Though Anand has lost the title of the world champion, he still remains a great champion nonetheless.
To have come from humble beginnings with no resources or institutional support in India, he still accomplished great feats in chess and defeated players who enjoyed tremondous resources and institutional support as in Russia and Europe and the U.S.
To have become the world champion and retained the title for 4 terms is a great achievement in itself.
He was also the world rapid chess champion in 2003 and is considered the greatest rapid chess player of all times.
Perhaps the greatest tribute to him was paid by Kasparov himself, his greatest rival and considered by many to be the greatest chess player ever as well.
'Imagine if Anand was actually born in the Soviet Union; how much more dangerous he would have become.'
It is bad too see you alone handling Chess for the past 2 decades in a cricket crazy country...wining world championship 5 times. Whether you are a champ or not this year...you deserve every respect of sportsmanship.
Well the Championship turned about to be failure for Anand, because he failed to handle the pressure exerted by Carlsen. Anand is also not known for Longer Games. Against a machine like thinking Individual (Carlsen), he faultered and made some blunders at critical junctures. He could have changed the course of Game 5, but made a silly mistake. Such small errors are good enough for champions like Carlsen. It is time for Anand to take some rest, prepare himself better (possibly against a super computer) for handling pressure. I do not think it is the end of the road for Anand and I seriously wish he doesn't take a hasty decision of quitting the game. The game (particularly in India) would benefit a lot from him. We are extremely proud of you Anand. Bounce back like a Tiger.
Like Sachin, Anand Should RETIRE Gracefully. He is 45 and age puts limitation on him. Talent wise He is Equal To Sachin BUT Playing Cricket TILL 40 is more difficult than playing Chess. He MAY NOT Get Bharat Ratna BUT will continue to get same respect as Sachin , provided he Retires gracefully within 2-3 months. Congrats to Karlsen for winning world title.
Re: Should Retire..............
by Ashok Kumar on Nov 23, 2013 10:24 AM
I think, considering Anand's recent form, he was not expected to defend his crown anyway. He is currently ranked 7th in the world, so obviously he has not been in the best of the forms recently. I would say, Anand needs to take one step at a time and improve his ranking further before having another go at Carlsen. In physical sports, playing till 40 is very demanding but not in Chess. You may become slow but get very tactical as you age. Bharat Ratna could wait. Anand has much more to accomplish.
Re: Should Retire..............
by bhagat singh on Nov 23, 2013 10:29 AM
For last 3-4 years Sachin was simply crawling and dragging,was on mercy of his previous bank balance. Anand has lost his championship after eaching final.. Hope next year he will regain his world champion title
Re: Should Retire..............
by attacker on Nov 25, 2013 09:09 AM
don't defame Vishy by equating him with Sachin. Anand has won world championship five times and Oscar six times. he has won world championship in all the formats. Vishy has revolutionalised chess in india. before Anand's era there was not a single gm in india, now there are 34. Chess is played in 157 countries and it's a global sport. whereas cricket is played in a dozen countries and played mostly by weak and corrupt sporting nations like india, pakistan, sri-lanka, bangladesh. Anand is india's no. 1 sportsperson.
You did have a sublime chess career that no other Indian player has had so far. It will be quite a long time for someone like you to show up from India. You have several firsts to your credit: The first Indian to attain the Grandmaster title. The first Indian to win the World Junior Chess Champion. The one and only Grandmaster to win the World Champion title in all three formats. It's just unfortunate that your title's end had to come in Chennai. So, you had your good time. Be happy and move on into retirement.
Guys -- get it right - chess is a "game" (like many other board games), and it is not considered a SPORT.
Regardless of results, we are proud of Vishy. How many of you can even think of being in top two in the world? So, enjoy - yes he lost but there is always next year.
Re: Chess is NOT a sport
by attacker on Nov 25, 2013 09:14 AM
chess has all the qualities that a Sports require. It is played in 157 countries with massive competitions all over the world. chess is included in Asian games. However, chess is not yet part of Olympics.
Congratulations to Magnus Carlsen on winning the World Chess Champion Title. He is truly "Magnus the Great". Anand losing the title was an expected and foregone conclusion. I had predicted this result more than six months ago. What I didn't expect was for Anand to fare so miserably, not even winning one game!! Anand had a steady decline over the last five years. Too bad, he wasn't wise enough to recognize the "Writing on the Wall". I guess this is the hallmark of most Indian sportsmen and sportswomen. They will not recognize their downward trends and limitations. They will keep on playing until someone kicks them out. To retire with grace and dignity is unknown to them.
Re: Magnus the Great.
by Harish Pandit on Nov 23, 2013 09:48 AM
Anand's decline was evident since 2008. However i am not sure what he was supposed to do. He handed over his title to a worthy challenger after playing a match with him. That was much better than quitting. Not sure what he was supposed to do in your opinion.
Re: Re: Magnus the Great.
by Sceptic Critic on Nov 23, 2013 07:51 PM
Should have followed Kasparov's lead who recognized his limitations and retired gracefully as undefeated champion.
Re: Re: Re: Magnus the Great.
by attacker on Nov 25, 2013 09:27 AM
Kasparov lost his world championship title to Kramnik in 2000 just like Anand lost to Carlsen. Kasparov didn't leave chess because he was declining. He won Linares tournament before leaving chess. He retires from chess because he wants to actively involve in Russian politics. Why Vishy shall retire? Vishy was on world top 3 for continuous 20 years and now he is world no. 7. Is world no. 7 such a bad rank to retire? Chess players never retire. I wish Anand to play chess for 40 more years.
Carlsen deserves every bit of accolades. Terrific talent and such a modest Champion. But may be we have seen the last of an Indian Champion for a long time to come. Thanks Anand for making our times richer and pleasent with your presence. Champion or no Champion, we all love you.
