Perhaps he felt where Simen was (clumsily and amateurishly) heading, namely that the new generation will topple Anand eventually, and wasn't in the mood for the gibberish and diatribe way in which Simen was presenting his case.

Never seen Anand like this before, but understandible to an extent, and perhaps Simen was not "just clumsy"?

In view of Simen's question, Anand's response doesn't actually make much sense, since simen is not at all reminiscing about the past but rather asking a question about the style of the current crop of young chess players.

I've changed my mind about thinking that Simen said anything untoward to Anand, and I'm now somewhat baffled by Anand's reaction, other than that perhaps he was understandably tired and just wanted to leave.

You may be overlooking that the host and moderator, DJ ten Geuzendam, was sitting right next to him, and to walk out disallowing DJTG to wrap up the interview by saying "Thank you for coming, [Vishy], best of luck for the rest of the tournament" - which is normal and common procedure - is highly unusual, and thus there must be a reason other than that "he was tired and <just wanted to leave>."

I think Anand thought Agdestein's question would be on his record against Topalov, and even interrupted, good naturedly, saying he too had noticed that he was the #1 opponent for many players now.

I too thought Agdestein was going to comment on the high quality games the two had produced over the years, which they have, and I cringed when he midstream he asked Anand to agree that the new guys had different ways of playing than Anand's generation. To my mind, that was equivalent to discounting his victory over Topalov that they were there to discuss.

Anand's face went neutral, and I think he wanted to avoid feeling trapped by the question, as he had at the World Championships versus Gelfand (about why he wasn't doing as well as people thought a champion should do).

Look closely also at Simens bodylanguage as Anand takes over temporarily listing his number of encounters with the 'old guard' - basically all and more is there captured in the footage.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves was a polite way of saying dont you just yet insinuate that I was the champ of a by now almost replaced generation, and am up against it against a generation that plays "different chess", whatever that means, exactly.

I said I overanalyzed <achieve> because it doesn't matter much in the scheme of things, and Dirk's defense of Simen that he occasionally became overenthusiastic about Magnus is probably the explanation for the whole mini episode.

When did this so called defense by Dirk of Simen take place? Is it documented?

Simen is old and wise enough to speak for himself and remain neutral as an interviewer. I think this development is a pity, and precisely at this tournament in Norway a good example can be set. India we hardly can control ;)

I just want to concentrate on the two matadors; anything from outside influencing or disturbing them is a drag, but it is part of the lead-up.