Viswanathan Anand is now eager to see whether his countrymen give him the same grand reception that they had extended to T20 World Cup winning cricketers.
NEW DELHI: After his majestic feat of two World Chess Championship titles, Viswanathan Anand is now eager to see whether his countrymen give him the same grand reception that they had extended to Twenty20 World Cup winning cricketers.
Anand's dazzling achievement is coupled with the Indian ace crossing the magic ELO rating of 2800 for the second time in his career and continuing his top ranking for the third time in succession since climbing up the FIDE charts in April this year.
After ending his nearly seven-year wait to reclaim the world title with an undefeated run in the Mexico city on Saturday, Anand said he came to know about the grand welcome that the cricketers had been given and was sure that at least his chess friends would be there to receive him.
"Yes, I heard about it (the welcome given to the cricket team). It would be interesting to see what kind of reception I get when I come to India by the end of this month (October)," Anand told over phone from Mexico in an exclusive interview.
"But my friends from chess would certainly be there as always," he said and added that "here (in Mexico) everyone understood the importance of this event".
The first undisputed world champion since Garry Kasparov, who parted ways with FIDE in 1993, Anand said he was relieved after accomplishing the feat.
Even Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, who had defeated Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in a match-play, was not the undisputed champion.
"Being the undisputed world champion is a relief. Since, last year the feud was resolved in chess and we instituted a unified chess title, I am the absolute world champion," Anand said after his scoring a superb 9/14 in the event.
The 37-year-old, who was the runner-up in San Luis in 2005, said the feeling was yet to sink in.
"I wanted to win the title here as I finished close to it in the last two attempts. This was my third attempt since 2000... I tried to win at San Luis and now this is third. Still six years is a long time whichever way you look at it," he said.
Anand, however, refused to draw comparison with his previous world title win in Tehran in 2000.
"Every player and every format is a different challenge so I can't compare Tehran from here. It will be like which hand I prefer more. But I am happy to go through this field undefeated," he said, referring to his four victories and 10 draws.
Although draws in last three rounds were enough for Anand to lay hands on the title, he said he still had his share of nervous moments, the scariest one being the penultimate round game against Alexander Grischuk.
"Draws in the last three rounds were enough to see me through but I had the scariest moments in match against Grischuk (in the 13th round). I thought I really came down on that day but I was surprised that I won it so easily," he said.
"I noticed that my lead was slightly narrowed but I was glad to save the game against Grischuk which kept the full point lead.
Anand revealed that he had started receiving congratulatory messages with three rounds still to go, which made him slightly uncomfortable.
"As my win was quite sure with three rounds to go, people were already coming to me and congratulating me, which was making me uncomfortable, a kind of jinx," he said.
On his 10th round match against Kramnik in the double round-robin stage, he said "the first match was drawn easily but in the second match Kramnik played the same line he had prepared and the result was a draw again."
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