He might have been dethroned as the world champion by Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen at home, but the hunger to succeed is still alive in Viswanathan Anand who says he is looking forward to fix some issues and start the new season on a positive note.
"The hunger is still there. Only time will tell whether I do that successfully or not. I will keep on trying. I am an optimistic person. Certainly, I did not lack efforts this time. Sometimes, you have to get the formula right," Anand said here today.
"It will be very good to say goodbye to 2013. Also, there are some issues to be solved. I hope 2014 starts on a positive note. You always start a year in a good frame of mind," the five-time world champion added.
Anand said he might play at the Candidates Tournament, which will take place in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia, from March 12 to 30 next year, in his bid to challenge Carlsen again.
"I will play in Zurich in the end of January. I have not yet taken a final decision on the Candidates. I would imagine I would play. I'm quite motivated to try again next year.
"First, I will take some rest. Most likely I would play. Broadly speaking, as long as you find challenging events, and you enjoy doing it, you play. I am also looking forward to play rapid chess next year," he said.
The Candidates Tournament acts as a qualification event for the World Championship. The winner of the tournament will get a crack at reigning champion Carlsen next November.
Anand conceded that the loss to Carlsen was hard to swallow for him as he would look to address some problems creeping into his play before starting the coming season afresh.
"Right now, I am focusing on getting my career back on track. This year was tough for me. I hope 2014 goes better. I will take one step at a time. There were many problems affecting me on the chess board and in general from a year or so. I felt I would have to address that before the match. But it's clearly I've run into some problem areas in chess and I just need to address that," he said.
