Thirteen. That’s the number of minutes Viswanathan Anand spoke about reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen during the 25-minute conversation at the National Library.
The Norwegian’s hunger for chess, his domination over the last decade, his awe-inspiring consistency across the three formats (classical, rapid and blitz)… “I wish I knew it. Then I would have tried it myself,” Anand said of Carlsen’s much-famed consistency. And at one point Anand started laughing, “Look, I am going to run out of superlatives talking about this guy.”
Carlsen and his Russian rival, Ian Nepomniachtchi, are now preparing for the Fide World Chess Championship, which is to be held in Dubai from November 24 to December 16. Anand will also be there — the Tata Steel Chess India ambassador will be going back to Chennai from Calcutta and then fly to Dubai — as a commentator.
“Carlsen is the most dominant player of the past decade. He has not only managed to be dominant in the classical format, which is impressive enough, he is also a three-time world rapid champion and won the world blitz championship four times. That too in one decade! Carlsen has a very close to 100 per cent record… In the last 10 years, he has not dropped below 2840. It’s hard to fully explain how impressive that is,” the five-time world champion told The Telegraph the other day
“And it’s easy to criticise him without realising that you are criticising him comparing to himself. And he mentioned that… Once he was asked who is his hero and Carlsen said ‘my hero is myself’… Okay it’s a usual flippant answer but there is some germ of truth in that. I think by most people’s historical standards, he ranks incredibly high.”
Anand refused to compare Carlsen with legends of the game.
“I feel it’s very hard to compare Carlsen with say (Garry) Kasparov. When Kasparov was there, rapid barely existed but blitz was not there at all. So how do you compare these players? Kasparov lived in an era, the way we thought then, was one way, Carlsen lives in the computer era… So I find it difficult to compare even myself with historical figures.
“See between my matches (World Chess Championship battle against Carlsen), which was seven years ago, and now the way people train and prepare have changed so much… My preparations look very dated when I check with modern methods. Many trends have come and gone… It’s a very moving platform. So it’s no point comparing. But yes for this decade Carlsen is just awe-inspiring.”
Anand said Carlsen’s hunger for chess sets him apart from the rest. “He is hungry to play chess… That’s why he is willing to play long games. His willingness to play blitz and rapid… He is ready to play bullet on the Internet. Everybody else has something or the other… But what sets him apart is the unimaginable hunger to play chess.”
Talking about the forthcoming duel in Dubai, Anand put Carlsen ahead but also pointed out that Nepomniachtchi cannot be treated like a pushover.
“Carlsen is the clear favourite. But Nepomniachtchi had the whole year… He has hopefully trained hard and got himself ready for this final… It’s his big chance. Motivation level must be higher… To me, the X-factor will be what has Nepomniachtchi has done to get himself ready”.
Anand is also looking forward to his stint as a commentator during their World Chess Championship.
“I am looking forward to it. I have done some online stuff in the past but this will be nice. I will actually be at the venue. It will be a learning experience as well.
“One of the things I have realised is, when commentary wasn’t a big thing, you thought anybody could do it… But now you realise that’s a skill-set as well. You got to bring the game alive, which means you have to understand the audience. I mean it’s of no use me talking about variations and all… You have to make it relatable. It will be interesting to see how that happens.”
