"He (Carlsen) has had achieved a lot and is tenacious in his play . He will definitely come to Sochi motivated," Anand was quoted as saying in an interview released by NIIT.
After losing the title to the 23-year-old Carlsen of Norway last year at Chennai, Anand played powerfully at the Candidates tournament this year in March to brush past seven other contenders including Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov included). The 44-year-old Anand is confident ahead of the 12-game match starting Saturday.
Vishy as he is fondly called has played six World Chess Championship matches since 2007 but the Grandmaster is unperturbed.
"Really 6 in 7 years, I didn't realise it. Like I said, I really compete with myself. There have been times when you think you have had enough and always, after a few moments you realise - NO you always want more!
Anand is also happy with Sochi as the venue.
"Sochi is great venue and Aruna was very impressed when she inspected it a few months back . They have held the F1 and hosted the winter Olympics. So I think it will be excellent. Russian chess audiences are always chess appreciative and even warm weather should be good.