"It's about the critical moments and these usually come down to few minutes or even few seconds apart from the one game. If you don't grab that opportunity when it comes, it wastes all the months of work," 42-year-old Anand said here.
He humbled Israel's Boris Gelfand in Moscow this May to defend the title. Attired in a blue shirt and dark trousers, Anand was here to present the NIIT Turning Point Scholarship to Rajat Kapoor, an underpriveleged college student from Ambala.
The chess champion talked in length about the game and the intense moments he went through and the reactions from different quarters after his win.
"In my match, it was the eighth game...He (Gelfand) made a big blunder in one move and that allowed me to comeback. The turning point was the eighth game," he said.
"I feel happy and relieved that I defended the title successfully. Main thing was to retain the title and not numbers (of becoming a five-time champion). It was a very very tough match. The night before the tie-break was tough and I could barely catch couple of hours of sleep," he said.
When asked that there were many who had raised the demand that he deserved a 'Bharat Ratna', Anand said he thanks all those who feel he deserves it.
"Well, I am not going to ask it for myself. If someone proposes my name, I am grateful for their support," he said to a question.
He stressed the need of taking chess to schools and said with NIIT, premier IT trainer, they had launched a programme of taking the sport to schools. (MORE)