Do players in chess take performance-enhancing drugs?
Anand: Not that I know of, but then, these days you never know. I think most of the drugs other people take would be utterly useless in chess. Substance abuse in our sport is very conservative. I tend just to drink tea during matches, but some players prefer coffee. Smoking was banned in tournament halls some time ago. Chess players have been relaxed about drugs. In the old days it was fashionable to drink. Players would go out until the small hours of the morning and get drunk, then turn up and play a tournament match the next day. TIME: Were you very scared when you first played Garry Kasparov in 1995? Anand: No. At that point in my career I was flippant, but he progressively became more difficult to play. I used to think, well, he’s good, but I can deal with him. TIME: Is he still a good player, or has he peaked? Anand: I think he’s the same. I thought in the game against Kramnik [Russian player Vladimir Kramnik] he was ambushed psychologically. That can happen in chess. I’m not cer
