Former world champion Viswanathan Anand feels his risk-taking game on the chess board has similarities with the swashbuckling batting style of former Australia keeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist.
In an interview with the Economic Times, Anand reflected on his playing style and his meeting with legends Gilchrist, former German football team captain Lothar Matthaus, American sprint legend Michael Johnson.
“I saw a similarity in the way he approached risk-taking,” Anand said of his style viz Gilchrist’s. “When you are playing different formats, you can’t just play to keep your place in the batting order. He spoke about the importance of coming out of your shell and doing things you were uncomfortable with.
“I related with that. In chess, we have the same thing. You have different formats. The one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work and you have to do things you otherwise won’t do,” Anand was quoted as saying.
The Grandmaster was part of a panel that discussed perfection along with the other three greats. Describing the conversation, Anand said that perfection was unachievable, but insisted that one has to train and strive for it.
“I have come to the conclusion that you never achieve perfection,” Anand said. “But you can strive towards it. There are some moves and processes in chess that I’m not a specialist in, but I train for them a lot.
“At a tournament in 2013, I played Levon Aronian. I sensed I came very close to perfection in that game. There was a line I played, which I had not checked for a while, and so I was not very prepared to play it. But due to the earlier work I had put in, the trick remained in my intuition.
Anand added that in sports, it was only tennis great Roger Federer who came to his mind when the word perfection is put forth.
“The thing about perfection is that you make it look easy, and that’s what comes across through [Federer’s] matches.
“I feel the same sometimes. The pieces seem to move by themselves. But clearly that’s based on a lot of planning and work,” he added.
