Quotes from Viswanathan Anand

If you have a strong opponent, a competition is stimulating. I am generally most open to ideas when I have had a bad result. In chess, too, players specialise. This specialty then becomes an entry barrier.

Sometimes an opponent stops breathing, and you realise something drastic has happened and they are trying not to let on. Or they go quiet, or they get fidgety. After a while you pick these things up and become more alert to them.

I don't bench press, but I use machines to work 10-12 muscle groups. Biceps, triceps, a few things for the back, calves, shoulders and so on - and then I'll go on the running machine, cross-trainer or mountain climber.

I was reasonably interested in mathematics in school. Typically what happens is... when you start playing chess, it takes up a lot of your attention. But about 10 years ago, I found that the Internet is very good to start learning about a lot of subjects.

In any match, there are few critical moments where there's no second best decision. The rest of the moves are intuitive.

For every door the computers have closed they have opened a new one.

Confidence is very important - even pretending to be confident. If you make a mistake but do not let your opponent see what you are thinking then he may overlook the mistake.

I attend to my fitness. I go the gym every day and try to maintain my physical fitness; without that, it is tough to take challenges on the chess board.