Anand cracked under pressure: Carlsen

Chennai: Newly-crowned world champion Magnus Carlsen on Friday said that five-time title holder Vishwanathan Anand crumbled under pressure in the World Chess Championship match here.

Soon after completing the formalities of a draw to lift the World Chess Championship title, Carlsen said it was the pressure that did the trick on Anand. "I would like to take some responsibility for his mistakes that`s for sure. People crack under pressure even in the World Championship. That`s what the history shows. The blunders that he made are not the mistakes he usually makes. This is what I really wanted to do, make him sit at the board and play for a long time," Carlsen revealed his strategy that gave him a stupendous 6.5-3.5 victory over the defending champion. Carlsen, the current world number one, said he was delighted to win the title and become the first Western champion since 1975. "It feels good. It`s been tough both here and in London (where Carlsen won the candidates to qualify here). I have been treated very well here in India. In general at some point I settled in and got the match to where I could play to my strength," he said. Speaking about the last game when he tormented Anand for a long time before a draw was reached, Carlsen said it was a worthy end to the championship. "I was just trying to play solidly in the opening. I am pretty happy with what I got, very solid position no weaknesses. As the game went on he started to drift a bit and then I thought as long as there is no risk I should try and win it. At some point after the time control, the variations were getting too complicated so I decided to shut it down to force a draw," said the Norwegian prodigy. "I think it was a nice fight and a worthy end to the match," Carlsen said. Carlsen, however, still did not reveal his full team for the match. "Its no secret that Jon Ludvig Hammer (his friend and a Grandmaster) has been working and so are others. I am very grateful for their hard work," he said. Terming the fourth game as the turning point, Carlsen said he had very good feeling after that game. "The game four game gave me a very good feeling. I thought it was really good fighting game even though I did not win it. I think I seized the initiative in the match then. He (Anand) was as nervous and vulnerable as I was," he said. "Game three was not so normal for me. Generally game three and four told me that he was vulnerable. I settled in and started playing my usual chess," Carlsen said. Carlsen admitted that he was nervous at the start. "I felt the second game was normal draw. The first and third game I was a little bit nervous. I perhaps was not ready. But then I settled in, I realised that I don`t have to do things different from what I usually do," said the new world champion. The Norwegian star also said that there was not much psychological warfare in the contest. "Most of the games were decided on the board. I didn`t feel too much of the psychological warfare. May be it was there but I didn`t notice it," Carlsen said. Carlsen thanked the orgainsers for making his stay comfortable here. "Thank you very much. My every wish has been attended to and for my team as well. I am sorry the match turned out the way it did," he quipped.