Anecdotes from World Chess Champion Vishy Anand's 'father' in Spain

Chess news and chess trivia blog (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2010

Hi Everyone,

Here are some anecdotes about World Champion Viswanathan Anand's swashbuckling style as a teenager, emotional nature, love for chess and more. All from none other than his 'father/mentor' in Spain - Viswanathan Anand considers Mauricio Perea and his late wife Nieves as his European parents. Here is what Mauricio recently said in a nice interview that you can read in full here.

• When I first met Vishy, he was dressed in baggy jeans, big white sports shoes, a walkman to his ears on which he listened to what he called the Cranberries and Pet shop boys. For an ear trained in Brahms and Beethoven, the sound of this music just seemed like Boom Boom Boom! He would always, and still does, stuff his hands in his trousers and walk quickly chuk chuk chuk back and forth in Linares. We marvelled at the fact that someone who looked like a teenager could be such a fantastic player.
• On a lighter note, he was also to be married. He called us right after he saw Aruna and said “Nieves. I found a daughter-in-law for you. Treat her well.” We went for their wedding. I had asked a friend to teach me 'Kalyana vazhthugal' in Tamil. When I went on stage and told Aruna that, she looked at me horrified. I turned pale thinking had I uttered some Tamil abuse. And she said, “Sorry Mr. Maurice I don’t speak Spanish.” Caramba, I thought, thank god.
• When Vishy plays badly - and he rarely does - I suffer a lot. I feel helpless. When he comes I always ask him, sometimes he laughs and says, “I knew Maurice I would get this from you.” In 2004 when I lost Nieves, Vishy was there.
• Now when I see Vishy, this great champion, I think he has won the most difficult matches and achieved all that there is. Still when he rings the bell in my home, I rush to meet him. I see Vishy, the 19 year old with his hands in his pockets. Always eager to show me his games or clean my computer. He is my boy!

And, talking of Vishy, here is an old video of an advertisement he featured in. Remember our other blog post on another nice video of another Vishy advert?



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