Wise men speak because they have something to say, the philosopher Plato famously said, and when it comes to chess, few players are wiser than GM Viswanathan Anand.
The Indian legend reminded the world of that yet again on Monday, his 54th birthday, when he offered up perhaps one of his best nuggets of advice ever.
Anand delighted fans with a Facebook post that was full of bonhomie and worldly wisdom applicable to every player out there before serving up his zinger: “Victories are cool, but the experiences you rack up along the way? That’s the good stuff.”
Here’s what the former world champion and standard-bearer of Indian chess said in full:
The reaction on Facebook to Anand’s wise words was unanimous.
Mixed in with plenty of birthday greetings, Siddhartha Bhattacharya said: “Sir we’ll be blessed if you start to jot down your amazing thoughts once in a while from now on. What a beautiful write-up!”
FM Mike Klein, aka ChessKid’s FunMasterMike, said: “Man. Champion and poet. Save some for the rest of us.”
Ramin Javani said: “Vishy, you are an absolute treasure, and a walking legend. I wonder if the world deserves you… All the best!”
Here are some more quotes that we love from India’s greatest-ever player:
“Lowering your resistance to change, removing bias and being willing to adapt will help you tackle whatever comes your way. Once you’ve assessed the resources at your disposal and weighed what is feasible against what is risky you will see the path.”
“Whenever I’ve felt satiated and sick of chess, my natural response has been to switch off and leave the game alone for a while, but my love for the game has never soured enough for me to walk away.”
“The essence of chess is identifying which approach works best against an opponent because what people hate doing is what they’ll eventually do badly.”
Training your mind to take a step back at the crucial moment and developing cues to organize your thoughts is more advantageous than making a move while your mind is in turmoil.
You need to motivate yourself, no matter what—definitely when things are bad, but also when things are good. Or else, you risk becoming complacent.
I like to keep myself physically and mentally fit before any important match. I usually take a short nap just before the game and do not practice immediately before the tournament.
In chess, knowledge is a very transient thing. It changes so fast that even a single mouse-slip sometimes changes the evaluation.
Each match I play is the most important one yet.
Anand was born on December 11, 1969, in Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu. He was the 15th undisputed chess champion and held that title for six years until 2013. He is considered the greatest Indian chess player of all time. Happy birthday, Vishy!
