Why Vishy Anand prescribes a ‘take it easy policy’ for teenage world beaters

Does the current generation of teenage prodigies that's in a tearing hurry to complete their hostile takeover of the chess world need to pause every once in a while to recharge their mental batteries? Do Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi and others from their generation like Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov need to manage their work loads? If you ask Viswanathan Anand, the veritable godfather of Indian chess, they certainly must.

- GNS News Agency, May 13

Currently in Bucharest for the ongoing Superbet Chess Classic Romania event, Anand was asked by Cristian Chirila, who is a second to Fabiano Caruana, if the five-time world champion had any advice for the younger generation of stars about what they should focus on while training considering that the international calendar is pregnant with events.

“What should they focus on?” prodded Chirila, asking Anand about the upcoming generation in general without naming any names in particular. It's a question you reckon that a few members of India’s golden generation of grandmasters would have asked themselves, if not Anand directly, at some point in the last few years since every tournament organiser — across formats — seemingly wants a piece of the three posterboys of India’s golden generation. The proliferation of chess tournaments since the COVID-19 pandemic has happened at a remarkable pace. Just in 2025, events like the Checkmate: India vs USA and chess’ entry into the Esports World Cup were announced. The Freestyle Chess organisers also added a four-event Grand Slam Tour.“My approach would be to simplify my calendar alittle bit,” began Anand. “If you play all of them, then | think you don’t get a minute to yourself. | would skip one or two events here or there and just experience everything else.”Anand’s rationale behind this, he elaborated, was simple: “The question is how to split up your time. That's why I say it’s important to give up one or two events somewhere and give yourself a month or two off because you can easily get sucked into playing a lot and then you don’t have a minute to yourself to think about anything.”Anand has a long track record of practising what he preaches. Back in the days when he frequented chess tournaments, he too would take a break from the sport whenever results started to sag.