Anand's parents overwhelmed by congratulatory messages

As the whole nation celebrated Viswanathan Anand's feat of retaining the world chess title, his parents were overwhelmed by congratulatory m
essages from visitors pouring into their home in the city.

"It is a moment of joy for all of us. Our relatives in great number were at home and as usual we watched the game online," Viswanathan and Susheela said at their house while talking about the exploits of their son.

"Soon after last night's press conference in Bonn was over, Anand called me and said 'Amma .... finaly it is over. I shall talk to you leisurely tomorrow'," Susheela said.

She was so engrossed in her son's game that she took her dinner well into the wee hours of today.

"I had my dinner only at 3.00 am in the early hours on Thursday," she said.

"It is a unique victory. Anand has showed his excellent ways of gaining control with solid play with black pieces. This reflects on his maturity, particularly from the period from 1995 till now. From 1995, Anand's graph has gone up in the same way as what Gary Kasparov was doing in his days," Viswanathan said.

"We watched each and every game of Anand on-line. We liked the fifth and ninth game the most amongst the eleven games. The manner in which Anand raised his game for a deserving win in the fifth was a reflection of his natural instincts. He is such a professional player," Viswanathan said.

"Of late, Anand has shown greater felicity in playing with black pieces as was seen in this eleven-game championship. This also will help Anand to maintain his rhythm in the coming tournaments," he added.

On the ninth game which he drew with Kramnik, Anand's parents said, "It was too difficult a situation. At one stage, we felt that he had a chance to win but it was a difficult decision to resign from the game. But we admire his qualities to have maintained the advantage. On such decisions to agree for a draw, we subscribe to his views."

Divulging that even Anand kept them in dark about his selection of seconds to assist him, Viswanathana and Susheela said, "He kept his selection very secretive. He never divulged to us the names. But, we feel that the rumour floated in the world chess circles that Anand has signed up with Magnus Carlson (rated number five in the world now) was a good one as it might have put pressure on Kramnik."

"We are happy that he has retained the title, which is a difficult proposition and it is a strong point in Anand's career," they said.

Asked to compare an Olympic gold medal with that of World Chess Championship title, considering that the game is not part of the Olympics, Susheela said, "I do not know and I do not want to compare in that way. But Anand is a unique person. To me, he is the best in the world not only in sports world but also as a person."