The world of Chess witnessed a generation change a few days back. Although the new champion was ranked number one in the world for some time now, the crown officially came to him after he challenged and defeated the current world champion, Viswanathan Anand, last week. Whether this is an end of an era (as so many newspapers shouted out aloud) or not, the world of sports has definitely lost a little bit of humility and politeness. In an interview where he braved questions by the dozen and posed almost endlessly for shutterbugs (this is what our newspaper informed us), the new champion gave us all a glimpse of what lies ahead.
Some excerpts ...
On Anand and the Candidate's Tournament:
"... if he manages to keep his motivation after this match he will still be a force to reckon with."
On what he has learnt from Anand:
"In this match I showed him in a way that although he's taught me many things in the past, it's probably now my turn to teach him. So, it's safe to say I've surpassed him now."
On role played by age and psychology during the match:
"Age was partly a factor. I could also sense that he was nervous and vulnerable. But regardless of everything else, he just lost to a better player."
On next year's title match:
"I don't think it's my duty to think who will play against me, it should in fact be the other way round. My opponents will have to figure out how to deal with me. I think I will be the man to beat for quite some time now."
Huh!! Just saw the little birdie whisper in the winner's ears that winning gracefully makes champions out of mortals ...
