Anand’s “Dil Maange More�, defeating Kasporav was more satisfying

Oct 17: The World is not enough for the newly crowned World champion Viswanathan Anand yet, as his “Dil Maange More”. Anand feels that it’s just normal to become ‘Numero uno’ in the World and there is nothing extraordinary, he is still striving for success and he isn’t ready to slip into mediocrity any time soon.

For World number one Anand, these are just good times, “I am enjoying the feeling now, this is the enjoyment phase,” he said.

Anand’s hunger is intended for more even after becoming the undisputed champion.

“I still have the hunger and I don’t really think about others terming me “the greatest sportsperson of India”. The main thing is to keep improving. Like I still want to win the Corus chess tournament for the sixth time and the Morelia-Linares Super Grandmaster tournament for the third time.”

NIIT’s brand ambassador Anand was given a rousing reception on Tuesday at the IIT campus where he and wife Aruna arrived in a vintage car. He played simultaneous chess with 32 kids of the NIIT Mind Champions Academy, “I liked it so much. Some even gave me advice, I liked that, that is the future, he said.”

Anand has become more ambitious after winning the world title for the second time and he wants to scale higher peaks. When asked which World title is closer to you and if he wants to play Kasporav again?

“If Kasparov is interested, I won’t mind playing him,” said Anand.

“That would be an interesting tie and a challenging one for me. There is a match waiting for him if he wants,” said Anand, admitting that beating Kasparov would be more satisfying than winning the world title.

Anand had won the official Fide World Championship in 2000, when some of the top players didn’t take part following a dispute.

“Both titles are of equal importance to me,” Anand said. “But I cannot ignore the fact that the status of the World Championship has changed.”

The 37-year-old chess star said he was in a holiday mood at the moment, but would soon start working with the goal of winning as many titles as he can.

“I am certainly not complacent. I still make a lot of mistakes and make mental note of them.”

His upcoming challenge would be to remain at the top of the Super Grandmasters tournament in Corus for the sixth time.

After a month’s break, Anand will be playing meets in Wijk Aan Zee, Linares-Morelia and Leon.

Anand praised the young Indian players like Sasikiran, Harikrishna and Parimarjan Negi. He also predicted that they all would win many laurels for the country in the near future.