Viswanathan Anand has won more titles in more forms and formats of chess than any other player. The latest addition to his collection that came in the form of the Tata Steel blitz chess title here on Wednesday, gave him no less joy than several of the ones, considered much bigger.
And his words say it all.
“This is just very special, means a lot to me. I was very disappointed by what I showed the Chennai crowd during the (2013 World Championship) match and I’m very happy that here in Kolkata, people are able to see my best.”
Indeed, it was a fairytale finish for Anand who beat the favourite Hikaru Nakamura in the tie-breaker.
“Initially, my response was, it’s not my dream to play Hikaru with less time than we had before. I’m glad it went well because it meant a lot to me to be able to play well. I was not ready for the tie-breaks because Hikaru plays faster. He gets better when the time control becomes shorter. And he is far more experience than me in playing three-minute chess. He plays matches online with one-time (limit). But it (the playoff) went incredibly smoothly.
On how it felt to do well in blitz after a long time, Anand said, "I really played well, that’ll give me pleasure any time. All my games were really nice, good games. Of course, blitz has its blunders but then that is par for the course. I feel much more tired when I’ve played one bad game than the days when I played 10 good games. So its bad play that exhausts you, and not playing well.”
Looking back at his dream-run on the final day, Anand as usual was candid, "I couldn’t dream I could score so many points because I have not it, in… forever. I can’t remember scoring like that back in the Amber days (referring to the now-discontinued Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess event in Monaco). Every round, I had this feeling that something will go wrong. Even it something does go wrong, it has still been a good day… all that kind of stuff. But to sail through is just great.
Lastly, on playing the shorter, five or three-minute format, Anand came up with his smart take, "The nice thing (about blitz format) is, have so little time to think, that you don’t have time to find a worse move."
Published - November 15, 2018 06:24 pm IST
