First!

second!

second!

Who´s third? xD

Nice ! Thank you

Raj is third :). Who´s fourth?

How many unique visitors, out of curiousity?

hello third!
Pleased to listen that as I said before, Anand pointed out that he started play faster
in the ending of game ten, of course not for any strategical or psychological reason,
but just because he was angry! eheh

For you guys : he gave serious thoughts and spoke sincerely - all kudos to him and also to you Was great to hear you ask our questions ..almost made me feel I was a part of this... today you were rewarded for your general chess reporting for the last year and I think many of our locals are very proud of you. to me you are the best on the web and thankyou for involving us .

awesome work : great game vishy

brilliant job guys!
Anand is always honest and charming in his interviews!

Anand is wearing a tie!

Great interview. One question we forgot to ask him: what was Topalov saying during that very animated exchange immediately after resigning the last game? Has Anand commented on that anywhere? Topalov's gestures were quite vehement...of course, he must have been extremely upset.

I am curious to know what was Anand's favorite song that was played during the closing ceremony.

The videos are difficult to watch or download with low speed internet connection like the one I have, hence I would be glad if the transcripts of the interview is also published.

Dear Mr Peter Doggers!
Thank you very much for your tremendous efforts in letting us participate in this very titanic WCC match 2010; you should let us pay a little bit - I tried it twice - but you´ve refused my money! :-) :-) :-) WHY???
Best regards,
Dr. W.J. Berghorn, FRG

Great interview! I am happy for Mr. Anand he deserves it.

Nice interview.

Next time please try to have a chess board linked, so that some of us can understand what variations he is refering to.

Plus, you must stop saying after each question "right right". Your voice must be a little more energetic, It's very monotonous!

Until this extremely authentic interview with Vishy Anand - I´ve seen today - I all the time since 1970 thought - Bobby Fischer is the greatest chess player of all time - I have changed my mind: WC Champion VISHY ANAND will be for a long long time "NUMBER ONE" in the history of chess and WCC matches - as a HUMAN BEING - as a MAN - as CHESS PLAYER - as GENTLEMAN!!!

I have slight problems understanding Anand, he has a quite heavy accent, is that me or do you experience the same?

blablabla, just wait for Carlsen, he will take the crown from Vishy and he will impose himself as number one for a very long time. Vishy is getting old, as Kasparov said.
I'd say these are Vishy's last 2-3 years on the top.

Hi Peter,
Thank you very much for the interview and the coverage during the complete match. This final touch of asking the world champion also the chess vibes users questions made us very happy and feel connected to chessvibes.

Keep continuing the good work.

Dear Mr Peter Doggers!

I would be glad if the transcripts of the interview.

Hey Peter,

Thanks a lot for the great interview..you were really great and actually asked almost every question that the readers had raised ....thanks a lot...

in a way we felt that somehow we are asking the questions...

keep up the great work man... thanks again

@Dr. Wolfgang Berghorn, I just tried and donated via the donate button on top right corner and it worked? What is the issue you experienced?

Very nice and interesting interview but more readers questions would be better, hehehe. But still very good idea of putting readers questions not many does so.
Keep on the good work. :)

Wow, outstanding interview! Probably my most favorite WC interview ever. It is amazing how Anand thinks in such a clear and composed manner. I think he'll have to now be considered one of the more serious WC's. Maybe not top five, but certainly better than say Euwe, Steinitz and Kramnik. Perhaps on par with Petrosian, Spassky and Smyslov at this point?

Great stuff! Thanks!

The trivia question who the last world champion won the final match after losing the first game? the answer u give is - Chigorin.

Hey ..how about Fischer-Spassky 1972?

can someone transform this video interview in text form in english or german?

i cant follow understand good the video.

An interview really well done, Peter. Terrific job you've done covering the championship.

Just a little thought for future interviews - there were some times when you seemed to pose a question even as Anand was thinking about saying something more...perhaps you could just wait for a while longer before asking a follow-up and edit out the blanks later if the interviewee doesn't say anything more.

Chigorin world champion???

Hairulov ;
let us assume that Spassky-Fischer 1st game was "technically" a draw even after the Bishop sac Bxh3 as proved later.

Yep! +2 Fischer - Spassky...1972

Fischer was not world champion when he lost that game.

Great interview Peter.

I also thought the awnser on that question was Fisher, could you explain us why it wasn't the awnser?

@Hairulov:
1972 Spassy was the world champion and Fischer was the challenger...

Beautiful interview and coverage of this match, Peter !
I liked the music you put to the 12th game.

This interview has a nice balance between chess contents (with a brief discussion of each and every game !!) and various questions, many of them suggested on this website. It's touching first to witness an impressive performance (yet another !) by Anand, and then to hear him admit how difficult it really was. His charm, sincerity and modesty make him a true ambassador of chess :-)

Pierre, of course it would be nice to watch variations unfold in a parallel image while Anand explains them, so maybe you could volunteer to arrange that for Chessvibes ;-)

As it is, I'm quite thankful for Peter's efforts, and if you really want to know what moves Anand is talking about, try this (it worked for me): each time Anand starts citing moves or variations, click on "pause", open the Chessvibes viewer/analysis of that game in a separate window and go over the crucial parts of that game again, before hitting "play" (you can rewind the interview a little by dragging the progression indicator to the left). It takes a little effort, but hey, who wants to learn anything from a chess comment by the world champion without putting his brain to work ?

The ideal situation would be to discuss GM games with a teacher or a stronger player than oneself. But even if you only have access to the moves (and maybe some brief comments by a master or grandmaster), analyzing GM games can be quite rewarding once you reach a certain level (I'd say about 2000, though chess teachers may prove me wrong).

As for Anand's accent, Ron, it's typical of the Indian spoken variety of English. It just takes getting used to (just like American, British, Australian or South African English, to cite some other major varieties). I actually have a little more trouble understanding Peter's English than Vishy's, because Peter doesn't always articulate very clearly (but he has many other qualities :-) )

Great interview!! This one was so refreshingly different in the sense that it was so relaxed yet covered lot of things about the match. Kudos to Peter for all the wonderful videos that he provides which stand out for their quality. Getting questions from website visitors answered was a nice touch! Thank you!!

@ Dr. Wolfgang Berghorn

I second you. this is what I wrote about Anand in my chessbase article...

"
A World Champion must belong to the world and Anand does. Far away from controversies and ego, this cheerful, approachable and popular Champion has done more good to chess than most of his predecessors. Let it be India, Africa, Europe or America, he has helped popularize chess and found loving fans everywhere. The number of charitable and chess promotion events he attends is unprecedented. Most importantly he brings healing power of his charming grace to a sport historically marred by selfish egos.
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6008
"

Having met him and played with him... It was a humbling experience to see a champion so down to earth. He is totally amazing and the way he smiles at his fans shows his clean heart. Trust me, ts not about being Indian or not... I admire Rafa more than any Indian tennis player ;) etc...

@Thanks to chessvibes for valuing their visitors so much and including their questions in the interview. Its really cool!

Awesome video. This match and Anand's honesty in all his post-match videos will win legions of fans for this terrific champion. All hall the Champ....he is a class act and a great competitor.

Reflections of both Anand and Topalov. NY Times: http://gambit.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/day-after-championship-victor...

Guys, is there a transcript for this? I am deaf.

There is a saying that your not really the world champion until you have defended your title at least once,... Congradulations World Champion Anand! Your spot in the record books is now assured.

I had the honor of handing Anand his very first defeat in his chess career - in the 4th round of the TNEB (Tamil Nadu Electricity Board)!! We were both on 3/3. I played 1.e4 and the Guico-Piano. He was an 8-yr old boy with lovely, sharp eyes. He just blitzed his moves out in no time. I managed to beat him, but I had a vague feeling that this boy was something special. 3 years later, after he had come back from Phillipines, we met again at the Bertram tournament hosted by Loyola College. This time he beat me playing an exchange sac in Caro-Kann. He later told me that the sac wasn't really good objectively, but it worked because it rattled me into playing badly. He really honed his skills at the Tal Chess club, and it is interesting to know from this interview that Tal was his idol.

It was also interesting to note that he likes eating chicken tikka - I assumed that he would be a pure vegetarian!

I couldn't agree more with Suneet that it would be a near impossibility to find a champion as grounded as Anand is. It seems like he is so comfortable being in the present rather dwelling upon the past or the future. What a champion, and more importantly, what a human being!

He didnt ask any of my questions :(

Thanks Peter for the excellent interview.

Anand'd honesty and integrity come through very clearly. He is at the pinnacle of his sport and yet there is no attitude that comes through. Amazing.

Hats of to him and to ChessVibes for making this happen.

These exactly 12 games World Championships don't make sense. There's an extreme horizon problem (just like in the chess engines). What if the WC were 11 or 13 games (or just 1)? The result would be totally different. The WC should go on until one of the players gets a clear edge, for example 3 points lead. Otherwise there is absolutely no reason to believe that Anand is better that Topalov or the WC result is just a quirk of fate.

Exellent bit of information through your i nterview but it is already there in other video/ interview.

It would have been better if you had covered other areas which other interviews had not covered.

I would like to express my sincerest thanks to the ChessVibes crew for keeping up their good work with a great coverage of this remarkable event (yet again) and especially, this video. It's a pity for me that I missed the last two games as well as the opportunity to suggest questions; nevertheless, the outcome of the match and many of the questions actually asked were truly enjoyable.

I must say I have not particularly liked Anand's chess for quite some time, I cannot even explain to myself, why. His superb achievements and versatility (no matter whether it was about different time controls, championship formats or playing styles) paired up with continuously humble, respectful thoughts and opinions makes me believe now that he is one of the greatest champion the history of this beautiful game ever saw. Congratulations to your title and wish you lots of further success!

As for Topalov, I thank him his great fighting spirit, an example every single chess players should follow. I very much hope that his values will find their route back to the heart of many fans; however, IMHO, this definitely not going to happen through the plain, often simply primitive rhetoric of his current manager.

thanks for posting the interview. i would love to get a written transcript, as it is very hard to follow in many places. i would also love to have illustrating diagram during analysis.

Anand has really achieved something historic here. He is one of only four classical world chess champions--only two in the past century--to win a title defense match against more than one opponent!

The others are Steinitz, Lasker, and Kasparov. Steinitz beat Chigorin (twice) and Gunsberg. Lasker beat Steinitz (in an 1896 rematch after Lasker was champion), Marshall, Tarrasch, and Janowski (he also tied a title defense against Schlechter). Kasparov beat Karpov in title defenses in 1986 and 1990, and also beat Short and Anand (he tied Karpov in a 1987 title defense).

Okay, my definition is a little tricky: Botvinnik tied two title defense matches against Bronstein and Smyslov, retaining the title on draw odds, but this doesn't count because he didn't win those matches. Later, he won two rematches where he was the challenger and not the defender, against Smyslov and Tal, so again this doesn't count. Karpov and Alekhine won title defenses twice but against the same person (Korchnoi and Bogolyubov).

Nonetheless, Anand's feat of acquiring the world title, and then vanquishing both Kramnik and Topalov from the throne, is historic. Granted, world championships are contested more often now than in former days, which makes it a little more likely to happen. All the same, hats off to Vishy!

Nice video! Did anyone notice that - at the very beginning (images from the closing ceremony) - Anand applauded for Topalov, but Topalov apparently simply had his hands behind his back when it was Anand's turn?

sdd,

While your argument has some face validity to it, there are problems in coming up with a strategy that is mathematically guaranteed to work (in the sense that it will identify the stronger player 95 out of 100 times), and yet is practical at the same time. What if the match goes on for a very long time with no one achieving a 3 game lead? Remember the Karpov-Kasparov match where the first one to win 6 games was supposed to be the winner. Karpov took a 5-2 lead, but Kasparov came back and tied it 5-5, and then a series of draws before Compamanes had to intervene and stop the match after almost 50 games!

Sure the results of the Anand-Topalov match could have been different had they played 13 or 15 or 24 games. Toplaov might win if they played another match of 12 games a month later. The best way to determine who "in truth" is the better player would be let Anand and Topalov play a large number of 12 game matches, say, a 100 of them. Whoever wins the majority of them is the better player. This is ridiculous, of course, but you get my point. The point is not to identify who in "truth" is the better player, but who in a specific match can demonstrate all the qualities that are essential to winning the match, which tautologically is the one who actually wins the match!

Thanks a lot to Peter and Chessvibes for this interview - never seen any other Anand interview where he is so relaxed and also witty. Peter seems to have the knack of bringing the best out of Anand!

Peter: You said you spoke to some of the seconds as well, will that be published as videos?

@sdd: If it would have been easy to find a clear format for giving the stronger player the WC title in an absolutely undisputable way it would probably have been found out by now and been accepted as a common sense solution for such problems.
I understand the point though. But once you signed up to some rules to play for WC you should also be taking the outcome. And a 'theoretically perfect match' would be practically impossible to play. Plus the outcome would still be debated on because it will be dependant again on other random things (physical state of the players, endurance, 'team' behind the players etc...)

@Thomas: Yes that looked a bit odd, it looked as if Topalov wanted to deliberately avoid that uncomfortable moment - he simply avoided by dabbling with his own medal during that crucial moment! Of course slightly later he smiled, but he never applauded visibly.

Or are we assuming too many things? I am still inclined to give the benefit of doubt of Topalov

@ Conqueror of Anand:
Karpov was actually up 5-0 in the match against Kasparov, and when Campomanes stopped the match, he led 5-3.

too bad no one asked Vishy if he knew or suspected that Topalov had access to Rybka4.

Great interview though.

I wonder if Topalov having Rybka4 explains why he was so stubborn in the opening. He figured having a better comp meant he would win by force? I also wonder if Rybka4 is why he keeps giving these insane interviews that say he missed wins in 4 games.

Wake up chessvibes, there are news about Karpov, Russia Federation nominated Karpov.

Fantastic interview. Good questions, you asked everything I wanted to know. Great world champion, he is everything I want to be.
Best chess video I have ever seen. Thank you so much.

Peter --and all the ch.v. team-- thank you for the great great coberture of this fantastic match, you have a superb chess site.

As you can see English is not my native tongue. The few English I know I had learned it cracking internet stuff with dictionary --and google traslator-- in hand. I can read it, but I hardly understand anything when HEARING IT. Is posible to get a transcription of the interview? Thanks a lot.

Wow! Great interview. Anand was interested in the questions (because they are good questions, not the dull questions they got asked in the press conferences), and it shows. He was very generous. He gave us a lot of information, he really wanted to give us something.

Thanks a lot.

RCF KARPOV!

@forest: Thank you very much for your advice! This morning I eventually detected the DONATE button an it worked perfectly! - My experience in the past was a very different affair, which only Mr Peter Doggers could explain publicly!

@Sanjeevi: In the meantime, it became harder to give Topalov the benefit of doubt - see his post-match interviews. CAL|Daniel mentioned it briefly, one was translated by mishanp and subsequently discussed at Dailydirt:
http://www.chessninja.com/dailydirt/2010/05/final-game-set-match-anand.h...
"Everyone can see that Anand didn't really win the match - I lost it."
"He missed only one win - in the ninth game, while I missed four. We destroyed his opening preparation in the first game and he played without openings".

And the interview by Bulgarian Chess Federation president Stefan Sergiev was even worse (same thread at Dailydirt):
"Anand showed absolutely nothing. He showed that he's far from his best years ... He simply waited for our player to go wrong and then struck. "

@CAL|Daniel: This (Rybka 4 issues) was addressed in an Anand interview with a German newspaper:

http://www.fr-online.de/top_news/2642240_Schach-Weltmeister-Anand-Es-war...

Q According to rumors the Bulgarian side paid 100,000 Euro to get Rybka 4 for their match preparation. Reportedly that's the reason why Vasik Rajlich puts it on the market only after the WCh.
"I cannot comment on this. During the match I don't read any chess news, and my team rather doesn't let me know such stories. Now it would of course be interesting to know if this is really true. Right now I don't care much because I won the match."

@Thomas: Yes, you are right, the bitterness shown by Topalov and Sergiev is appalling and unsportsmanlike to say the least.

On the other hand I found it very refreshing when Anand mentioned in the interview to Chessvibes that he drew inspiration from Kramnik's Slav defence to ward off Topalov's challenge in Elista.

@ron

Chigorin might have been a World Champion between 1889 and 1892. It's one of those unclear things from the chess history.

Read here:
http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?tid=15289

Russian Chess Federation nominates Karpov!

@ Dr. Wolfgang Berghorn
Not sure what you're referring to, but please drop me an email if you still have a question about this. Anyway, I can tell you that your donation worked perfectly fine - thanks a lot!

@ All who'd like to see a transcript
I understand, but this is a few hours work, I'm afraid, which I don't have at the moment. Any volunteers? ;-)

Anand's and your English is perfectly fine and understandable. It's English from some listeners that causes the problem, not yours :)

@ etubaijib: but a text version of this great interview would still be helpful to millions who don't have access to the video.
my cell phn for example doesn't allow me to watch the video. sniff. sniff. and i live in germany where everything is (shd be) technologically possible. text version pls.

Favourite qoute: If i wanna play badly atleast i do it fast.

Should remember that for my own games.

I hope that Topalov didn't pay $100K for exclusive use of Rybka 4 for match. If so, it just proves the old addage: "A fool and his money are soon parted."

Thank you. It's very nice interview. I would like share another interview of Viswanathan Anand.

http://www.viewsline.com/Interview.jsp?id=16250&/__Viswanathan_Anand,_In...

From the interview link on Mig's site, it seem that Toplaov and the BCF have no class. They are making Bulgarian chess look bad. I just don't understand the post-match ranting? You lost man...STFU and deal with it! I hope this punk Topalov gets destroyed at the next candidates match....

@Septimus: Can you post the link please i don´t see where it is.

@septimus, if you say things like that could you atleast provide a link to the interview so that readers of this site can make up their own mind about it?

Yeah I'm on the same boat...I also can't see the video on my phone and my home computer has dial-up so it would take like 12 hrs to download the video :(

Septimus refers (probably) to the translation by mishanp at Dailydirt:
http://www.chessninja.com/dailydirt/2010/05/final-game-set-match-anand.h...

"Everyone can see that Anand didn't really win the match - I lost it."

"He missed only one win - in the ninth game, while I missed four. We destroyed his opening preparation in the first game and he played without openings".

Here you go man..my bad:
http://www.chessninja.com/dailydirt/2010/05/final-game-set-match-anand.h...

Search for user name "mishnap" under comments. Link he provided is the following:- (audio file..I just read the text)
http://www.crestbook.com/files/Sofia-2010-Game-12-Summary.wmv

Sorry guys. Thomas has the correct link.

Thanks for this great interview!!

@Conqueror of Anand: I saw the partial video at the following link which is in Bulgarian and Russian (thanks to mishanp who has provided this link in chessninja)
http://bnt.bg/bg/sport/view/28555/oficialno_zakrivane_na_macha_za_svetov...

The song which is referred to is probably the "Vande Mataram" which is heard in this video - simply superb.

But I did not hear the Indian National anthem which obviously cannot be replaced with Vande Mataram even if it is Anand's request.

Anyways, I am speculating things hear - but the Vande mataram song itself with Anand's trophy is an awesome combination. Enjoy!

Peter, if not a text transcript, then could you strip the audio and publish that separately?

“He missed only one win – in the ninth game, while I missed four. We destroyed his opening preparation in the first game and he played without openings”

Topalov said something similar like this in the Kramnik match. He doesn't seem to get it though...having a win in a position is completely different from actually finding it...and if you can't find it then it says a lot about your chess. Its funny seeing him boasting about the first win as if it were really preparation coming from him when it was basically Rybka 4 who did it all. Topalov's a sore loser and I think he has to face the fact that he's the 21st century Keres.

On the official website for the world championship, there is a statement saying "the Organizing Committee congratulated the world champion with his favorite Indian song." Can anyone from India tell me which song they are referring to? I hope they are not referring to the national anthem!

By the way, the official website is such a poor excuse for one. Are there any videos of the closing ceremony? Any inetrviews with Toplaov and Anand? I

I just read Anand's interview at Chessbase and I am astonished. They asked him about his seconds and he basically said that all three top players in the world, (other than Topalov) were on his side and came in to help him:

Carlsen was his sparring partner for two days in March, Kasparov was lecturing him on opposite color Bishop endings after game 8, and Kramnik's advice on openings was "priceless".

This shows that Topalov has few friends among the chess playiers elite, except, of course, Danailov.

Thanks, Sanjeevi.

Thanks for this pointer, Christos.

A phenomenally candid interview with Anand! It is just so nice to see the human side of these great chess minds and to know that while they are fierce opponents over the board, they are so warm and emotional way from it. This also speaks very highly of the esteem and affection that Anand has among his peers.

Another excellent interview with Anand in chessbase.
http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6346

Lots of very interesting secrets!

So basicly a couple of GM's beat a 114 computer cluster.

off topic: I just found that pic in Susan Polgar's archive
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_Q0lTtPVTG40/S7I1lKzmpcI/AAAAAAABNwI/eiZYbXS3k4c/ju...
Danailov and Topalov look sooo different

@Krish and Sergio: I enjoyed reading it as well. Very interesting article presented by Chessbase! Human (cluster) still reigns supreme in chess.

Also, thank you ChessVibes for the great coverage of the World Championship Match! You truly did a great job!

The Chessbase interview is stunning!

After reading Anand's interview, I could feel that human emotion that was flowing all around him. Kaspy, Kramnik, Carlsen so many elite players eager to help him on their own. Anand and actually feel frustration/excitement/happiness...based upon Anand's play during the match. Amazing! I actually became emotional reading the interview. Both Kaspy and Kramnik gained several notches of respect in my eyes. Especially Kramnik, who exchanged notes with one of his direct competitors.

One well known facet of human life is visibe here. One should be a gentleman like Anand and earn friends unlike Topalov who lost many friends and his 100,000 Euros could only buy him a Rybka Cluster but no well-wisher and definitely not a victory.

and Topalov used this
http://players.chessdom.com/veselin-topalov/topalov-blue-gene-p

Here is the comedy part.....
.......Until then it will help young local chess players, who will be playing games and analysing with the supercomputer. :) :)

@ainglepack
You are absolutely right. My emotions was also similar when I read chessbase interview.

@buri:
Yeah, Topalov has right. He is weaker than Anand and Kramnik if you look at their playing strenght and not at the computer made preparations. He couldn´t find the right moves as sharp as Anand did.

I would´t compare topalov with Keres.
Keres >>>>> topalov. :)

Carlsen, Kramnik, Giri, and Kasparov, oh my. This must be the most impressive list of helpers that any chessplayers has ever had. Maybe if Topalov were a little bit nicer person, he would have won the match after all.

And the interview by Bulgarian Chess Federation president Stefan Sergiev was even worse (same thread at Dailydirt):
“Anand showed absolutely nothing. He showed that he’s far from his best years … He simply waited for our player to go wrong and then struck. “

What is Mr Sergiev talking about here? " Anand showed absolutely nothing"...dis he expect Anand to pull down his pant zipper and show something??

Anand was th

Anand mentions that a way of making chess more watchable would be to provide some kind of instant assessment after each move: a + or - for example. WAS actually done in the 2008 world championship live broadcasts by FOIDOS. They provide a line graph showing the fortunes of the live game over time - a horizontal "=" line with the progress line moving above or below that depending on whether white or black had the advantage at each move. I think the assessments were done by Shredder.
I thought it did add a lot of watchability to the live broacast. I wonder why it wasn't repeated for 2010 - maybe it was FOIDOS' intellectual property?

Dion

Topalov probably missed the last train. And he is frustrated. And we all know that he is a notorious sore loser. He and Danailov invented Toilet Scandal and forced Kramnik to use common lavatory. Anand and Topalov - they are poles apart - both over the board and outside the board. Happy that we have the right man at the helm.