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Viswanathan Anand's secret to winning chess: Emotional calm and physical fitness

To Viswanathan Anand, being emotionally calm and physically fit is extremely important, in chess and in life. Here is an interview of the World Chess Champion after winning the world title in 2009 (with Sangeetha Mathew of Complete Wellbeing).

All the quotes have certainly not lost their relevance even as we head towards what is going to be Vishy Anand’s toughest world chess championship yet. We decided to link to this interview because of the uniqueness of some of the questions. Enjoy the interview if you are a fan of World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand.

How is the person behind the legendary name?

I am just a normal guy who got good at chess. I am laid back and love to chill at home when I’m not playing. I like listening to music and reading on politics, science and economics.

You started young…

I started playing chess when I was six and just enjoyed it. I used to play at a chess club on weekends. I particularly enjoyed playing blitz games and it’s there that I started playing fast.

Was it very difficult back then?

In the 80s, India still didn’t have a Grandmaster so we didn’t have the benefit of professional coaches. So till 1991, I trained by myself.

For my tournaments, I had to travel a lot in Europe. And in those days, it was much more difficult to travel. You had to get a lot of permissions for foreign exchange, and other things. But my parents would try and see that all these problems were sorted so that I could enjoy chess.

As for me, I didn’t really mind all the travelling, and actually enjoyed travelling and playing in tournaments. I just wanted to play… so any opportunity I got, I played.

Were there challenges and sacrifices?

Well, every sportsperson has to make a lot of sacrifices and choices along the way. And in each stage of your career, the challenge differs and you have to rearrange your talent to be on top.

Since I was the only Indian in most tournaments, information was more difficult to access. As an Indian, you were behind the Soviet Grand Masters in preparation. Today, thanks to technology and the Internet, there is a more level-playing field and geographical locations don’t matter much.

How important is mental fitness to you? What do you do to stay mentally fit?

Quite. I think mental fatigue is more difficult to handle than physical fatigue. When the body is tired, we can sleep really well. But if the mind is tired or worried, it’s very difficult to sleep. I try to keep my mind calm and happy. So before an event, I try to switch off and take some time for myself—take a small holiday or do something different just to recharge my batteries.

And what do you do to stay physically fit?

Being healthy is very important especially in sports. In chess, since we have to prepare for about 7 – 8 hours a day, physical fitness is as essential as mental fitness.

Also as sportspeople, we travel for 6 – 8 months to different countries. If we are not healthy, our bodies will not be able to keep up. Very simply, even if you have something as common as ‘common cold’, you can’t compete at your 100 per cent. So we try to improve our stamina and our general resistance to withstand the strain of competing.

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