Viswanathan Anand dismissed Veselin Topalov’s comments about seeking assistance from former champions Gary Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik during the world championship tie. The Bulgarian, after losing 5.5-6.5 in the summit clash, had reportedly said that Anand should not have been proud in taking help from people who were ‘arrogant’ in their behaviour towards him.
Paying no heed at all to what Topalov had said, Anand maintained he would do so in future as well. “Reacting to reactions will only force the matter to continue. In fact, I have already reacted by taking help of renowned players. And I will do so again,” was his straightforward reply here on Monday.
The first player to have won the world championship in all three formats, Anand also reiterated that the match against Topalov was the toughest of his career, considering the fact that none of his previous world championship clashes had not gone the full distance.
“Without doubt, this was the most difficult world championship match I’ve ever had. It was a seesaw struggle in every game, as things remained undecided even till the very last day. On top of that, the struggle began right from the time I boarded the flight. Thereafter, there were journey hazards apart from the entire atmosphere that made the going quite difficult.”
Asked why he had used the same seconds on consecutive occasions, Anand replied, “It is always good to work with the same seconds as we know each other since long. Everyone understands each other as in a span of six to seven years, we have developed a close bonding.”