It’s game on

Anand’s triumph is noteworthy, coming as it did on the back of a difficult loss, against a high-profile rival. It also has lessons for even the not-chess-minded, on how you can battle your way back to a win, after facing defeat.

“It isn’t just in sports, be it any field, you can be at your peak one day and at the very opposite end of the spectrum the next day. The challenge then is how you handle the defeat,” says life coach Devanshi Gandhi.

Experts say that a failure or setback can actually be a great time to pause, take stock of what went wrong and start afresh towards a more successful innings. Life coach Chetna Mehrotra calls such situations “perspective-taking time”. “Whenever you feel fazed by a failure, settle down, relax and unwind. Then reflect on what happened: What could have I done better? What is it in me that requires improvement? What skills could I add to be able to take on that situation again, with grace and success?” she advises.

Just as Viswanathan Anand’s team learnt from their game two loss to Carlsen and came back with better strategies for games three and four, you too should be looking at a new strategy to recoup from a setback. “This is the time when you should lie low, and introspect,” says Devanshi Gandhi. “As Zig Ziglar said, ‘What got you here, won’t get you there’, so if you want to get to the next level, it calls for a change in tactics. That’s exactly what Viswanathan Anand seems to have done!”

Another thing that Anand did successfully, was to be unfazed by an opponent as tough as Carlsen. Life coach Khyati Birla says that is essential and requires you to perceive your opponent not as a rival but as a guide. “You can actually learn a lot from your opponent’s weak points,” she says. “This is something Malcolm Gladwell has noted as well: That David won against Goliath because he came up with a totally new strategy. He understood Goliath’s weaknesses and used his own strengths (being good with a slingshot) to formulate a winning strategy to beat Goliath who was a master of hand-to-hand combat. Understand and use your opponent’s weak points to your advantage.”

Khyati’s viewpoint is one that singer Tulsi Kumar subscribes to as well. Tulsi tells us that in the competitive industry she is part of, facing defeat is inescapable on one’s way to the top. “But I always take a setback as an opportunity to fight back,” Tulsi says. “As for a tough opponent I would never underestimate any one of them. Like me, even he/she has a goal to achieve and while I respect their strengths, I am confident of my ability to stay strong in the race.”