Viswanathan Anand has never believed in verbal volleys. Not even when he was being dismissed as 'not World Champion material' or when he was written off by his peers after losing his World Championship title to Magnus Carlsen last November. The Indian has always let his performance on the chequered board do the talking.


India's Viswanathan Anand. Pic/Getty Images

When the FIDE Candidates 2014, featuring eight contestants, commenced at Khanty-Mansiysk, the ratings, the critics and the chess elite never once mentioned Anand, at 44 the oldest man in the tournament, as a contender.