Fourteen breathless rounds of chess at the Candidates tournament in London, were not enough to split Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik. It was finally down to the second tie-break rule (more number of wins) that resolved the issue in Carlsen's favour and the Norwegian will now challenge Viswanathan Anand for the World Championship this November. Anand speaks to The Indian Express about the drama at London, the challenge of facing the World No. 1 in a Championship match and having to re-shape his chess to compete with the younger generation.

Did you find yourself caught up in the excitement of the Candidates tournament, staying up late following the games?

Yeah, very much. It has been maybe the best ever Candidates tournament in history. At least I wasn't there during the ones in the 60s. During those days you couldn't follow it live. We can't compare different eras. But still, by any yardstick the unpredictability, the fact that anything could have happened till the last day, till the last hour in fact, makes this simply an unbelievable tournament.

I managed to catch most of the games. I didn't need to stay up late because most had ended by midnight and I was able to go to sleep. Depended also on whether the results were known. I didn't catch Vlady (Kramnik) resigning, but I knew he was going to. The position was that hopeless and I knew (Vassily) Ivanchuk was not going to spoil that . For the first three or four days I began to think, 'wow am I going to play (Levon) Aronian?'  not in the sense of making plans but in your mind wandering kind of way. Then very firmly, Magnus (Carlsen) got a grip on the tournament, and it looked settled until the amazing 12th round  when Kramnik won and Magnus lost. When I went to sleep I thought Magnus has saved it. That was one day I had missed this twist. When I woke up I read the headline: 'Kramnik takes the lead' and I thought it was impossible. Then I realised Magnus had actually lost the game. So many twists and turns and it kept everybody on the edge of their seats.

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