Viswanathan Anand backs Magnus Carlsen's suggestion to revisit existing world championship format

Mahabalipuram, July 29: Five-time world chess champion Viswanathan Anand reckons reigning champion Magnus Carlsen pulling out of the FIDE World Championships has nothing to do with the lack of challenge, instead the number-one ranked player in the men's open category isn't happy with the current format cycle.

Carlsen (31) had previously stated that the system is skewed in favour of the defending champion, who has to take part in the biannual match while his opponents must go through a grueling cycle of questionable logic that does not necessarily produce the best challenger. Carlsen has arrived in India for the Chess Olympiad 2022.

Anand - who himself has in the past complained about the redundancy of the current format - claimed Carlsen has time and again raised his disdain about the championship cycle. When asked if a gulf between the top players forced world champion to pull out of the upcoming World Championships, Anand reiterated that the Norwegian grandmaster has a problem with the format of the competition.

"I think, his argument was always against the format and not the opponents. That has been his main concern and he's been raising it for quite some time," Anand said while interacting with media persons on the sidelines of an event in Mahabalipuram.

Asked if he too believes that the existing World Championship format needs to be changed, the legendary chess player admitted that it needs to be revisited.

"I think it is certainly the time to revisit the existing format. Once upon a time, this format was brilliant. When I started out as a junior it was nice to know that all I had to play zonal, then I progress to the inter-zonal and do well there to make it to the international circuit. This pathway led me to the world title and it worked well. But maybe in the modern-day context, it needs to be revised. Also, we have this contradiction that it (championships) needs to be held every two years for everyone else because otherwise, you can go five-six years without any chance to get to the world title. But for the world champions, it's too much especially if he keeps winning," Anand added further.

Asked if he will look into this matter along with FIDE president Arkady, the five-time champion said, "Definitely, it's something that's now come up and we'll have a chance to revisit it (if things fell into place)."

Only 13 teams in the Women's Open Section are competing in the Chess Olympiad 2022, and when asked what needs to be done to change his scenario, he said, "Well, they certainly represent some growth. I don't know what specifically can be done, (but) we need a Women's Championship because otherwise too few of them will get to in the first place but of course, we have to get the women's event kind of separate. I think the main thing is that we need more women playing chess in India."

Anand was also asked if there is any difference on the psychological front when he faces a woman opponent as opposed to men, the Tiger of Madras claimed he's hardly noticed it. He went on to say that the gender of the opponent hardly made any difference to him.

"Not the second time. I think my first game against a girl, I thought it was a little unusual. In my club days, I remember playing against girls. A lot of people used to ask me what it was like playing against Judie Polgar and I used to respond that 'I hardly noticed'. She was just another strong GM with a strong repertoire and you had to think of finding her weaknesses rather than thinking about her being a woman," Anand added further.

Anand was The AICF had endorsed the candidature of Anand for the deputy president post in the forthcoming FIDE election and when asked how will he help the Indian federation if he gets elected, Anand said, "I will play a role in chess. Not that I exactly look for a position in the FIDE but obviously India should be a priority for FIDE and I can try doing that."

When asked about the comfort of the chair during the competitions, the former world number one said, "90 percent of the time I hardly noticed because you have some issues with the chair then you had to go to some arbitrator and he used to pass you to another arbitrator. And in big events, you cannot be sitting with a mutual request because they don't have the bandwidth. The only place where I noticed the chairs were in world championships because you could pick and choose there and they keep it reserved for you for the entire tournament," he signed off.