This is the story of a rookie from Madras who became one of the greatest chess players in the world. The Indian Grandmaster turns 51 years old today.
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00:00In chess you need some sort of underlying belief or self-confidence and maybe from that point on, when I sat at a board, I expected to win.
00:30I believe at the age of six you have no idea what awaits you.
01:30And maybe from that point on, when I sat at a board, I expected to win.
01:41Now I don't mean that in an arrogant way. I mean simply that you had the belief that you were aiming for more and that was important.
02:00Whereas once upon a time, the top ten of the world were simply the top ten of the Soviet Union.
02:30And that's what I mean when I say that you had the belief that you were aiming for more and that was important.
03:15I believe that she played a significant role in my career.
03:37I was not experienced enough and I didn't understand how quickly things can turn in a world championship.
04:07It's harder than it looks. I mean in principle a chess game is a chess game and it should not be different.
04:22But when you play a world championship, more mistakes happen.
04:51The tournament had gone so well that I was euphoric and now in a sense you feel fulfilled.
04:57That's not to say I have no ambitions anymore, but you know that the biggest thing that was to be done, that you have done it, that I was world champion for seven years in total.
05:10Obviously I was very excited to be world champion.
05:28Once I started doing well, Indians started following it more and as they took to the game in large numbers, well I'm very proud that we're doing well and that we now have 50 grandmasters.
05:58So I'm very proud of that.
06:18So I'm very proud of that.
06:38I never had a moment when I really thought about another career.
06:53I might have followed my father and brother's footsteps and gone into engineering or something like that.
06:58But honestly I hardly had to think about it.