Vishwanathan Anand looks to regain title

Mumbai: Vishwanathan Anand is keenly waiting for the World Chess Championship rematch with reigning champion Magnus Carslen, which is yet to find any takers.

“Obviously when the April deadline passed, as far as I can understand they have just left it open. People still seem to be looking, they are still looking to organise the match so I am just waiting to see if we get a venue and date soon,” he said here.

The five-time world champion, who lost his title to Norway’s Carslen in Chennai last November, is rejuvenated after taking some time off and returned with a bang by earning direct qualification after clinching the Candidates title.

“I keep saying this often, if I had been dropped into the match it would have been different, but having qualified gives me a morale boost. A good result is something you can feed off and I am hoping to carry that into it (the championship). But it goes without saying that we will have to do different things, especially as the loser,” he said.

Anand reiterated that he felt no pressure while playing at home last year. “I wouldn’t blame that on Chennai. The point is that playing at home has the impact of magnifying whatever you are going through. But I don’t think I suffered per se.

He said it would be different match against Carlsen later this year. “It will be a different match anyways. It is very unlikely that we will both try to do the same things. Obviously I will try to learn from things that went wrong and I have many impressions that I will think about when I train,” he said.

The Indian chess icon asserted that he would give it his best shot. “I am looking forward to it because it is a not very unexpected second chance so you definitely want to make use of that. Having said that well, first I will play the rapids and wait for it,” he said.

Anand is scheduled to play next in the world rapid and blitz champions in Dubai and many big players like Carlsen will be involved.