Vishy Anand-a man who never dissapoints

[Asoka]

Here is an interesting read Viswanathan Anand: Praise From a Mentor Viswanathan Anand, from Tamil Nadu is the World Chess Champion today. He started playing chess at age six and was taught by his mother. Vishy became number one for the first time at age 37 in April 2007 by Mauricio Perea | Dec 21, 2010 Anand’s Mentors: Mother Susheela taught him chess; he considers Mauricio Perea and his late wife Nieves as his European parents. How long has Anand known Perea? Since 1991. How did he come in contact with Perea? Met him at a chess event in Linares. How have his mentors helped Anand’s leadership skills? Mother taught him never to make rash decisions. This especially helped him in his preparation for world championship matches. Perea helped Anand believe that he was capable of better stuff. What advice by his mentor’s has stayed with Anand? Mother: However big and important you are, you should not hurt anybody with your words or actions. Perea: Only you can judge yourself. What others think or write is irrelevant. You have to be a winner in your head and heart to actually win. In 1978, when Francisco Franco, the Spanish dictator, was six feet deep into the earth, my wife Nieves and I (Mauricio Perea) decided to return to our Patria [homeland], Spain. My dream was to use my dollars efficiently and retire to a life of playing chess and watching football. Through the years, we often travelled to Linares, then a small mining town in Andalusia. We would involve ourselves in the running of the event: Helping players order in Spanish, buying medicines for some and Nieves would mainly be interested in the cotilla or gossip that would surround the chess players. In 1991, we heard of a young Indian lad from India called Vishy Anand. Viswanathan was a roller coaster on the tongue and the name Vishy, or Bishy in Spanish, stuck. We heard of this boy, from a country that didn’t have much of a chess culture then, take on the great Soviet chess system. What made everyone sit up and notice was that this typical teenager played chess at a pace that was till then not imaginable. He had no coach, no trainer and in many ways was a maverick. He had just won the prestigious Reggio Emilia (The strongest chess event till that time) ahead of Karpov and Kasparov, even defeating the latter in his quest. Having met all the great chess players and many of the World Champions, this Indian boy intrigued me. When I first met Vishy, he was dressed in baggy jeans, big white sports shoes, a walkman to his ears on which he listened to what he called the Cranberries and Pet shop boys. For an ear trained in Brahms and Beethoven, the sound of this music just seemed like Boom Boom Boom! He would always, and still does, stuff his hands in his trousers and walk quickly chuk chuk chuk back and forth in Linares. We marvelled at the fact that someone who looked like a teenager could be such a fantastic player. He played Alexander Beliavsky and the boy took 16 minutes. He never sat on the board. When the clock was pressed and it was his turn, he would immediately make his move and start wandering. “Today,†I tell him, “Vishy, you are a mature man, you actually think before you play†…. He says, “Yes Maurice, age you see.†During that game, we were shocked. We had never seen anyone play so fast and so correctly. So after the game, Nieves and myself met him at dinner and I told him, “Joven [young man], tomorrow you play Karpov, you can’t play in this swashbuckling style, you have to play slowly, not in 16 minutes.†He said, “Sure Mr. Mauriceâ€, and added, “OK I will play slowly. How about 17 minutes?†In that moment I knew I had found a special person on whom I was going to keep an eye. Nieves said, “Beat Karpov for me.†And Vishy said, “Sure. If I do, I will take you to the best Chinese restaurant in town.†Vishy won and came out running to Nieves. He said, “It’s a date. Let’s go.†We never forgot that moment … It was then that he became our Vishy. I had never met a chess player with such wit, manners and talent. He visited us soon after in our little town, Collado Mediano. I would spend hours talking to him about history, astronomy and of course, chess. In 1992 he was to play a match against Ivanchuk and we suggested that he train in our house. He and his American friend stayed with us. We would take walks, eat out at restaurants and slowly we realised he had became our Indian son. We went with him to events and saw the way he played. In 1994, we suggested that he get a permanent second. He was now in the big league and playing at the big events. So Nieves decided that Ubilava would also move into our town. Vishy was finding it difficult to travel to India after each event and there were visa issues with each country, so we thought ideally he needed a base in Europe and the flexibility to work and travel. And he got his Spanish visa. In 1994, Vishy also played for the right to challenge Kasparov. In the match against Kamsky in Las Palmas, I was made the Tournament Director, so I had to be away from Vishy. He lost the first game but played impressively in that match to squash Gata. The next big hurdle was Garry Kasparov. Nieves and I helped him train in Collado Mediano itself. He had a good team and had worked well. He won the ninth game and we thought Vishy was very close to winning the match. But he had some bad games and lost. It was his inexperience at play and personally I think maybe he trained too hard. He didn’t have this Soviet training and was largely self-taught. In a match you need to have special guidance. I remember after the match, he invited us to a Japanese restaurant and we laughed so much. We never felt as if he lost. Garry on the other hand, was slamming doors. Vishy should or could have complained, but maybe he is a bit like me …. On a lighter note, he was also to be married. He called us right after he saw Aruna and said “Nieves. I found a daughter-in-law for you. Treat her well.†We went for their wedding. I had asked a friend to teach me Kalyana vazhthugal in Tamil. When I went on stage and told Aruna that, she looked at me horrified. I turned pale thinking had I uttered some Tamil abuse. And she said, “Sorry Mr. Maurice I don’t speak Spanish.†Caramba, I thought, thank god. Anand by then was already the World’s No.2 He had won a lot of tournaments, in all formats. He was just the best there is. Never in all the years have I seen him lose his temper. I have only seen him only fight with Nieves. She would come from the hair dresser and Vishy would mess her hair. One day Nieves took a broom stick, hid behind the door and whacked him hard when he entered. In 2000 when he won the World Championship, it was one of the happiest moments for us. He called us instantly. He always does. He was now a World Champion! When Vishy plays badly -- and he rarely does -- I suffer a lot. I feel helpless. When he comes I always ask him, sometimes he laughs and says, “I knew Maurice I would get this from you.†In 2004 when I lost Nieves, Vishy was there. Now when I see Vishy, this great champion, I think he has won the most difficult matches and achieved all that there is. Still when he rings the bell in my home, I rush to meet him. I see Vishy, the 19 year old with his hands in his pockets. Always eager to show me his games or clean my computer. He is my boy! :hail::hail:

[Nova]

Good read. Thanks for sharing. Asoka do you play chess?

[Asoka]

Good read. Thanks for sharing. Asoka do you play chess?

I just play with my friends and dad for fun.I have never been to a chess school or something like that.But I have been following the happenings of the chess world for the past 6-7 years.The history of chess,world championship matches,etc intrigues me,more so because of Anand-the only Indian who has been on top of the world for so long in an individual sport.

[Nova]

^ Awesome. We had our own ICF chess league here. ---> http://www.indiancricketfans.com/showthread.php?t=222440 :)

[Zelig]

Chess should be made an Olympic sport :orderorder: PS: I don't play Chess, I play me :blush:

[Asoka]

Vishy reaches a career high ELO rating of 2818,3rd highest of all time. Kasparov set the record in 1999 at 2851 ELO. Please Vishy break his record:pray:

[b555]

so what will it take to break the record i mean reach 2851?

[Asoka]

Winning every 2nd game and remaining undefeated over the next 3 tournaments.

[10DuLKaR]

^ Awesome. We had our own ICF chess league here. ---> http://www.indiancricketfans.com/showthread.php?t=222440 :)

The memories! xD That was great fun!! :icflove:

[pranitha63]

thank you

[Asoka]

Kramnik speaks about Anand V.K.: No, I¡¦ve always played won endgames poorly and couldn¡¦t even tell you why myself. Perhaps I relax too soon. It¡¦s when the evaluation isn¡¦t yet clear, or , that I play well and turn those endings into won ones, which I then sometimes make a mess of, just as I did in my younger years. To be honest, I¡¦ve never particularly stopped to think about the features of my own style, while I could give you a full breakdown on Anand. V.T.: Let¡¦s try that. V.K.: I always considered him to be a colossal talent, one of the greatest in the whole history of chess. Each champion has had some sort of speciality, and his is creating counterplay in any position out of absolutely nowhere. He¡¦s got an amazing ability to constantly stretch himself so that even in some kind of Exchange Slav he nevertheless manages to attack something and create something. He also plays absolutely brilliantly with knights, even better than Morozevich ¡V if his knights start to jump around, particularly towards the king, then that¡¦s that, it¡¦s impossible to play against and they¡¦ll just sweep away everything in their path. I noticed it¡¦s better to get rid of them when you¡¦re playing against him. In general, he¡¦s improved a great deal in recent years, at some point after 2002. He¡¦s a chess player of genius, but previously he didn¡¦t work enough, by and large. V.T.: But how has he managed to improve? Did marriage help? V.K.: Perhaps. He¡¦s matured, while previously he lacked the character to become World Champion. I remember in 1995 against Kasparov it was enough just to poke him a little and he simply fell apart. In the match against me things were completely different. Plus, he¡¦s started to work a great deal and now his opening preparation is among the best, if not the best. At the given moment I don¡¦t see who can compete with him when he¡¦s on form. Perhaps only Carlsen in his very best condition, though probably not. I think he¡¦ll only leave the stage when he weakens himself and ceases to maintain that extremely high level. V.T.: His weaknesses? V.K.: The trouble is there almost aren¡¦t any¡K V.T.: So nowadays it¡¦s impossible to play the psychological card against him? V.K.: Yes, though in any case I never wanted to do something on the level of slamming doors (it seems this is hinting at the well-known case of game 10 of the Anand-Kasparov match in 1995, when Kasparov, or so many people claimed, slammed the door noisily on purpose in order to affect his opponent ¡V V.T.) and so on. That¡¦s something that in any case probably wouldn¡¦t work now. His main weakness is that he¡¦s no longer so young, and now he¡¦s also got a child. I can¡¦t imagine he¡¦s still going to work his socks off as before. But at the given moment I think he¡¦s the best in the world in terms of play, namely in terms of play. V.T.: And the defence of passive positions? V.K.: He¡¦s doesn¡¦t get passive positions, as they immediately become active. V.T.: It seems to me he¡¦s got a very big weakness, only it¡¦s difficult to get at it ¡V his play in blockaded positions. I could list half a dozen examples. V.K.: He does have weaknesses. For example, he doesn¡¦t sense some nuances or move orders very well. But the thing is that in modern chess you can arrange the whole play to suit your style ¡V that¡¦s the problem. So with a computer you can create your own little chess world and live in it. Ok, blockaded positions, but then he probably knows about that too. If you can tell me how to block everything in the Meran and still get an edge I¡¦d be very grateful. I think that namely in terms of play Anand is in no way weaker than Kasparov, but he¡¦s simply a little lazy, relaxed and only focuses on matches. In the last 5-6 years he¡¦s made a qualitative leap that¡¦s made it possible to consider him one of the great chess players. Perhaps it doesn¡¦t look like that to observers, but when you play against him you sense what a great range he has.