Responding to failure secret of my success: Anand

Chennai, May 18 (UNI) World No. one chess player Viswanathan Anand today said his ability to respond to failure and success, willingness to experiment and continuous self-cricticism helped him evolve into a fine player.

Revealing his secret of success at a lecture on Global leadership, organised by the Madras Management Association here, he said ''you need impetus, something new to look forward even when you are doing well. You need to experiement and take risks if you want to become successful.'' Anand, who started playing chess at the tender age of six, also said one needs to be very objective and indulge in self-cricticism and be able to respond to failure and success objectively.

The 37-year-old player revealed that there were situations in his life when he was left without a target. ''When I started the quest to become a Grand Master, it was eluding me narrowly. I took a break to appear for the plus two exams. The time away from the game helped me revive the freshness, I became the world junior champion after two months''.

''The GM title soon followed. Suddenly I found myself without a goal. For sucsess, you have to have something in front of you. But I was able overcome this, by finding new targets. Each time I told myself it is not enough to keep the motivation level,'' he said.

Observing that success would always be followed by criticism, he said, ''I found my rivals heap praise on me when they had the measure of me. But the situation changed when I turned the tables on them. Suddenly, all sorts of criticism came. Some said I was too fast while some others said I was not applying my mind. But I soon realised that these were actually compliments. Life was never the same again.'' Anand said there was a risk of contentment when things are going on your way. ''We often stop taking risks. The fun is in the gamble and in tricking your rivals.'' UNI