Technology has re-defined the game, says Viswanathan Anand

Hyderabad: Indian chess Grandmaster and former world champion Viswanathan Anand on Tuesday said technology had brought a lot of change in the way the young generation was playing chess.

Speaking about how technology has re-defined the game, Anand said, “There is a huge shift. The experience of watching chess has gone online. Learning has shifted from books to computers. Maybe 40 or 50 years ago you learnt chess by playing and interacting with another good player. The more players you would meet the more you would learn.

“Now, that has shifted to computers. You can be in some island and still become good in chess simply because you are no more isolated.”

Anand also spoke of the importance of a coach. The 47-year-old said, “Computers are the strongest entities to play chess but how do you learn if everyone asks the same questions and gets answers? You have to ask the right question. When you ask why this move is wrong, that’s when you learn. That is when a coach comes into play.”

He praised the present day youngsters’ judgement in each and every move. “A modern chess player is totally a different generation from the one before. You can see it in the way they think and approaching a problem.

“Twenty or 30 years ago, we liked general principles because something was good and it worked in majority of situations. Now people think whether it is right or wrong first.”

Elaborating on his preparations, the former champion said: “The main thing is to be willing to learn new ways of doing things. The younger generation approaches from a different perspective. It is nicer when you mix your old methods with some new influences because clearly now they are also solving some old problems in new ways. I try to keep track of their games and try to learn.”

Anand expressed happiness on how young players were taking advantage of enhanced technology. “Many of the younger generation players are higher ranked than me. I can say they are the strongest. Clearly the trend is heavily in favour of youngsters. Even the average age of the top 10 is dropping every year. (Magnus) Carlsen and (Anish) Giri are few names that come to my mind.

“In India, we have young players in Vidith Santosh Gujarathi, Adhiban and Sethuraman.

“A slightly older generation is also fighting back with players like Harikrishna or (Levon) Aronian. Indian youngsters are also very good. There are a few who are close to 2,700 rating points,” he said.