Anand in Die Zeit: "Go there, sit down, play well"

In ten days from now, Anand-Carlsen will take off in Chennai — you will hardly have missed that! This particular chess event is so big, that many mainstream media are posting preview articles. One of these is the major German newspaper Die Zeit, who on Tuesday published an interview with the defending champion Vishy Anand, who speaks about his preparation.

"Go there, sit down, play well" is how the article in Die Zeit is titled. Anand speaks about his preparation, which has mostly taken place in Bad Soden am Taunus, at the training center of the Chess Tigers, a meeting place for chess enthusiasts with activities that range from seminars, training and chess in school projects as well as live transmission of games.

The interview is written by Ulrich Stock, who will also be in Chennai and who has visited several World Championships. In the past, Stock already showed his talent for explaining the royal game to non-chess fans, and this interview is another good example.

ZEIT ONLINE: Mr Anand, could you please explain a bit about your training? What does preparation for a chess world championship look like?

Viswanathan Anand: You develop a complete image of your opponent. You ask yourself what you want to achieve, in what areas you want to have the fight take place and where you can expect problems. And of course fitness exercises, walking, swimming. One works the whole day.

ZEIT ONLINE: From nine to five?

Anand: Actually a bit longer.

ZEIT ONLINE: And free in the weekend?

Anand: Chess players don't know about weekends.

Anand says that although he quite likes the fact that he'll be playing in his home town, he doesn't see it as a big advantage. About his opponent being the favourite in the match, he says:

Many people say so. But I will do my best.

Anand also mentions that "two of his seconds" are not in his team anymore (which, as we know, are Peter Heine Nielsen and Rustam Kasimdzhanov), from which we could perhaps deduct that Surya Ganguly and Radek Wojtaszek are still in his team.

You can enjoy the interview (in German!) here. At the end it is mentioned that a portrait of Carlsen will be published later this week in ZEITmagazin.