Reasons that makes Viswanathan Anand a great champion

Viswanathan Anand on Wednesday defeated Boris Gelfand of Israel to successfully retain his World Chess Championship title and was crowned the World Champion for the fifth time. He first won the title in 2000 but then became the undisputed champion only in 2007. He then defended his title against Vladimir Kramnik the following year and then two years down the lane, he defeated Veselin Topalov to be crowned as champion for the fourth time.

Stakes were much high for Anand prior to this year’s championship as people had started to write him due to few losses which ideally he should have won. But Anand decided not to get perturbed by whatever was happening around him and after ending the regulation play 6-6 he defended his championship in a rapid game tie-breaker.

Over the years he has proved time and again that action speak louder than words and here are few reason as to what made him one of the best sportspersons of the country and the World.

Consistency: Anand has been one of the most consistent sportspersons of the World. He first won the World Chess Championship in the year 2000, but could be crowned as the undisputed World Champion as Kramnik held the Classical World Championship. In the year 2007, when both the titles were unified, he won the double round robin tournament to be established as the undisputed champion of chess, first player to win the title in a tournament rather than a matchplay since Mikhail Botvinnik in 1948. After than there was no stopping him and since then he has defended his title thrice.

Resiliency: He has shown enough resiliencies in his career to establish himself at the place where he is today. Before going into his World Championship with Gelfand, chess critics wrote him off and said that Anand-Era is over. But he never let those affect his mental frame of mind and decided to let his game do the talking. He lost tournaments that he should have won, was not in best of forms which let everyone tag Gelfand as a favourite. Stakes were high, but then Anand showed that why is he a four times World Champion. He held on to his ground, defended the title and shunned all his critics.

Versatility: This is one of the pre-requisites of a champion. All the sportspersons in the World have to be versatile to be able to perform consistently and Anand is no exception to that. Anand is the only player to have won the world chess championships various formats such as tournament, match, rapid, and knockout chess and this fact has prompted his fellow chess players see him as the most versatile champion ever.

Down to Earth: As a champion, fame is bound to come. But then it is a huge task for any sportspersons that they should not get carried away by it. Anand has been in limelight more than two decades now and despite that he kept his feet grounded. And this is one reason why he has been able to perform so consistently and not lose his focus.

Champion in truest sense: He has not only been a champion in the game but also off it. He has been a real life hero and example to that is when in 2010 he had to go to Bulgaria for his Championship match against Veselin, his flight got delayed due to volcanic ash. He asked the organizers to delay the start but they didn’t citing TV rights issue. Anand a champion that he is drove for 40 hours to reach the venue. He was exhausted but he did not let that affect his game and he rightfully defended his World title.

By Indian Sports News Network