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Journalism of Courage
Three-time World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand made light of India’s failure to defend their Twenty20 World Cup title,terming it as just “bad luck” along with the pressure to perform on cricketers.
“They (cricketers) just had a bad luck. I think they might have a good chance but you also need some good luck,” Anand said when asked what according to him could have prevented Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men from emerging triumphant.
Anand,who has won the World Championship in almost all formats of the game — round-robin,knock-out and matchplay,and also clinched back-to-back titles in 2007 and 2008,said a lot is said and written before the tournament which can add pressure on a player.
“The main thing is pressure. So I block myself from many things and isolate myself with chess for a month and a half before the tournament,” Anand said on the sidelines of a function in the capital.
“I was aware of the danger and my paranoia was justified. It’s good that people follow you but at the end of the day you can’t play for people.
The 39-year-old chess ace also felt one needs to concentrate on constantly learning new things in the competitive world to do the same thing differently.
“The basic focus should be on keep learning new things and I enjoy doing new things on the board. Because no matter what your last position was but you start with the same 16 pieces in the new game,” he said.
