That’s the way Viswanathan Anand moves

In your preparation, what areas did you focus on?
Basically we had prepared for the initial game, that is, Grunfeld and on Catalan. We did not know what Topalov had prepared, so were just testing the waters, waiting to see how the first game would go and take it from there.

So what indication did you get from the first game?
We could not deduce too much from the first game but we came to know that he had prepared this particular line in Grunfeld.

You said your team had to revisit the strategy midway. Can you explain why?
Basically Topalov changes his openings during the match. So we had prepared broadly, trying to anticipate what all he could do. But he surprised us with his choices. He stuck to the Catalan opening for the whole match. Even after two defeats in the first four games, he did not change his opening. He went with the same d4 and the same kind of endings with the white pieces. So I had to rethink my strategy.

Did the long road journey from Frankfurt to Sofia affect you in Game1? One expert said you played a silly game.
When we got a one day postponement of the match, we decided to live with it. We got four days before the first match. Ideally, I wanted to be there seven days earlier. I was tired but I wouldn’t say it affected the first game. Yes, I admit that I forgot my preparation in that game by mixing up the moves. The position was a nice-edged one. I lost immediately, but it can happen at any stage. The match was going back and forth and I would not like to analyse that slip.

You bounced back in Game 2. In the final analysis, was it a crucial win?
I would not say so because the crucial moments came late in the match. It is difficult to summarise like that. I always believed in my chances but it was good to equalise in the very next game. Topalov had a reasonable position in the opening. But in a match where players of different styles are trying hard, mistakes do happen. When he made a couple of mistakes, I was very alert.

You said both sides made a lot of mistakes.
Mistakes do happen when both sides are trying hard. If neither side makes a mistake, it will never end. It was an even match. Normally matches get one-sided.

You shifted to Slav in the 3rd game — by then had you got the measure of your opponent?
Not really. I prepared different variations but he stuck to one line and the endings became the same over and over again. Slav was our second opening. We wanted to play Grunfeld for three-four games and then shift to Slav but because the first did not go well with Grunfeld, we decided to move on a bit. We advanced the second opening.

The 4th game was a comfortable win, right?
I got the position I wanted out of the opening and from there on it went very well. I calculated beautifully from a given position. It was probably my best game of the match.

The first half, barring the first game, belonged to you.
My recovery was good in the first half. I would say I was slightly ahead in the first half and he was pressing hard in the second half. But I wouldn’t say it was that clear cut either. He was putting pressure with the whites. And it was the same in the second half, where I could have done better. I will say from Game 2 to five I was better, and he was pressing a bit from Game 7 to 11. But neither of us was dominating either half.

In Game 7, you were surprised by a new totally Catalan line — what happened?
He did research and came up with a new idea. That helped him a lot. When you are able to exert pressure with blacks, you can exert more pressure with whites. That’s what eventually happened in the next game. But I could come out with accurate moves to defend the position. In Game 9, I hit him with Nimzo Indian and got a winning position. It was a difficult win and I was not able to get the right moves.

You made a horrible blunder in Game 10, didn’t you? 54… bc6 was not expected of you.
Well, I did not see the correct fortress and more or less made any move. I was very, very close to the draw but I couldn’t see it. We get to an ending in about 20 moves but I did not see the exact moves. 

How much did you stretch yourself in Game 11 knowing that it was your last white? You played 1. c4.
It was not like it was my last chance to win or something, as I proved in the match. It was white and I knew that I would have to try without going overboard. Again we pulled out a surprise by playing the English opening, which I had never played before. I was able to put some pressure on him but not enough. In the end, we had an exciting draw. I was not unhappy with the result because the main thing was to keep your chances alive.

You came up with an unthinkable Queens Gambit Declined in Game 12. What was the thinking behind that opening?
It was not an impromptu decision. We prepared it at the last minute. We were not really happy with the way our black openings were going. Obviously, you hope it would do well. But these are two separate things. I was happy with the opening I got.

Were you sure of pulling off a draw in that game?
You can’t be sure of these things, but I knew that I was well prepared and I thought I would take it from there.

We were all thinking that you were not too keen to go to the tie-breaks because your record in rapids in the world championship is not very good. But it turned out that Topalov was even less keen to go into tiebreaks.
My own attitude was that I will play Game 12 and if it was a draw I would get ready for the tiebreaks. But he seemed to be a little bit nervous about it. But as you can see, you can’t force matters. You slug it out according to the position on the board. I think he took a risky decision in that game.

You’re known to very fast. But you were consuming more time on the clock than Topalov. 
Not too much. In the second half, I played much faster. In Games 11 and 12, I was faster than earlier. You should remember that we were working on new ideas.

Now you’ve won your 4th World title, and in every format possible. How do you think history will look at you?
This you have to ask someone else. I look at it this way: I’m relieved that I’m still the world champion. I will get ready for the next world title at some point. In the meantime, I want to relax a little bit. The match was very tough. I need some time to recover completely.

The Kramnik match in Bonn was all about your d4. How will you sum up the Topalov match in Sofia?
Sofia was a very back-and-forth match. I cannot point to a clear moment where one side dominated the other. The most important thing was that he made the last mistake. His nerves cracked a bit early. He tried to force matters too early. That made the difference.