the torch relay ahead of the 44th Chess Olympiad that will be held in Mahabalipuram from July 28 to August 10. Though is good form, he has chosen to be one of the two mentors for the Indian teams rather than take part himself.

Excerpts:

You have been in good form of late. Was the decision to not play in the Chess Olympiad and give the younger players opportunity hard to take?

That was a decision I took before (the recent results). I don’t want to revisit it. I have stopped playing the World Cup. I have stopped trying to qualify for the world title. I decided that’s not the pace I want to keep anymore. I play less. But I still look forward to playing. I really enjoyed my events in Warsaw and Norway. I am now involved in other things. I have my Westbridge Anand Chess Academy. I am also part of the world chess federation (FIDE) president’s team for the upcoming elections. So, there are some new challenges.

Despite cutting down on your tournaments, you did very well in Poland and Norway. How are you still able to maintain such high standards?

I like playing chess. I still enjoy working on chess. I spent March and April, and a good part of May, training and sparring with junior players. I would tell them I want to test a particular area. I tried to get ready. I had no idea it would work. It is one thing to be sparring and another thing to be actually playing. But the tournaments went very well. I don’t know if there is a secret or anything. You try to get as ready as you can and hope the results go in your favour.

You said you won’t be trying to qualify for the world championship match again. Is it just the love for chess that is keeping you going?

I don’t think it’s realistic to keep trying for the world title because it is such a long path. I decided to move on from that. I play less but that automatically means I have more energy for those tournaments that I play. That’s kind of how I saw my future when I took this decision a year-and-a-half ago. As long as I have a chance to play a couple of times in a year, it is a lot of fun.

You re-entered the top-10 during the Norway event. What does it take to be matching the younger players?

The main thing is to keep abreast of chess developments and not fall too far behind. You cannot work only on the older methods. You have to adapt to modern times. You also have to compete in terms of fitness and have the ability to handle pressure for long durations because the best players train very hard and work on every aspect of the game. You have to get ready for that. But if you do all that, it seems it is possible to compete.

You have been training and mentoring young players for some time now. How much does that help you?

It definitely plays a part in keeping your awareness up to date. It is one thing to come in as an expert and say try this and that because you don’t have a stake in the game. The kind of training you have to do to be ready to play something yourself is something else. But it gives me a big starting point. The fact that I am engaging with these players who have very interesting ideas. And if I write it down... when I start training, I think that Praggnanandhaa for instance said this, let me try it. It gives me starting points to how everyone else is thinking.

How much work do you put in on your physical fitness?

I stick to my physical routines. It is not only for chess. I try to be healthy on a general basis. But it obviously helps with handling the strain while playing chess. I go to a physiotherapist 2-3 times a week for stretching, flexibility and posture. I do cardio three days a week. The most important thing is not to overeat. That I haven’t done for a very long time. During a tournament, there is a limit to how picky you can be about diets because the timings of different tournaments are different. You should eat something that gives you energy right before a game. The rest of the time, you need to be sensible. A good night’s sleep is also important. Eight hours is perfect. Six hours is still good enough. If you can manage that, it sets you up for the day.

Your rivals from the 1990s and 2000s have long retired. What do you think sets you apart?

Some of them have retired and moved on to other things. I have also adapted. I am not going to be playing as much as before. So it is a similar decision to theirs, but I don’t want to stop either. I will play a little bit if the opportunity arises. That is something to look forward to. I enjoy playing. If you are willing to put in the time, it seems possible. But I am an outlier. In every competition, I am at least 10 years older than the next guy. I will just play as long as I can and enjoy it.

How did the Covid pandemic affect things?

The pandemic was an enforced or involuntary retirement in a sense. Afterwards, I looked back and thought about the things I felt even before the pandemic. I thought about how I felt about my tournaments in 2018 and 2019. I thought this was a good moment to recalibrate and look at what is realistic to hope for. It was also time to embark on other projects. It was very nice for me that Westbridge Capital came back to me and said, “Shall we start the academy that we spoke about?” We launched that. I played enough chess in my 40s to not feel that I am going to be missing it. At 50, I felt it was good to have a slightly less intense schedule. What I did in Norway was very nice, but if I had to do this all year around, it will again put a lot of strain. That’s why I went in this direction. The pandemic in a sense gave me a free simulation of what retirement would look like. So I got a chance to experience that.

You have achieved everything there is. Is there less pressure now when you play? Are you freer in terms of expectations?

You still want to do well. Inevitably, your expectations are slightly lesser. I think everyone else also expects slightly less of you. When I am busy with other things, I am busy with other things. When I have a tournament, I make it a point to start getting ready a couple of months earlier. If you stop thinking that you are a chess player full-time, then it is very hard. So for a couple of months, I had to get back into that frame of mind.

Was your preparation for the events in Poland and Norway as intense as it has always been? Was it difficult to get back into the routine?

Not too much. My wife is also very supportive. She says, “If you have to play, then you have to do a good job. Otherwise, you don’t play.” I had a small training camp with Sandipan (Chanda) and Raunak (Sadhwani). I played a lot of blitz games. Basically, I just wanted to feel how a top player feels nowadays. So I needed a month, not tremendously intensive work but a certain number of regular hours.

The way you look at chess, has it changed in any way?

Not too much. I have been following the game even during the pandemic. Even if I was not playing, I have been watching events and seeing other people play. I don’t think I see it too differently on a day-to-day basis. Clearly, your thinking is constantly evolving but nothing revolutionary.

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