The undisputed world chess champion, Viswanathan Anand was born in a small town of Chennai, Tamil Nadu and had an interest in chess since childhood. He started learning chess at the age of six and played his first official chess match at the sub-junior championship and even won it with a score of 9/9 points at the age of 14.
Then he became unstoppable. The popular player “Vishy” has been known for his achievements and contributions for the nation. He became the first chess grandmaster from India in 1988 and is one of the nine players in history to pass 2800 Elo on the FIDE rating list in 2006.
Viswanathan Anand has inspired billions to take an interest in the so-called boring and nerdy game chess. But what inspires and attracts his audience is not just his game but also his motivating words and remarkable quotes. So let’s have a look at the legendary chess player’s famous quotes.
- “In chess, knowledge is a very transient thing. It changes so fast that even a single mouse-slip sometimes changes the evaluation.”
- “There is always the risk of being over-confident when you are preparing to face a weaker player.”
- “A win is a win, which is about that particular moment.”
- “I would never suggest to anyone that they drop school for chess. First of all even if you can make it in chess, your social skills need to be developed there.”
- “Confidence is very important – even pretending to be confident. If you make a mistake but do not let your opponent see what you are thinking then he may overlook the mistake.”
- “For every door the computers have closed they have opened a new one.”
- “Everyone has their nemesis. For me it was clearly Kasparov. I don’t think I want to make excuses for that.”
- “If revenge motivates you, go for it! But the main thing is to set your game in order.”
- “I keep forcing, I keep learning new things in the game, and so far I have been taking challenges as they come.”
- “For me, each game is a new challenge, which has to be dealt with rationally and systematically. At that time, every other thought fades into oblivion.”
- “I think an important lesson from the game is that once you have made a move, you cannot take it back. You really have to measure your decisions. You think a lot. You evaluate your choices very carefully. There’s never any guarantee about what’s going to follow once you have made a decision.”
- “India has lot of talent. What I am happy with is that the talent keeps on coming. Certainly it could be nice, though I am not terribly keen on seeing my successor yet.”
- “Parents, first and foremost, it is important to… understand and recognise the activities your child is naturally gravitating towards. It’s important also to ensure that your child likes what he or she is doing. I believe in exposing children to as many hobbies and extracurricular activities as possible.”
- “For me, chess is not a profession, it is a way of life, a passion. People may feel that I have conquered the peak and will not have to struggle. Financially, perhaps that is true; but as far as chess goes, I’m still learning a lot!”
He has reached to the top, he has achieved so much but still he is struggling, so struggle does not end. Giving up is never the option, so just face the failures with confidence and dedicate yourself to your passion like Vishy did.
