MIND MASTER

This book is about Vishwanathan Anand’s professional chess career, but it is also a lot more – a tribute to his entire support system, family and passion which goes into the making of a world champion, and has lessons for life itself. For Indians, Anand is a national icon – a champion (the first chess grandmaster from India) who represents the country where the game originated with great grace & passion. Often being a nice guy is not exactly good news, the media would much rather write about “temperamental”, “erratic”, “angry”, “arrogant” achievers. As a result, a lot of what Anand achieved was regarded as either being lucky or not enough (for a 5-time world champion!) and has been less written about. The book oscillates between multiple timelines but has coverage of Anand’s early years – the support from his mother, his gradual ascent to becoming a grandmaster and his professional career right till his loss to Magnus Carlsen in the World Championship. There is considerable coverage on the preparation for each of the big world championship tournaments and the contributions of his family (his wife and at times earlier his dad doubling up as his manager to negotiate contracts) & the support team, and the politics involved. This is perhaps one of the few books you will read where the ideas & efforts of the support team are acknowledged so graciously. The matches against Kasparov, Kramnik, Topalov, Gelfand & Carlsen all make for very interesting reading. There are also discussions around the growing role of technology. Anand mentions how many years back when Ken Thompson (designer of the original Unix operating system) was asked if computers could learn strategy – he answered without hesitation that it would happen without doubt as strategy was in simple terms “long term tactics”. Apparently, many chess players knew that machines would overtake them at some point, though they preferred not to go public with that. There is this interesting narration on the preparation for his match with Topalov. Anand’s team came to know that Topalov had access to the latest version of the Rybka chess engine running on 128 core hardware. Coincidentally, Anand received help from Kramnik & Kasparov and was able to prevail in a close match over Topalov. Anand admits that starting with his title defense against Gelfand, he has found it difficult to find new ideas and re-invent his game. He acknowledges how Magnus Carlsen was far better prepared – had new ideas and had thoroughly researched Anand’s style. This book is an excellent read. It could have been even better if it were better organized. The book in fact gets off to a very average start with the first paragraph being poorly written. But it recovers after that, and the overall content is top class. Anand has been an exceptional ambassador for the game and would be a great mentor and is an inspiration for the next generation of chess players. Strongly recommended – you only need a working knowledge of the game as there are very few game analyses included.

There is a reason, why this is one of the most selling book here. There are invaluable teachings, even though you are not chess player it is very easy to understand and relate too, as there is not a lot of chess related content. Then there are summaries or important excerpts of every chapter at last , really good book.

In Mind Master, India’s first GM “Vishy” (a misnomer given to him by the Europeans, for Viswanathan is his father’s name) Anand looks back at more than a quarter century of career playing chess at a professional level. Dubbed the “lightening kid” in his younger years for exceptional speed, Anand went on to win the World Chess Championship several times, not to mention many other awards and accolades along the way. The book gives the reader a close peek into the thinking, strategizing and planning that went into several of his crucial matches. What were the challenges that Anand faced? How did he overcome them? What were the mistakes he made, and the lessons learnt? Anand speaks out his mind to you, narrates his story. Though chess is an individual game, Anand’s book also brings out vividly the importance of how having a close knit team of coaches and assistants working in unison towards a common goal can make a difference to the final result of the game. The book is not exactly a chronological account of Anand’s personal or professional life. Rather, the chapters are divided subject wise, such as one on the art of remembering, another one on preparing for tournaments psychologically, one on the role of talent, hard work, luck & aptitude and so on. Within each of these chapters, Anand shuffles back and forth, narrating his experiences, sharing his insights and drawing lessons from his long years in the game. There is the inevitable touch of humour here and there, and often the politics that goes hand in hand with the game. Each chapter ends with a chess position – and a summary paragraph carrying the central message that the chapter contains. I find this design beautiful. In recent years, chess has undergone a dramatic change, with computers (“chess engines”) marauding the game in a big way, busting the myth of human superiority over machines. Anand has been on both sides of this fence, having started out the old fashioned way in the 1990s and transitioning successfully into the computer age, still winning tournaments in the 2010s. The chapter on making this change from the pre-computers era to the post is the one I liked the most. The later part of the book is dedicated mainly to his World Championship matches (i.e. finals), such as the one against Kramnik (2008), Topalov (2010), Gelfand (2012) and Carlsen (2013). Anand takes a deep dive into each of these matches and narrates the story that did not appear in the press – the challenges, the hard work, the politics, the preparation and the execution. What the world saw is only the final result. But as Anand says at one of the places “chess players do a lot more than sit motionless, staring at moving pieces on a board”. In this book, you get to see what that lot more is. Clearly, the book is meant for an informed audience. You need to have at least a basic introduction to the game, to make sense of what is written in the book. Words such as variation, pairings, notation, blitz, compensation or fianchetto are straight out of the chess jargon, and a dictionary will help little to a reader if he has never been introduced to the game before. The uninitiated may be forgiven for failing to understand what a sharp Dragon or a dry Catalan is, let alone why playing 1.d4 instead of 1.e4 in a crucial match against Kramnik deserves an entire chapter of its own. For chess playing generation of today aspiring to be the Anands of tomorrow, the book is an investment worth their time.

Viswanathan Anand is the first and only World Chess Champion from India and his work and tremendous successes in the game have created a wealth of talent to emerge from the country that is currently a major force in the world of chess. In this book he gives us a look at his life and major moments that defined it. It is a very good read filled with stories of his childhood and early chess successes followed by becoming the first Grandmaster in Indian history and eventually candidate for the World Title culminating in winning the championship. One doesn't need a chess set to read the book, there are only a few diagrams and those are designed to highlight a point he was making in that chapter. Anand does dish a bit of dirt on the players that he has crossed paths with over the years but not too much as to make the book an act of revenge on anyone. Recommended.

I debated with myself whether to buy this or not, as Vishy Anand in his public persona has always been diplomatic to the point of blandness. I am very glad I did buy this book: it is the most revealing and insightful memoir I have read from a former World Chess Champion. As he relates in the book, the bland exterior was a definite strategy for survival for an outsider in a polarized chess world. Here he wears his heart on his sleeve and writes passionately about his motivations and how his chess life intersects with his personal life. He draws lessons from both that will be useful to the reader. I think some knowledge of Anand's career, particularly the matches for the World Chess Championship, will increase the reader's pleasure, as throughout the book Anand provides insights into the preparation and psychology behind these crucial encounters. This is a book that will give pleasure to chess players, no matter what their playing strength. It provides a rare view into the mind and heart of a world champion.

Nesse livro aprendemos com Anand tornou-se GM e, alguns anos depois, Campeão Mundial. Mostra o lado humano, bem como sua preparação: humilde e dedicado. Foi o primeiro GM indiano, narrando a pressão emocional, que tudo superou ao lado da esposa Aruna, também sua empresária. Destaca a importância dos amigos. Ao praticamente aposentar-se criou uma escola nos moldes soviéticos plantando as sementes da nova geração, como Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa e Gukesh, por exemplo, Enxadristas profissionais. Para ler e reler :-)

A magnificent read. The honesty in which Anand is going though his memories is remarkable. Highly recommended to chess lover and novice alike.

This is just a fantastic book that I read cover to cover. It is incredibly interesting although it falls short on two accounts: It has not been properly edited and therefore some grammatical errors remain and when things are supposedly explained to the general public a potpourri of advance and very simple stuff is mixed up. As an experienced chess player its easy for me to understand, not so sure about the 'general public' (For example references to the Sicilian Dragon employed by Kasparov in the 1995 match). Having said all that is truly a fantastic book that I just couldn't put down and read cover to cover non stop...