Anand delighted by his feat

By Our Chess Corrspondent

TEHERAN, DEC. 25. On Sunday, Viswanathan Anand became the sixteenth and the first non- Russian since Bobby Fischer (1972- 1975) to win the World championship.

When 28-year old Alexei Shirov handed in his resignation, the 31- year old new champion, who was casually attired, was cheered by a large 400-odd crowd and it seemed as though he did everybody except Shirov a favour by winning so easily.

``Of course all the encounters were all difficult. I am very happy the three encounters went my way. I can't find enough words to explain this victory,'' said a delighted Anand at the press conference.

Asked about dedicating this victory, Anand said, ``Of course all those who helped me win here. I have to mention my wife who is here and of course my seconds Ubi (Elizbar Ubilava) and Pablo (GM San Segundo). Also to my fans in Delhi and Teheran who helped me lift my play. People were incredibly warm here. I expected it in Delhi, not here. Everybody was very helpful. People from NIIT were helpful.''

About the feeling on becoming champion, he said he was at a loss of words to explain the triumph. About playing a unification match against Kramnik, Anand said, ``I am not thinking about that now, we will worry about it later.''

About the FIDE World Championships, Anand said (his predecessor) ``Khalifman was a worthy world champion. He won the title in a very, very tough competition. Many days he would lose games and comeback.''

Asked if this triumph will have a big impact on Indian chess back home, Anand replied ``I hope so and I think it will.''

About the big margin, Anand said the matches could have gone either way. ``Alexei's style is very very sharp, I won all three games. One of them could have gone the other way. It wasn't easy. Although I am happy to have it over quickly''.

''The format is good whether the top seeds come to the finals or not. We don't need a system where only the top seeds win. Who plays better that day counts.`` He said he liked the system and added ``I don't think FIDE is going to change the system''.

About the length of the finals, he said six was more than enough. ''Don't forget that we played more games to get here,`` Anand said. ``I do not think longer the matches, higher the quality. This match is more in times we live in. These six month matches belong to another era in my opinion, said Anand.

''The match was over after the second game,`` said Shirov who missed making a draw there. He said he was tired of playing for 16 days in a row in New Delhi where he played from round two upto the semifinals. ''Four days is not enough to recover,`` he added.

He commended Anand by saying, ''Anand is such a player that you can lose to him even without getting tired. He was in very good form.``

GM Elizbar Ubilava said Anand was the World Champion now and that was all. ``Kramnik beat Kasparov, the No. 1 player, that was a big achievement, but not a World Championship''.

Anand's victory should make FIDE happy that its knock- out system is justified as the top seed has won. It may try its best to discredit Kramnik, Kasparov and Co. and play the `image game'.

Mr. Florencio Campomanes, former FIDE President said: ''Bravo, Vishy, congratulations both players. I congratulate India, Spain and the Asians on this result.``

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