This is the second part of Shobha Warrier's exclusive interview with World No 1 Viswanathan Anand:Part 1: Vishy Anand, as never before!
Because I had won the National Juniors, I got to play the World Juniors in July 1984 as well. I went to Finland to play the World Juniors. That was the first time I saw the phenomenon of the sun never setting. The sun never sets in Finland during several weeks in the summer. At 11.30 at night, it was still bright daylight.
We were in a place 40 miles away from Helsinki, some sort of sports centre in the wild. I used to go for walks regularly and get lost among the trees and find my way back with great difficulty. There was a lake there, and I saw people swimming in the ice-cold water. Yes, the water was cold. I tried swimming only once.
Again, there was more or less the same set of players at Finland too. But here, I didn't have such a good result. If in the world Sub-Juniors, Dreev was first, Piket second, and I the third, in the World Juniors, Dreev was second and one-and-a-half or two points ahead of me, but I was only tenth.
Then I understood the gap between us was not as narrow as I had imagined, at the sub-juniors. There, you may be much weaker than Dreev, but so was everyone else. You will still do well.
At the World Juniors, Dreev was much ahead of us because he finished second without a single defeat, and I had some defeat and finished in the middle of the pack. I cannot say I was disappointed.
A gift for mother
Right after Finland, I went to the Lloyd's Bank tournament in London. First we played a junior tournament and I remember they had a prize of 150 pounds or something. Those days we had no foreign exchange available for us and that was a big problem. But when I won the 150 pounds for the first time, I felt really rich. I went and ate at Pizza Hut and did whatever I wanted. I also bought a bag for my mother for 10 pounds, and she was quite touched.
I got my first IM (International Master) norm there. The last day I was to play Alon Greenfeld, an Israeli Grandmaster. He fell into a trap which I had read in one of the old Philippine books. I was quite tickled by that. I won that game and got an IM norm. There was no celebration because we had to take an early flight back. I found a phone to call my parents and tell them the news. I was quite happy.
Photograph: Getty Images
Also read: Vishy on his 10 greatest chess players
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