Gary Kasparov hails Anand's triumph

Former world champion Gary Kasparov of Russia on Thursday hailed Viswanathan Anand's triumph over Russian Vladimir Kramnik to retain the W
orld Championship title in Bonn, Germany, saying it would not be easy for the younger generation to push the Indian aside.

"A great result for Anand and for chess. Vishy deserved the win in every way and I'm very happy for him. It will not be easy for the younger generation to push him aside," Kasparov said.

The former great said while Anand played consistently, Kramnik showed decline in strength and had some work to do.

"It was a very well-played match by Vishy. Except for the loss of concentration in the 10th game he played consistently and managed to enforce his style. This result ends the illusion that Kramnik is a great match player," he was quoted as saying by Chessbase.

Analyzing the performances of the two players, Kasparov, who lost to Kramnik in 2000 in London, said Anand was well prepared to counter his opponent who appeared "overly defensive".

"Anand out-prepared Kramnik completely. In this way it reminded me of my match with Kramnik in London 2000. Like I was then, Kramnik may have been very well prepared for this match, but we never saw it. I didn't expect the Berlin and ended up fighting on Kramnik's preferred terrain," he said.

"(In this match) Kramnik did not expect tough, sharp challenges with white, and this was the key for Anand. He kicked some sand in Kramnik's face and hit his weakness, his conservative approach to the game itself. Suddenly Kramnik had to fight in these sharp positions and he wasn't able to do it.

"London was a unique occurrence and I still stand with Leonid Yudasin as the only players Kramnik has ever beaten in a match! Kramnik now has some work to do."