Viswanathan Anand

Five-time World Champion, FIDE Deputy President

“FIDE top priority is finding a good venue — a high-quality venue. And I think we’ve succeeded in that. Cyprus will be a very good venue, and the location will be amazing. And we’re trying to keep the players informed.

It’s just a tournament in the end. Once you’re told where to go, when to go — you block that in your head. I think your head is even in two parts. There’s a part where everything is already locked in for the tournament, and there’s another part where you can’t think only about it all the time.

In tournaments like these, players focus on preparation, but I’m sure everyone has a certain cutoff date, around February or March, when they think: ‘Now I’m only thinking about the Candidates Tournament.’ And then they try to reach their peak form.

I think it’s nice that everything has been settled 4 months in advance!”