Best in the world. It’s a pretty special feeling, especially when you have made that superlative cut twice.

For Super GM Viswa-nathan Anand, world champion, these are good times, and quite unlike the cricket world champions, he isn’t ready to slip into mediocrity any time soon, if ever. “I am enjoying the feeling now, this is the enjoyment phase,” he said.

The climb in the feeling chart has been made better with the general acceptance that this Mexico world title is sans looming doubts about whether the full strength of the field was present. “Not relaxed, really, but not tense either,” he says. “Actually, it was good to get it (the title) back again after five years.”

The morning was spent at the IIT, Delhi, playing simultaneous chess with 32 kids of the NIIT MindChampions Academy, and “I liked it so much. Some even gave me advice, I liked that, that is the future, he said.” Anand is the brand ambassador of NIIT.

He moves through an array of questions at a press meet, and finally let it out. What has been closest to his heart, the world titles, or beating Garri Kasparov? “The world title is the world title, but if you consider the faces he (Kasparov) was making during our match (when Anand had him down), I guess I’ll have to say beating Kasparov has been the most satisfying.”

Probably a good way of starting what he elaborated on later. What if Kasparov decides to give up politics and return to chess? “I can say one thing, he will have a game with me waiting for him, if and when he does,” said Anand, the smile never leaving his face. “I’m open to it.”

... contd.