He has rediscovered his magic by winning the Candidates’ tournament and Viswanathan Anand is now “working on quite a few ideas” to counter the threat of Magnus Carlsen in his quest to regain the World Championship title later this year.
“My thoughts are already starting to form. I have got quite a few ideas about what I am going to do. Over the next few months or so I will try to crystallise my thoughts, make some plans. Though in April, I am taking a break,” said Anand, speaking at a media conference on his return from Russia.
Five-time world champion Anand lost the crown to Carlsen last November, but earned the right to play the Norwegian again after he won the Candidates tournament on Saturday.
“I know for sure that I would be playing Carlsen but I am not going to make my plans open. I do not think I should be discussing about it now,” Anand said when asked if he would bring about changes to his game this time around.
About the upcoming big match, he added: “Well, the match is very important. It is not what you plan that you get. As I have said I have my ideas and I am not going to discuss about it. Everything is looking positive. So, I will not tell you what my strategies will be.”
The 44-year-old from Chennai said such wins like the one at the Candidates were very important and helped in changing one’s outlook.
“One good result has changed everything already. You simply needed such a victory at some point of time. With such wins your outlook changes suddenly. I think the emotions are all positive. You need a good result,” Anand said.
Anand had once said his five best games would put any rival in trouble. Asked if had adopted that against Carlsen in the last World Championship match, he responded in the negative.
“I did not challenge him at that level. I would have played somewhere here and there. I had tried this method against (Levon) Aronian and succeeded. I think this kind of matches last month was nice. Basically I do not say that I do that in a whole tournament but it is rare that one attempts such a manoeuvre.”
Asked about the match against Veselin Topalov and Gary Kasparov’s comments after his win, he said, “The match against Topalov was very crucial because I checked the point differences and I had planned my game very perfectly. As for Kasparov, I thought he is trying to be nice.”
He said after game nine in the Candidates tournament, he was sure of a win.
“I would say that after game three I was pretty convinced that it is going to be a good result for me. After the first three games, I thought I had given myself a great start and around that round my confidence grew. But after game nine I knew that it was my tournament to be won. This time I felt that my sails were in right places and the wind was just flowing. Sometimes, you need such extra things.”
Asked if his rivals would be under pressure now, Anand said, “It is hard to say. I think once you start playing well you are seen to be putting pressure on others. I hope so and I still have to make good moves and take advantage of these results.”
Anand said he was pleased with his second Sandipan Chanda.
“I felt he is quite good. When I worked with him earlier, I gave him my notes and told him I will explain the situation to him the morning before the match. I remember that he came to me and said that he went over the stuff that I had given him and said for the game you can do this and do that."
“I was surprised as to how much vision he showed even though he had not known me very well. I was surprised as to how quickly he was able to put himself in to my shoes, understand my thoughts and then he was taking a lot of load off me.”