My interest in chess deepened in the Philippines -Anand

This interview of World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand was dated December 26, 2008 and was originally posted at Dennis Monokroussos blog, The Chess Mind. The interview was very informative that truly deserved our attention especially for Filipino chess fans. Some of the interview consist of Anand's stint in the Philippines, it's impact to his chess career; also about GM Eugene Torre, the 1980 Baguio City Karpov-Korchnoi championship match and a lot more about chess in the Philippines in general. This is a must read!

Q. To go back to the Philippines, is it fair to say that was a critical year because at that time the Philippines had better chess infrastracture?

Anand: I think that is correct. The Philippines had just organized a world championship match between Karpov and Korchnoi...I also remember joining a chess club there...my interest in chess deepened in the Philippines and by the time time I got back I was pretty much hooked...we went to Baguio. It is a lovely hillside resort. While we were there, my parents took me to this place, see this is where the Karpov-Korchnoi match took place...The Philippines was a very strong Asian chess country. Now it's less so but they still field a decent team. Clearly no one has come along the stature of Eugene Torre...

and then Vishy said this,

If now, a very strong Filipino player emerged, there is already a base on which to build on...somebody they can follow they go for that. You need a constant feed of good players, to fire people's imagination.

Full interview from http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/files/anand_interview_transcript.pdf
Also at chessbase.com