A title scrap that was to last 12 rounds with the first person to reach 6.5 points (one point for a win and half for draw) was over in 10 rounds as Carlsen won three games and drew seven, in what was a crushing win, if not a rout of sorts. All of Anand's plans and preparations came unstuck, a fact he mournfully admits.
But it's not the end of the world, says the man who won an unprecedented five titles in different formats in different countries and different conditions - everywhere except his home country, the birthplace of chess.
He did not have to be choreographed into a goodbye and heralded out with a Bharat Ratna, which he truly is. When the wounds heal, he still has it in him to take a crack at winning back the title, although he is not thinking too far ahead - in fact, not thinking beyond playing with his 30-month-old son Akhil, his best healing agent.
In this conversation with Chidanand Rajghatta, Anand reviews the just concluded title fight that ended in disaster. Excerpts:
Let's talk about the preparations and the conditions. Were they ideal? Do you feel you played at 100 per cent?
I felt I had I worked hard enough and I felt confident I had done the right kind of work and the right amount of work. But when you talk of preparations, the measure of success is whether it works or not. In that area, I failed completely. I did not stay the course. When you hit the right spot, the sweet spot, it feels great and you feel the preparations have been ideal, but I never got there.
Was playing in your home country, your home town a distraction? Everyone talked of whether it was an advantage.
It really didn't matter in that sense. Once the games began I switched off such things, and no, I can't say there were any distractions.
Did you prepare differently for Magnus? He had helped you in your last title fight, so how much is it a disadvantage in chess if someone has worked with you and prepared with you previously?
It's always hard to quantify these things. It's true he had some level of familiarity with my games and my thinking. But there is no reason why it should work only one way. It cuts both ways. I knew his game too. So I don't think that's a good excuse. The fact is he outplayed me. He just proved to be stronger.
So what went wrong?
Well, I actually began well and felt things were going reasonably well after the fourth game (the first four were drawn). In Game Five I couldn't quite concentrate... I felt things were quite choppy. It was hard to get a good position and I felt myself falling behind. I made small, incremental mistakes and was always catching up (he resigned on the 57th move).
And then there was that disastrous Game 6 (in which he resigned on the 68th move)... Yes. At that time I felt I had given him a lead for nothing in Game Five. Then I had to take risks and come back, but the level of my play dipped...
By this time one noticed Magnus' enormous depth. He was grinding you down, pushing you to 60, 70 moves in games that lasted hours and hours. Surely you knew this and prepared for this?
Magnus has many good qualities... he is very versatile and he can play a lot of positions at a very high level. He's also very flexible. And he has this amazing talent for grinding on, as you say. So that combination I was unable to deal with.
You were happy with your seconds? And the technology available to you?
Oh yeah, they all worked very hard, but at the end of the day they cannot come in and play for you. The technology is pretty much the same for everyone these days, although we didn't compare notes with Magnus this time. Look, the fact is I felt I prepared well and felt I brought my strength to the match, but on the board it went away very fast. Magnus' biggest strength, the ability to go on and on, is what ten years back I used to consider my biggest weakness but I thought I had prepared for that. It is very hard to recreate the match atmosphere at home. I simply underestimated how it would work at the chessboard. It just slipped away from me very fast. In this match, Magnus was superior. Let's just admit it.
That's very generous of you Anand. What do you make of Magnus saying he is now in a position to teach you?
(Chuckles) I wasn't expecting him to be a gracious, so fair enough. The winner can say anything when he wins... so I guess we will just have to swallow it for now.
He's only 22, how much better you think can he get?
It seems ridiculous for me to suggest where he might go. He is very very good. And he knows what he has to do.
So are you up to taking a crack at him to regain the title? Would you have the confidence?
Of course, one has to understand that he is very, very good, but you have to have the confidence to take him on. You have to believe in yourself. If you get a shot at the world championship, you take it. It's not something you can analyse too much. But that's a long way away and there are qualifiers before that. Right now I'm just looking forward to rest a bit and let the wounds heal. I've been playing a lot with Akhil (his son) so that's cheering me up a lot.
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