Devil's Advocate: Viswanathan Anand on mind games

GAMES PEOPLE PLAY: Anand believes "cricket is a fact of life" in India but the country has not ignored him.

          

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Keywords: Vladimir Kramnik, Chess

Viswanathan Anand: Let us put it this way. If you compare chess when I started out and what it is today then you can see the sea change that has taken place. I am pretty proud that in some way I have contributed to that, but it is up to me to build that up from where we are. You have to build chess as a mass sport in India. That is why we are very keen to get the Mind Champions Academies into more and more states. We have already some 5,000 schools; last year about 115,000 students took part in this competition. But you have to build these numbers; success just won’t appear. You have got to build these numbers, and potentially we are building a huge chess fan base.

Karan Thapar: India is the No. 1 chess-playing nation in Asia and it has 17 Grandmasters. Do Indians have a special affinity for chess?

Viswanathan Anand: I think so. If you look at our sporting performance it is really in very few areas but chess is one sport which we have taken to naturally.

Karan Thapar: Why have we taken to it naturally? Is it genetic or is it some sort of special affinity, like our affinity for maths and information technology?

Viswanathan Anand: It could be bit of that. It is very difficult to pinpoint reasons. I think when India takes to something it really goes into it big time. The numbers have gone up 10-15 times in school and college competition since the time I started to a decade later.

Karan Thapar: So do you see a chess renaissance happening in India sometime soon?

Viswanathan Anand: Definitely, chess is going forward. I think it is important to keep promoting the game and not keep on focusing on what could be. Work hard and try and popularise the game at every chance. You have to acknowledge, chess has come a long way.

Karan Thapar: The problem actually is popularising the game. For most people chess seems to be a forbidding, cerebral and almost intimidating game. Is chess a prisoner of its own image?

Viswanathan Anand: To some degree, yes. A lot of people are intimidated by chess but once they come into contact with it they realise that it is just a game like any other. You play it; you try to outfox your opponent. That is what you do in every sport. It is a fairly simple game; of course there is lot of complexity behind it but it is basically a simple game. It is something, which people of any age can pick up very easily and in fact kids tend to pick it up very easily.

Karan Thapar: How much of the game is mental toughness of the player and how much of it is psychology?

Viswanathan Anand: Psychology plays a big part but I always say psychology will only be a differentiator when the players are of equal technical strength. If you keep working hard you will generally not encounter the problems of psychology and all that till you meet a rival of equal stature.

It is only at the highest levels that that psychology starts to become a big differentiator, because there both players have done all the technical work. They are approximately matched in most areas. That is when psychology plays a big part.

Karan Thapar: When you say psychology do you mean that is when they psyche each other?