No plans to retire: Viswanathan Anand

He has been the undisputed world champion for the past five years but Indian chess veteran Viswanathan Anand has no plans of calling it quits just yet as he says his morale is on a high after beating a "complicated" Boris Gelfand to notch up his fifth world title.

"There are definitely no thoughts of retirement. In fact quite the opposite. (Winning a fifth world title) has been a huge boost to my morale. As long as I enjoy, I don't see any reason to retire," Anand told reporters during a felicitation function organised by his long-time sponsors NIIT here on Sunday.

Anand defeated Israeli Boris Gelfand in the World Championship match a few days ago to successfully defend his world title.

"I am still enjoying the game having just defended my title. Winning in Moscow meant a lot emotionally. It's not only about records. It's just that you hate losing and you love winning. I am looking forward to playing chess and winning tournaments," Anand said.

"For me, the number has been irrelevant. Every title defence is special. I simply want to enjoy playing chess. There is no checklist," he added.

The 42-year-old was hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin for tea after his triumph in Moscow. Recalling the meeting, Anand chuckled about Putin's remark 'So, we brought this on ourselves' when the Indian told him how training at the Russian Culture Centre had helped his game.

"Well we laughed because I thought it was a witty line. The meeting was almost half an hour. He is very knowledgeable about chess. He spoke about how chess is important in Russian culture. He was generally very gracious. I thought that was a quick one," he recalled.

Anand also thanked his support team and his wife Aruna for taking the load off him mentally.

"The workload in the match is huge, the team helps manage the workload. They allow you to rest and recuperate during the match. My team, the five of us, we have become very close. Very often they would say things are collapsing but you sleep and that gives you a lot of confidence. In the tie-break they gave me confidence.

"Aruna and I got married in 1996. She knew nothing about chess when we got married but gradually she has begun to play an important role. She takes a lot of load off me. She knows when to say something and when not to," he laughed.

Anand also brushed aside criticism that the introduction of the tie-break system takes the sheen off the World Championships by making it less exciting.

"The system is much more fair now. I don't think there should be anyone with any objection to tie-break. I find it fair and a lot of fans really enjoy the tiebreak. I returned home to an absolutely wonderful reception. Would like to thank everyone who took the trouble of coming out," he said.