Life beyond 64 squares

The Hindu

Viswanathan Anand. Photo: S. R. Raghunathan

After a gruelling year dealing with personal and professional loss, Viswanathan Anand looks forward to a better performance at upcoming chess tournaments

Viswanathan Anand is your quintessential Chennai boy, who loves his morning walks and Tamil films. He travels around the world for tournaments, but when he’s back in the city, where he’s based currently, he loves it. His family opened their home for people from the nearby slums who were battling it out during the recent floods, a gesture that earned praise from many. At the launch of Toneez Fitness Centre at Nanganallur, the grandmaster took time out for a chat on the recent floods, why 2015 was a bad year and his plans for the future.

How’s the year been? kickstarted? You are set to start travel ling for the chess season soon…

Well, the first few days have been brilliant. I play in Gibraltar later this month and Zurich next month. Then, the Candidates is coming up, and I’ll get ready for it.

2015 wasn’t a particularly good year for you, both professionally and personally…

It did seem to start off as a good year, and then everything went off the rails after Norway. Beyond the broad picture, you need to get into the technical details. I’ll do that, and hopefully, that will help things with the next tournament.

Personally too, it was a really tough year. Your mother, who got you into chess, passed away, and you lost your close Spanish friend, Maurice, as well…

A year hasn’t passed by, and I remember amma constantly. Obviously, everyone has a relationship with their mother, but mine goes back pretty far. And you appreciate that only when they’re gone. Almost for everything, there’s a connection — I often think about what she might say to certain things, what I’ll say and that sort of thing. When I come back to Chennai, my first reaction is not to call her, which was happening in the beginning. That hurts a bit. I lost my friend, Maurice, who was Spanish, but I was happy that I got to see him and say goodbye.

Your wife opened your home to people during the floods. Akhil, your son, must have found a lot of new friends…

Oh yes! I was in London then; I had left Chennai on November 17{and things were already bad}… flights were getting delayed, and I almost missed my connection. I thought we had it bad right then but nothing could prepare me for what I was reading in the subsequent days. The places that I’d gone cycling just a few days ago suddenly had to be accessed by boats; I couldn’t imagine it! And then you realise you have to visualise the whole terrain, how the water would’ve risen that high. The best thing about the floods, of course, was the spirit of volunteerism — I don’t know if we read more about it and it was always there — but I thought it was different this time. I admired Aruna’s decision to take in some people and let me stay there till things settle down… my son Akhil adjusted well. By the time I came back, Chennai was dry again… there was no trace of what had happened. I still cannot visualise what happened in those days.

Do you miss being a doting dad when you’re on tour?

In chess, there’s no predictable calendar… last year, I was in Chennai from February to May! I am a chess player and the job needs me to travel often. However, when I’m free, I’m completely free and spend a lot of time with my son. He’ll be five soon, and I guess his reaction to my leaving for tournaments is changing too. He can play a bit of chess — he knows how to set up the pieces — but he’s more into puzzles, paintings and music. We encourage him to do a lot of things, to see what sticks.

There’ve been a few films on chess recently; you must like the attention the sport is getting with filmmakers…

I was really happy with Algorithms that told the story of the struggles of a blind chess player. It wasn’t a mushy film; it just put their story out and let you deal with it. You could see how angry they get when they lose, the emotions they go through… and you realise that it’s just as competitive for them. I also liked Pawn Sacrifice — but that’s because I knew the history and I wanted to see how it would be portrayed. It tells the story of Bobby Fischer; it is set about 40 years ago, and perhaps the new generation might not be too aware of Fischer. This movie will introduce him to many of them. It captured many things about chess; I was happy that both movies were released and widely seen here.

There’s also Wazir, an upcoming Hindi film in which Amitabh Bachchan reportedly plays a paralysed chess grandmaster…

I’ve heard about it, and yes, I would like to check it out when it releases.

We’re now at the inauguration of Toneez, a fitness centre. How important is fitness for a chess player?

Everybody needs fitness, irrespective of their profession. Any sort of mental work takes a physical toll, and you need the resources to deal with it. If you’re not physically fit, your brain gets tired and you make mistakes. That’s true of any job, where you don’t move a lot. I think fitness transcends your profession; it is essential for life.

So, what’s your fitness routine like?

I run on alternate days and I also do quite a bit of stretches and weight training. I’ve been doing it seriously for almost 20 years. Of course, fitness training evolves over age.

You mentioned age. Do you think age has anything to do with excelling in chess? There are still ‘ageing champions’ in many sports…

It’s fairly clear that chess is a young sport, just like any other game. Maybe you get a few more years in chess, as compared to football or tennis. At this stage in my life, I’m just curious to see where I can get. I’m still very motivated to try hard. Honestly, I want to play for the pleasure of playing. I know that there’s a clock ticking, but I don’t want to obsess about it.