| Interview with
Viswanathan Anand  A
satisfactory performance by Former World Champion Viswanathan Anand at the
World’s strongest annual chess event, SuperTorneo Magistral Ciudad
de Linares 2002, where he could manage only 6.0 points from a 12 games double round
all-play-all championship shocked many. His defeat at the hands of Michael Adams was
unfortunate, while his draws with Kasparov with both the colors were
interesting. Our correspondent Vijay Kumar spoke to him, on Sunday
10th March, 2002, immediately after Vishy drew his last game with the reigning
World Chess Champion Ruslan Ponomariov,
Q. Not many decisive games in this tournament.....any reason ?
Anand: "It is a tough tournament and you don’t always get decisive results though I must say in the beginning of the tournament I really had problems playing. In the first five rounds, I had suffered a lot. I had problem concentrating; I have the positions but was not able to deliver. After that I played much better but than it was too late. Hopefully in the next tournament I will do much better. All these guys are well prepared and they play!!! And this time it was not enough to force the issue.
Q. You had always beaten Shirov, why a draw in the second game ?
Anand:
Well I beat him 1.5-0.5 so that was OK. As far Adams I had an unfortunate defeat but than I can say the first few days I had problems playing, but one cannot afford this kind of a mistake at the tournament of this level.
Q. Earlier you were to worry about Kasparov and Kramnik and now Ponomariov has also joined the 2ks, do you think he
(Ponomariov) will be a threat
too !!
Anand: Yes. I think he is a very strong player. He is only 18 years old and he has a lot of room to grow. I think he is a worthy
Champion.
Q. Your games against him (Ponomariov), were not too eventful, any reason ?
Anand: He surprised me in the opening. I surprised him as well but I did not have any problem playing against him.
Q. Yet another convincing victory by Kasparov, how do you think he is able to sustain at the top for such a long
time ?
Anand:
It is a great result. He is a fantastic player, he is a fantastic sportsman, he manages to keep on delivering the goals and that’s remarkable. I take that as a motivation to do better in the next tournament.
Q. How would you analyse the results here ?
Anand: Well I mean 50% is not a bad result, but I would like to make some points.
Q. What are your next tournaments ?
Anand:
Abu Dhabi [FIDE Grand Prix] and Prague [KPN International]
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