Mind Master: Winning Lessons from a Champion's Life Book by Susan Ninan and Viswanathan Anand

Rating: 5/5*

*(I might be a little biased as Chess is my First Love in Sports)

Favorite Quote: (I had experienced/am experiencing this myself and honesty, can feel it.)

“Bottling up Emotions, even if done bit by bit, one tiny instance after another, can cumulatively turn into a giant, unwieldy heap of rocks you can no longer tow. You just keep pushing down the angst, pretending nothing has happened, but the truth is it’s going nowhere. If you bury it for too long, the collection of repressed emotions will simmer and eventually boil over in fiercer form, often at the most ill-timed moments when you can barely afford it”

After reading this Quote - I had that epic moment - when you read a line that is so well written you just close the book and stare at the wall for a minute.

Astounding read!!!

Loved every single moment in my journey through this book. I have a feeling I'll be returning to this book soon in the future.

I don't know where to begin. Maybe with the title itself ? - Mind Master, titled unimaginatively you may think, illustrates in beautiful and relatable text that it takes mastery over one's own mind to conquer repeatedly. How outcomes affect your mental state and  vice versa, how this champ took a grip  again and again after the blows  between   wins, the lessons he learnt and the invaluable advice that stems   from his own life's learning are some of the things that make this book a delectable read. It is versatile. It is an amalgam of history, biography, life-lessons, sporting thrills, self-help lessons and more. The tone is not self-aggrandizing at all. There is more critique and self-admonishing than self-praise.

Anand's autobiography, co-authored by journalist Susan Ninan, straddles the fine line between catering to chess aficionados and people who cannot tell a bishop from a king. But more importantly, it shows even the ardent chess fan a side of Anand that they probably wouldn't, despite having followed his career closely.

It’s been years since I played Chess, but Viswanathan Anand has articulated his thoughts in such a way that it could be relevant to any career/phase of life.

Viswanathan Anand’s autobiography is an unflinching look at the career of India’s greatest chess superstar Viswanathan Anand.

A disclaimer,

-For the people looking for a technical book with tactics and strategies pertaining to Chess, this book does not address that.

-For the people looking for a comprehensive autobiography, this book doesn't address that either.

This book is primarily a compendium of lessons and learning that the author has accumulated in his storied career. However, it isn't just any run of the mill self-development book. What makes this book truly remarkable is the author's incredible honesty and candor. I was transported into his shoes, and could understand everything that the he told, and felt the importance of those nuggets of learning.

Mind Master: Winning Lessons from a Champion's Life is a retelling of that journey of a man who sparked a chess revolution in India by taking it from a hobby to a mainstream sport.

“At best, I was an oddity on the world chess scene,” writes Anand. “A Non-Soviet (and a non-Westerner) from a land that sounded unfamiliar, exotic and far-flung from the rumblings of the sport. Phonetically too my name was a misfit among the Soviet cluster of chess players’ names that rhymed with each other’s and almost sounded familial.”

Fittingly then, the lyrics of the famous Frank Sinatra song ‘I Did It My Way’ preface the book.

The language isn't heavily literary, yet the book reads well. Tense matches, historical moments, match backstories, the efforts that go into making a chess champion, the many supporters, arguable betrayals, loyalties and accounts of so much more.

Having been a poster boy and a trailblazer for India at chess, the 50-year-old still remains somewhat of an enigma for many Indians who cannot grasp the complexities of the sport Anand played.

The book also breaks away from the tradition of autobiographies to follow the life and times of the protagonist in a chronological sequence of events.

Instead, Mind Master is a collection of moments that stand out from the career of one of India's greatest athletes.

Through the book, Anand, in essence, introduces us to different sides of Anand. You meet the young Anand who, at the age of seven, had an 'extreme admiration' for John McEnroe (he still does) to the point where he would imagine himself chipping, charging and volleying like the tennis ace. We’re introduced to the Anand whose profession sees him remember thousands of intricate patterns and lines on the chessboard, but also one could have such poor memory that he once forgot his own wedding anniversary and admittedly needs to flip through Facebook profiles of his friends before school reunions to remember their faces and names.

While there are parts where the book can make for slow reading, there are nuggets which help the reader discover Anand's quirks ― such as his habit of signing only a particular square should a fan ask for his autograph on a chessboard, or his habit of letting his mind wander to scenes from Yes Minister or Monty Python and the Holy Grail when he's caught in a troubling position.

The book also wonderfully captures the drama and intrigue that can surround chess, especially when it comes to the World Chess Championship. Kasparov flits from being a rival in 1995 to ally during the 2010 World Championship tie in Sofia against Topalov (where he would help Anand via Skype) being a rival again by the time Anand faced Boris Gelfand for the World title in 2012. Kramnik also helped Kasparov out against Anand during their PCA World Championship match in 1995, but almost became a second for the Indian during his 2010 World's title bid.

The five-time world champion talks about his life experiences, the lessons he learnt about leadership from chess, and his auto-biography, offer lessons on how to navigate personal and professional lives.

Anand's recollections about the 2010 Sofia game are the highlight of the book simply for the surreal nature of the chain of events. There was a volcanic eruption that shut down flights, and a consequent 2,000-km road trip traversing Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania to get to Bulgaria. While Carlsen, Kramnik, Kasparov switch roles from friend to foe, the one constant aide Anand had by his side was his wife Aruna.

Anand narrates the running joke in chess circles that he would lose a bunch of Elo points after his marriage to Aruna. As it turned out, she became a second of sorts, helping Anand take care of issues off the board like logistics and dealing with organizers, allowing him to focus single-mindedly on the chessboard. As I wrote this on my wall some years back - “Every man needs a woman when his life is a mess, because just like the game of chess, the queen protects her king”.

Viswanathan Anand as a child, chess master Viswanathan Anand picked up a habit on his mother’s insistence: jotting down his impressions immediately after a game; typically, a loss. The practice slowly grew on Vishy, as his friends and fans call him. Putting down the observations “when the pain was raw, I stumbled upon the solutions I had seen but didn’t act upon or the ones I had overlooked," says Anand. Over time, the scope of his notes widened. They now include his opponents’ quirks, gestures and all little things that tend to distract him before or during a game.

Aruna, his wife, stands out. As a reader one can tell that without her, much, much less would be possible. Vishy acknowledges this of course, but for a moment one does wonder if he's given the reader more insight than he himself actually has on her role in every bit of his success since she came into his life. For a moment, I also thought it would be lovely to have this play out from Aruna's perspective. Have there been silent sacrifices? Is there anything she has herself missed out on in this all-consuming chess-life? Has she enjoyed the journey? (I'm sure she has).

Vishy is rational, self-critical, honest and evolving. He has already done what has never been done before. He is the live and active link between the new and the old. Small pang of disappointment then, at the hint towards the end that titles aren't the main goal anymore. Somewhere, one dearly hopes that age is a bigger barrier than it is made out to be and Vishy will continue to prove this for a VERY long time to come.

I've watched several interviews of Vishy and vaguely knew some of the key incidents from before. Yet, the book was a delightful read, nearly "unputdownable"- resulting I finish reading this as fast as I could.

This book does explicitly offer life/career advice and from time to time, seeks to address professionals in general, outside of chess. I related to and highlighted a good few lines and the takeaway messages did not feel forced as they stemmed naturally from incidents and experiences of his own.

If you like sports or have engaged in any sporting activity yourself, you will relate to the grit, determination, discipline, and perseverance that the Grand-master has practiced all his life. This book is inspirational and many lessons to be learned from this wonderful person's life. Even if you can imbibe a few of them, your life will become better.

You learn how to learn and channelize your priorities. There are quotes galore from the lightning kid. Sure, to become a classic.

I love the way he summarized the learning/Lesson/Experience in one Paragraph at the end of each chapter - Several paragraphs attracted my interest. I shall not mention it here as then the review will be a spoiler 😊

Recommended!!!

Why do I Love Chess?

I like chess because it is a game of skill and not luck. And except for the highest levels of chess, you don't need a good memory though you need (Eidetic memory (as people say about me having "mind like an Elephant" - so i never had any struggle with the same). Chess is based on pattern recognition, experience and intuition. I am no good at cards and dice is based on luck. Chess is such a fascinating game with endless possibilities. You can play it anywhere, create new ideas in the opening, causes me to think and think ahead, is never boring, and it's always a test of just me and my opponent.

What’s your reason of loving any sport?

My learning:

• I have learnt two lessons. First, constant and objective self-critical analysis because it is important to have an accurate picture of who you are, what your strengths and weaknesses are and what are the things you need to move forward. The second thing is to force yourself out of your comfort zone once in a while and the ability to take risks; without that it is very hard to make big progress.
• Learning is easier because there are new facts and if they don’t conflict with any impressions you already have, then you familiarize yourself with new facts and repeat and revise them till they become second nature. Unlearning is harder because there will always be some old, very strong impression you have, and you may find yourself lapsing back to your old way of thinking. So, the most important thing is to work hard and make sure you make a conscious effort to clarify anything that you have a hazy grasp of so that you get better at it.

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Shi'tare'

#thekataregirl