Category: Interview

Egyptian GM Dr. Bassem Amin is in the form of his life. The 28-year-old, who recently won the prestigious Abu Dhabi open, has had a string of successes in recent times. These victories have taken him within striking distance of the magical 2700 mark, a feat yet to be achieved by an African player.

Bassem graduated as a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery in 2012. Since the completion of his Army service in 2016, he has been playing chess professionally, and that with great success.

We caught up with Bassem for a quick chat post his triumph in Abu Dhabi. Catch Bassem talk about his journey to this coveted title, the key to success in open events and his chances at the upcoming World Cup in this concise interview.

 

Shubham Kumthekar: A victory in the African Individual, then Lake Sevan and now Abu Dhabi. Congratulations! How do you feel about winning three strong tournaments in a short span and nearing 2700?

Bassem Amin: It feels great to win three strong tournaments in a row. Winning each of these tournaments is considered a big achievement, so winning all three of them was really unexpected!

Also, my expected September rating is 2699, including the African Clubs Tournament which was played in the end of July. Taking all this into account, I can say that the last 2 months have been the best in my chess career.

What were your expectations before the start of the Abu Dhabi Open?

I was seeded second behind Nigel Short. I knew I was one of the favourites to fight for the tournament title. But in a field as strong as we had in Abu Dhabi, each round is tough, right from round one!

You started with a hard-fought draw against a much lesser-rated player, but then scored five consecutive wins, including four against GMs. How did you get over the draw and stage such a powerful comeback?

Not just much lesser-rated but much younger as well – just 11 yrs old! However, I wasn’t too disappointed with the result as I thought I played quite a good game and so did my young opponent, who found some good moves. So I thought he deserved that half point.

The second round victory against another young Indian (Ed. – Gaurav Kumar) was very important in terms of making a comeback. And when I started facing GMs, it felt less stressful – I think it is easier to face GMs in such tournaments!

You scored an important win over Salem in the penultimate round. A crucial round and such complicated calculations on the board, how did you manage to hold your nerves?

It was an intense game. We both were leading the event, so a win would give me the sole lead and a draw would mean going into the last round tied with Salem and Nigel, and having to play black in the last game. In light of this, I knew I had to take my chances against Salem and I think I played a great game. Of course, I was happy to find such a good move as 17. Qd2 over the board!

I believe that being in good shape and good form made me feel confident and less stressful.

Going into the final round requiring only a draw to win the tournament is always a tricky situation. What was your strategy for the final game against Short?

Well, I don’t think I am too good when it comes to playing for a draw. Even my openings don’t help with that. So I decided to play a normal game but not risk too much. Unfortunately, I misplayed the opening and got a worse position. Thereupon, I defended very well and the Be4 sacrifice was the turning point of the game!

Which game of yours from the event is your personal favourite?

Actually, I was happy with more than one game of mine from the event – the game against Aryan Chopra, then the one against Indjic, and of course the crucial one against Salem. I consider the latter to be the best of the lot.

What, in your opinion, is the key to winning a strong open tournament like Abu Dhabi?

I think the most important factor is to win games with the black pieces. In open tournaments, the games won with black make all the difference!

For many years, you and Adly have been leading the way for Egypt.  How is the chess scene back home?

Unfortunately chess in Egypt isn’t doing very well. Our federation has very little support from the ministry of sports. We do not have a coach or any sponsors for the national team.

You will be playing in the upcoming World Cup. What are your goals for the event?

In the opening round, I am paired against GM Viktor Erdos. I believe we both have a 50% chance of qualifying to the next round. If I do so, I will most likely face GM Peter Svidler. And if I make it to round 4, then I will be up against the World Champion himself!

But of course, I will be taking it step by step. For now, my first round match-up is of utmost importance.

Wishing you all the best for the World Cup, Bassem!

Thank you very much!

You can also read this interview in our Follow Chess App!

Roundabout mid-June, the news of a super-strong, cash-rich rapid and blitz event flooded the Indian chess circles. A group of young, first-time organizers had come together to organize the ‘ChessMine open’ in Bangalore, India. This unique event, which eventually turned out to be the strongest open ever held on Indian soil, was well-received by players, parents and spectators alike. However, was the young team going to stop at this one-off success? Most certainly not. With a little step that was the ChessMine Open, they have embarked on an ambitious journey of changing the landscape of chess in India.

Post the event, we caught up with two of the five co-founders of ChessMine – Priyadarshan Banjan and GM Narayanan Srinath. Here’s our interview with the two young visionaries, who trace the foundation of ChessMine, its debut event and its remarkable, long-term objectives.

Shubham Kumthekar: How did the concept come into being?

 Banjan: Likhit and I were eating Death by Chocolate in Corner House, Jayanagar, in Bangalore. This must be March 2015. It suddenly struck me that the best way to make sure chess is a commercially viable sport is if we ourselves start it in a Tour format. You know, one event after another.  Likhit was initially apprehensive about it, but then we all got busy with our lives. It has been my quest since half a decade now. The question is always the same—how do we make chess a financially powerful sport. To all my friends, especially to guys like Srinath, and Sagar (who co-founded ChessBase India), I would ask the same question and would tell the same thing: We will change chess forever. Well, ChessMine is not exactly earth shattering per se, but it is a decent start. Lot more to be done.

 

 Srinath: It was Priyadarshan’s idea. Our idea to organize tournaments was initially discussed in early 2015. However, for various reasons, the plan never materialized. We carried on with our lives, several events passed, and then in May this year, Priyadarshan suddenly pinged me and told me about the idea of ChessMine. I was excited to hear and said ‘Let’s do it’. So we began in May this year, out of the blue.

What does the ChessMine team plan to do differently?

  Right now, we have started off with this first event but the future will see a set of tournaments, all inter-related by points. Something like a ChessMine Tour. Eventually, we will bring in the real big events to India. We want to make chess an attractive sport to follow. It is a big task, but I have always believed that it can be done.

The real-time coverage for chess in India is beyond terrible, and we aim to fix that in the near future. Generations have passed but the simple economic truth still holds true—cash is still the king. So, we aim to build a sustainable chess content distribution model that the commercial sponsors will be interested to be a part of. You know, Kabaddi was nothing a few years back, just a village sport. But Kabaddi on TV with a reach of millions of people is a completely different game.

Chess lacks TV coverage not because there is some grand conspiracy. It lacks that level of coverage because the commercial broadcasters don’t see value in broadcasting something for which you cannot produce demand by just telecasting it on sports channels. So a key innovation is more strategic in nature rather than technical. It is to make sure that we build a chess-literate population that will be able to consume the chess content we will eventually produce in the future.

  We aim to keep coming up with interesting concepts, whilst constantly endeavoring to promote the game. One of the things we want to do differently though is generate revenue through commercial sponsors. Right now, the revenue model in Chess is very different.

We think there is enormous untapped potential in chess, and if marketed in the right way, we’ll be able to achieve this, especially in a country with a burgeoning chess population like India.

Can you reflect on ChessMine’s recently concluded debut rapid & blitz event at Bengaluru?

  It was not bad at all. Good start in terms of branding, press coverage, quality of players. I think the achievements and the good points behind the tournament are there for everyone to see. I need not speak the obvious.

However, I am obviously not satisfied. A lot of novelties need to be streamlined. The current economic model is unsustainable in the long run. A lot of good events that were flagship once upon a time in India, have slowly witnessed a decline over the years. (Except probably Delhi, which under Mr Bharat Singh Chauhan is just getting better with every passing year. But it is an exception.) I know in my heart that ChessMine will reach a similar low if we do not innovate and make our events a commercially profitable venture. Chess will only benefit if we manage to survive and even thrive in the future. My primary job right now is to build a sustainable economic model. More could be done and more will be done in the future events.

  Reflecting and looking back on the event, I feel proud and happy about the work we have done. The kind of players, the amount of players… And doing this in our first event, it was a great feeling. Having said that, there were a lot of inaccuracies and mistakes we made as first-timers. We have listened to the reviews and we hope to come up with a much better event the next time. In terms of reaching World Class levels of organization, I think we still have a long way to go, but the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Personally, what do you think about the quicker formats of chess? Can they be the future of our ancient game?

  Well, the kids enjoy it. Only the parents and coaches don’t. Old school mentality. I have been a manager for a couple of super talented players and all they do and ever did when they were younger was play blitz all day. Even the legendary Viswanathan Anand grew up by literally playing blitz all day at the Tal Chess Club in Madras. In fact, that was his primary USP when he was younger—the Lightning Kid! I wonder why there is a common misconception among people that quick chess is harmful—is isn’t! It is fun, it is adrenaline pumping, it is beneficial. It is fun and it will remain fun.

Of course, we will also be doing a lot of classical events in the future.

The greatest thing about chess is that no matter how far we advance as a human race, the sport has always managed to survive. Centuries have passed, chess has travelled as an idea across the world, and somehow it has always survived, and even transformed itself suiting the needs and demands of the geographical and cultural market it is in—Shogi in Japan, Go in China, and so on. Chess is like that girl you love. You age, you change, but love is constant. Chess will not die, for sure. It may change though, and we should be ready to accept that. So yes, I believe in Chess 960, and we will bring the best in the business to India for a 960 event sometime in the future.

  Rapid and blitz are very exciting formats, but I don’t think they are the ‘future of chess’. I think, they are more like the ‘present of chess’.

Personally, I think modern chess is like producing energy with non-renewable sources. I think it’ll run out someday, even though right now the situation isn’t as alarming. However, things have become saturated to a certain extent, almost everyone knows a few basic things and it has become much easier.

In my opinion, we should start moving towards Chess960, just like we started to generate energy with renewable energy sources a while ago. If we start now, then by the time it reaches a crisis point, we will have a viable alternative ready. However, I don’t think this will be an easy task, as Indians are conservative, chess players are conservative… and we are talking about Indian Chess here ☺

Conducting an event of this stature is no mean task. What were the challenges involved and how did the team overcome them?

  Well, there was no big challenge in all honesty, apart from the funding and the race to get sponsorship. We had to majorly invest in this tournament ourselves, and thanks to our benevolent investors, that was not too difficult. Now, our job is to return the faith they have put in us by making this work a commercial entity.

Can you narrate a few interesting stories relating to the formation of ChessMine and the debut event?

  After all the hard work, stress, and running around, getting our first monetary sponsorship from a commercial entity was just a 5 minute job. I called up my friend, Sushrutha Reddy who runs the Innovators Chess Academy, and asked if Akshayakalpa, which is run by his cousin, would be interested in sponsoring chess events. He told me to call the CEO and ask it myself.

So I did, immediately. I explained all the things ChessMine as a company was offering Akshayakalpa, and the CEO, Mr. Shashi Kumar, hopped in with a Cash Sponsorship that covered 16% of the Prize Fund. Now, looking at all the big talk we do, it is not an earth shattering thing. But any start is a good start!

And immediately after the tournament, one of our co-founders, Likhit Chilukuri, brought in another entity – Hyderabad-based Vardhaman college.

You keep trying for a long time and nothing works. And suddenly, it works. I guess life is all about trying until you hit the bull’s eye.

  There were tons of interesting events, just leading up to the formation of ChessMine! The space here is too short. I think someday we can come up with a book about it 😛

How do you plan to take things forward from here?

  Well, for starters, we will continue hosting high-quality tournaments. Secondly, we will be building the base on which the entire pyramid rests on—the grassroot. On a personal level, I am still striving to create that perfect product-market fit that will help Chess as a sport to grow exponentially.

I want ‘change’ as an idea ingrained in the ethos of whatever I do, and the same will be with ChessMine. We will change according to the times. The legendary American architect Daniel Burnham once said that we should never make little plans because according to him they have no magic to stir men’s blood and will not be realized themselves. Let me provide the exact quote:

Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our sons and our grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty.

I dream of a model that will survive after we all are dead, and beautifully create a financially happy life for the all the people involved in chess as a market.

There was news about a ChessMine academy opening up in Delhi. Can you tell us something about it?

  This is the legendary Vishal Sareen’s doing. You know the kind of cred he has in chess. 3 Arjuna Awardee Students, a list of titled players, etc. It is incredible to even think that he is a part of this team. We have started off with a high-quality branch of the ChessMine Academy in Delhi, which is run by Vishal. ChessMine Academy also offers world-class online training to chess players who want to improve their game.

Apart from that, we hope to open many such branches across India. Anybody who is willing to work hard, has some credentials as a chess player, passion for the sport, can write an email to chessmineacademy@gmail.com and we will help you set up your own chess academy. Online or offline, your choice.

On a parting note, I will like to add the following: Make Chess a Financially Powerful Sport.

(A big thanks to Akshay Halagannavar and Hari Tiwari for the wonderful pictures from the ChessMine Rapid & Blitz)

 You can also read this interview in our Follow Chess App!

For quite some time, Kishan Gangolli has been one of the leading visually challenged chess players in India. Having already won the AICF-B National ‘A’ four times on the trot, Kishan took things to the next level by scoring a thumping victory at the IBCA Asian Chess Championship for Visually Challenged a couple of months back. Post his success, we caught up with him to know more about his victory, his journey so far, the state of visually challenged chess in India and his personal ambitions for the future. 

Shubham Kumthekar: Congratulations on your fantastic victory! What were your expectations going into the tournament? 

Kishan Gangolli: Thank you so much! Initially, the entries were much higher than what the eventual response turned out to be. Strong players from 7-8 countries were expected to participate. However, only four countries turned up for the event. As such, I began as the second-seeded player, yet was aware of the challenge that lay ahead. The situation improved round by round…

At what point did you feel that the victory was in your court?

I played against the Bangladeshi player Husain Ejaz, the top seed of the event, in the fourth round of the tournament. It was always going to be a crucial match. My train of thought was as follows: If I lose to him, my chances of securing a medal may very well disappear. As such, I was planning to hold him to at least a draw. However, in that case, there would have been no one practically to stop him, allowing him a free run to the title. As a result, I decided upon taking a chance, played a double-edged game, and finally won!

 

 

How do you feel about the victory?

It’s a nice victory, I feel proud – more so considering that the tournament was held in my home district of Udupi.

What kind of training did you undergo prior to the tournament?

The National A was held just prior to the Asian. As a result, I barely had any time to prepare specifically for the latter. However, the National, in itself, helped a good deal – most of the players who competed in the National also participated in the Asian. That made me feel pretty confident and I played an aggressive brand of chess at the Asian.

You have now won the AICF-B National Championship for four years on the trot. What has been your secret? 🙂

(Laughs) I work hard on my game, probably that is it 🙂

 

Can you take us through your journey in chess so far?

When I was in the 6th grade, my uncle, who was very interested in chess, took me to the Nalanda Chess Academy. Sri Krishna Udupa was the coach-in-charge over there.

Initially, I found playing on the normal boards very difficult. With 25% vision, I would miss pieces on the normal boards. I felt uncomfortable playing on them. I thought I may not be fit for chess.

Nevertheless, I secured a rating of about 1850 in 2007 under the tutelage of Sri Krishna Udupa. Roundabout this time, I started working on chess on my own. It was only in 2011 that I came to know about Blind chess and started participating in those events. That year, I played my first National A for the visually challenged. This was followed by my participation in the World Juniors for the visually challenged where I stood 6th. 

In 2011, I also qualified for the national school games, which is a team event. Interestingly, despite being the lowest-rated player in the team, I was appointed the team captain! I secured a board prize, with the Karnataka team securing an overall silver medal. We repeated our success the following year.

I often practice with IM Stany GA, who stays only 10 minutes away from my home. Depending on Stany’s availability, we work for 3-4 hours a day. We set up critical positions, try and analyze them in depth, and in some cases, play the positions out.

When I am practicing on my own, I often use a screen reader called NVDA. It reads out ChessBase games, PDF files, e-books, etc.

What has been the biggest moment of your chess career so far?

In 2012, the IBCA Olympiad took place in Chennai. Representing the Indian team, I scored 7.5/9 and secured the gold medal on Board Three. The Indian team finished a respectable 5th, the first time that we managed such a high position. This undoubtedly has to be the best moment of my career so far.

Who are some of your most challenging opponents?

There are plenty of players around (in the visually challenged circuit) who are moderately rated but are quite strong. Darpan Inani and Ashvin Makwana are two such players, but yes, they are not the only ones.

AICF-B has been doing a wonderful job for the welfare of visually challenged. Can you outline the activities of AICF-B and the support it lends?

Mr. Charudatta Jadhav, the president of AICF-B, has been putting all his efforts to improve the state of blind chess in India. He is our backbone – the man who has been working relentlessly to provide us with opportunities.

 

When I entered the blind chess arena, we were trained by Visweswaran to facilitate our preparation for the World Juniors 2011. From the next year, IM Shekhar Sahu took over the reins and began coaching us. He is our official coach to this day.

However, it’s not only about coaching. Charu himself develops software and books in Daisy & related audio formats for the visually challenged players. The Daisy audio format facilitates going through an audio file chapter by chapter, allowing to skip over to other chapters if required.

What are the biggest challenges pertaining to the development of visually challenged players in India?

First and foremost, it’s the lack of strong tournaments. The need for an accompanying person only adds to the problem.

Secondly, the financial challenges. Most of us come from a modest background and as such, only few can play tournaments, especially the strong ones, without bother.

Thirdly, the Government of India is not quite helping our cause – Blind Chess is yet to be recognized in India. For instance, they recently felicitated Shekhar Naik, the former blind cricket captain of India. However, nothing similar has been done for the cause of blind chess.

Let’s take another recent incidence, for instance. After my victory at the Asians, I applied to the youth service claiming a cash award. The response from their side was shocking. According to them, Blind Chess is not in the list of games and hence, they could not process my application any further. They added that Chess is not an Olympic game – it cannot be included in the Paralympic committee. In retaliation, I did submit a letter authorized by the AICF. However, it remains to be seen whether they process it or not.

Despite all this, AICF-B, and especially Charu sir, have been supporting us in whichever way feasible. Recently, he wrote a letter to the PMO before our Asian and indeed, we (the Indian contingent) received a message from the PMO wishing us luck. However, there was no mention of any assistance.

The good part right now is that our expenses for official events are being covered pretty well. When I played the World Juniors in 2011, only our flight expenses were covered. Since 2013, the Central Government has been covering our expenses. Yet, it’s the recognition that we long for.

Apart from all this, the basic issue of being unable to prepare as effectively and quickly as the sighted players is definitely a challenge.

Which countries are currently leading with respect to visually impaired chess? What sets them apart or what do those players or countries do differently?

Currently, Russia is the strongest country with respect to blind chess – they boast of a good number of International Masters.

Meanwhile, there is a certain player from Poland – rated about 2600 – who will be making his debut in the blind chess arena very soon. If he plays the Olympiad in June, then it will be his first blind event. Apart from this, I don’t have much information on him.

Besides, IM Daniel Pulvett from Venezuela, who is rated reasonably above 2400 is a notable visually challenged player.

Talking about facilities, I do not know much. I can think of the Spanish blind chess team being coached by Anand a few years back. Also, blind players from countries like Germany (where the IBCA has its headquarters) and Russia may have good support. However, this is only a guess.

What technologies do you think can make it easier for app developers like us to help visually challenged players?

In general, most blind players use Android phones. Quite often, I hear complaints along the lines that they are unable to play chess games on their phones. For us visually challenged players to play on cell phones, we need to use Talkback, a screen reader. Now, there are many apps for sighted players to play games on their phone. But these apps are not Talkback friendly.

When it comes to following live games, I use Follow Chess. It’s great that it announces the move on touching it. However, we are unable to gauge the placement of the pieces by touching the board as no such announcement is made with regards to the piece placement. This makes it difficult for the visually challenged players to keep track of the happenings on the board.

In both cases, the partially blind players can do by a bit. However, the fully blind players are the ones who find it cumbersome – it’s almost impossible for them to use many of the existing apps and thus, they miss out on chances to practice or study the games on the move.

What are your ambitions for the future? 

I have a couple of key chess targets. Firstly, my aim is to become an International Master. Secondly, I am targeting the 2019 World Championships for the visually challenged.

With respect to my academics, I have completed my Masters in Economics, wherein I ranked second in the university. Recently, I also passed the state eligibility test for lectureship.

In the long run, I am contemplating to take up chess as a profession. However, I need to see how it works out. I plan to play many tournaments in the forthcoming months. In May, I will be playing at Bhubaneshwar (Ed – Kishan is currently playing this event), followed by the IBCA Olympiad in June.  

In the tournaments for visually challenged players, boosting one’s rating is a tough task. As such, I would love playing a good number of GM tournaments – I have played only one so far. I would particularly like playing the Spanish and Czech circuits. But again, securing sponsorship is a major challenge.

What will you like to tell our readers?

Chess is the only sport where the blind and the sighted can play on level terms without any real change in rules. The only major exception might be the ‘touch and move’ rule, as the visually challenged play with the ‘lift and move’ rule. Thus, we can see that chess caters to a large group of people. This makes our royal game truly special.

 

Blitzkrieg

Favourite food

I like sweet dishes, especially Kheer.

Favourite pastime

I love listening to music, Hindi songs in particular. Sonu Nigam is my favorite artist.

Early bird or Night owl

Early bird. I sleep by 11:30!

One motivational quote that gets you going.

There are many motivational quotes by Swami Vivekananda. If I had to name one, it has to be this: Strength is life, Weakness is death. Whatever you think, that you will be. If you think yourself weak, weak you will be; If you think yourself strong; strong you will be.

A big thanks to Priyadarshan Banjan of Chessbase India for all the wonderful pictures.

We caught up with Srinath Narayanan for an interview, who just recently crossed the 2500 rating requirement at Sharjah Masters to become a Grandmaster.

His story is mixed with glory, success and setbacks. A very talented and persistent player, and a hardworking person, he shares with us his experiences and how he conquered the challenges to become a very strong player he is today. His journey wasn’t easy, but he sets an example that with the dedicated effort and love for the game, it is possible to attain even unattainable goals.

Rucha Pujari: Congratulations Srinath on becoming a Grandmaster! You have had five GM norms to your credit and many times came close with the rating. What went right at Sharjah Masters that helped you cross the 2500 barrier?

Srinath Narayanan: Thank you very much Rucha 🙂

I think there were a few things that I decided to do differently towards the end of 2016. Firstly, I felt that I needed a different coach, a new one who can give me a new perspective and who didn’t have prejudice about my chess. I had been interacting with GM Andrey Deviatkin for a couple of years prior to 2016, and we had talked about my game at times. I asked him to help me from around September 2016. I immediately increased around 15 points and made my 4^th GM norm in the very next tournament. It took me a while to really agree with the changes he suggested, but after a disastrous IIFL tournament at the end of the year, I thought “why not? It can hardly get worse” Things became easier after that and this was one of the significant changes.

Secondly, there was a conscious decision to play in stronger tournaments. In the whole of 2015 and 2016 put together, I had faced only 11 opponents above 2600. Add 2014 and it’s just 17. However, in 2017, I’ve already faced 13 opponents above 2600 and quite a few between 2550-2600 as well. So I think it was a combination of these two factors, and I think the change of choice of tournaments in particular made a big difference.

The living legend, Vishy Anand tweeted on your success. How good did it feel?

Congrats srinath narayan. Welcome to the GM fold. Still remember you visiting us many years ago & I tried suggesting books! Impressive play

— Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) March 29, 2017

It was one of the best feeling! I don’t think it’ll be an exaggeration if I said that it felt better than getting the GM title itself 🙂 It also felt great that he was still following my results.

You must have had many hurdles to cross in your journey of becoming a Grandmaster. Can you describe any one difficult problem you have had to deal with, and how did you handle it?

Absolutely, there have been several hurdles that I’ve had to cross. One which comes to my mind is that for a long time I had difficulty when I came close to a goal or a milestone. For example, I’ve lost several times when I needed to make a draw to get a norm or in similar circumstances.

I overcame this by training myself to stay in the present and not dwell too much on these external goals even when I wasn’t playing. This is of course easier said than done and it took me a long time to train this.

How was your journey from a chess prodigy to a Grandmaster? Also we are interested to know how your game developed in the process.

The journey was quite difficult, like climbing a steep mountain. My career was quite smooth till around the age of 14. I had become an IM by that time and I was seeded 2^nd in the World Under 14 in which I finished 7^th. So I was definitely quite up there.

Around 2008, things changed quite drastically when my sponsorship was discontinued by Sun Group, a multinational company based in Russia, due to recession. As a result I didn’t have much coaching during 2009-11 and also the foreign tournaments stopped. This changed my career quite a bit, as I dropped about 100 points. This also affected my self confidence. I started working with GM Abhijit Kunte from 2011 and it helped immensely. He helped me regain my confidence and self belief, and I started to climb up again. Between 2013-16 I was again stuck in a valley, but I think this was because of being unable to play strong tournaments due to limited funds. I managed to change this approach in 2016 and now I intend to be more judicious in this regard.

With regard to my game, I think I started out as a tactical player who could play quite fast. This was due to solving a lot of tactics and playing a huge number of weekend rapid tournaments in the early stages of my career. As my career progressed, I was influenced by different coaches at different parts of my career. Like for example, after working for a few months with GM RB Ramesh, I became vastly improved in openings. At different stages, what I studied defined what my strength and weaknesses were. When I improved in one aspect, the other would be relatively weak, which would become apparent over a period of time. Then I would work on the weaker to part to bring about a balance.

Can you share with us some of the turning points of your career? In retrospect, were there any moments that made you feel that this game, this field is what you want to pursue?

My first turning point was probably when I won the State Under 7 in 2000. This was what gave my parents the confidence to continue to support me in Chess in the first place. A couple of years later, I became the Youngest FIDE rated player in India. At that time it was hailed as an achievement because the number of rated players in India were limited and the minimum threshold for gaining rating was 2000. Then of course the biggest achievement was winning the World Under 12 Chess Championship in Belfort.

However, honestly I don’t think it was such external things that made me choose chess. My love and passion for chess was there from the beginning, and it just felt natural that I would keep continuing playing the game. There may have been negative thoughts of a fleeting nature, but I never seriously considered doing anything else.

If you have to pick one, what is one key event that changed your professional life in a positive or negative way?

Well, in terms of positivity, I think it was winning the World Under 12 in 2005. It gave me a lot of funding, support, recognition, and made it much easier to become an IM.

In terms of negative event, it was the loss of sponsorship in 2008 due to recession.

Recently you made a witty tweet regarding cheating in Chess. On those lines, do you think the future of Chess is in danger?

Some of these low rated players can be very dangerous. You never know what’s under their sleeve 😛

— Narayanan Srinath (@nsrinath69) April 7, 2017

Yes, absolutely. It’s probably an exaggeration to say that the future of chess is in danger, however this is a very serious menace. India has taken serious measures and is probably in the forefront in tackling this problem. For example, I see that in Indian tournaments, the mobile phone rule is strictly enforced in all the tournaments I’ve played recently and the arbiters have been vigilant.

However, I feel that there may have been some instances where people have managed to evade the net. It’s easier when a person cheats obviously and regularly, as the officials can keep vigil and nab the suspect at some moment. But, there can be more intelligent ways to cheat, like for example, cheating in only specific games, or specific moments, and these are much harder to detect. And even if a person is suspected, proving it is a whole different story.

Such instances can have a major impact on the victim. When you get outplayed like that, it can possibly shatter a person’s self confidence and cause a lasting impact, even if temporary. I think this is something that must be taken quite seriously and fought with all resources.

One effective way to make this difficult would be to have a policy where the games at the lower level (below 2700) are broadcasted with a 15/30 minute delay. This’ll eradicate one way of cheating – receiving communication via a micro device. Without being able to receive communication, a prospective cheater has to rely on methods that has greater risk of being caught. I feel that this is a very serious and necessary precaution.

What one or two things do you have in your training that are keys to your success? How would you a guide an upcoming player to improve at Chess?

I feel that it is very useful to have a good partner to work with. I find that this makes a major difference, compared to working on one’s own all the time. While it’s an extremely useful skill to be able to work for a long time on your own, usually collaborating with a  good partner makes one’s work at least twice faster and more productive.

As far as what areas to work on goes, I think this is something very subjective. Once a player has decent basics and starts playing at a standard level, they usually develop certain tendencies that becomes a constraint to progress. Therefore, I think it’s very important and essential to constantly analyze one’s own games and draw conclusions. The pattern found in the list of mistakes can give a good idea of the strengths and weakness.This gives a good indication on the areas to work on. ‘Pump up your rating’ by Axel Smith explains this process well. The late Russian IM and legendary coach Mark Dvoretzky has also written about this.

What is your next goal? How are you working in that direction?

For now, my goal is to keep progressing the way I’ve this year so far. I’ll be looking to play more of such strong tournaments, and keep working on my weaknesses and try to improve my strengths. In general, I much rather prefer performance goals over result goals.

What is success, according to you?

I’ve never thought about this really, but I suppose success is a feeling of accomplishment, wherein I manage to achieve what I want.

I haven’t thought much about success, because a few years ago I came across the following lines which made a deep impact in my mind:- “”Don’t aim at success—the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it.” From Man’s search for meaning by Viktor.E.Frankl and this is the philosophy I choose to adopt. A similar philosophy was also suggested in the movie 3 idiots and it is something I’ve written in detail in the paradox of work.

 

Blitzkrieg!

Any one country you have enjoyed playing in?

Russia

A book you like and you would suggest reading, to a friend.

Flow

What is the one thing that annoys you the most 😛   

Pessimism

What was the best advice you were ever given?

Enjoy the present.

The Indian chess circuit, in general, is widely considered to be a rating grave. Foreign players coming to India as well as the stronger Indian players are wary of the challenge that lies ahead – loads of underrated players having a keen eye for tactics in addition to their unflinching attitude. With all this is in mind, how about winning two such international opens out of a possible three on the circuit? Massive, right? That is exactly what 29-year-old Ukrainian Grandmaster Adam Tukhaev did – won international opens in Mumbai and Chennai while finishing respectably at Delhi. Post the circuit, we caught up with Adam to know more about how the events transpired. In this interview, catch him speak on his successful Indian tour, his approach to the events, some intriguing experiences, and the chess scene back home – all these in a humble yet humorous fashion.

 

Shubham Kumthekar: Three events on the tour and two victories! Congratulations! What does it feel like?

Adam Tukhaev: Thank you! It felt so abnormal – my mind took some convincing that it really happened. Yeah, it feels good. 🙂

What are your impressions of your play during this circuit?

Well, in Mumbai (2nd IIFL Wealth International), there was nothing really special about my play. I had a mediocre event until I got it handed on a plate in the 7th round when Rajesh blundered in a drawing opposite colored bishops’ endgame, and then again in the final game when Bernadskiy missed a crucial bishop sacrifice on h5. Sure, I was there to use the chances, but it takes a lot of luck to be granted such opportunities!

Somehow, I was quite satisfied with my efforts in Delhi (15th Delhi International). I really struggled in the first half but kept fighting, and by the last round managed to get back to the top boards. In the last round, I had some chances against Swayams, but he held on.

And in Chennai (9th Chennai Open), don’t let the result blind you! There were definitely some bumps on the road to a seemingly perfect start. Like, I came completely unprepared for the second game and had to survive some scary moments in the opening. Later, I was completely lost in Round 4 vs Saravana but found my luck in the time trouble. Irrespective of all these, that was my best tournament in terms of my play.

The thing I liked most about my play was the hunger for chess which helped me find some fresh ideas at the board. As is tradition, I was rather underprepared and often didn’t calculate well, but my opponents were really kind and gracious 🙂

While most GMs were struggling, you were pretty consistent. What, according to you, may have made the difference?

Indeed, I didn’t lose a single game out of almost 30 – but that wasn’t for the lack of trying! I think the closest calls were in the games vs Kurbonboeva (Delhi, Round 5), Saravana (Chennai, Round 4) and Deviatkin (Chennai, Round 9). So, first of all, I was simply fortunate. Then again, I didn’t try to push things when I just wasn’t feeling it. Sometimes, I wouldn’t mind a quick draw or play something extra solid just trying not to blunder stuff. I think I managed to find a good balance.

Considering that it was a successful tour, you may have had plenty of good games. Which are your personal favorites?

The game against Horvath (Chennai, Round7) for the nice finish (I mean the line that could’ve happened after 21.Bd3 axb3+ 22.Ba5 Qxd1+!) – and for the very rare opportunity to play against a fellow GM whose name is also Adam! Apart from that, I can’t recall anything bright enough. The last round effort in Mumbai was very important, of course, but the nerves got the better of both of us, so the game’s quality was not particularly high.

Winning an open tournament is considered to be a strikingly different challenge as compared to the traditional all-play-alls. What, in your opinion, are the quintessentials to be a good open player?

Wouldn’t hurt being a good round robin player to start with 🙂 I think that in order to have a chance to win a swiss event, you need to be prepared to take more risks. If you don’t have losing positions in an open tournament, you’re doing it wrong!

Playing three tournaments on the trot, sometimes with two rounds a day, can get tiresome. How do you ensure staying in the best physical shape?

Back at home, I have a fitness coach. Her name is Luna, and she’s a dog! Very cute 2-year-old Saluki. My preferred cardio is just walking around. In Mumbai, I had a company for that as well, but then in Delhi, I got sick (as many other colleagues – there was something in the air!) and hadn’t fully recovered until a few days after the trip! So my strategy for Delhi and Chennai was just to preserve energy – I didn’t go anywhere except to grab something to eat.

What was your approach like during these events?

The routine was nothing special, and the preparation depended on the opponent. If I thought that the appropriate preparation would take too much time, I chose to get some rest instead. And when my opponent’s repertoire was more or less limited, I would try to cook some stuff beforehand. It didn’t always work, but sometimes it was spot on, like against Sunilduth and Swayams in Delhi.

You may have visited quite a few places in Mumbai, Delhi & Chennai during this tour. Can you share some of your interesting experiences as a tourist during this circuit? 🙂

Normally, at tournaments, I turn into a couch potato as I don’t have much time nor the company to explore the surroundings. But in Mumbai, I was lucky enough to meet Nathan Alfred, an English player now doing God’s work in Singapore (he’s a rabbi), and persuaded him to include me in some of his journeys. That’s how I got to see some famous landmarks. I liked the Elephanta island – it was nice to interact with monkeys even though one of them robbed me of a water bottle 🙂 My favorite trip was the one at Global Vipassana Pagoda after the tournament. I felt like it helped clear some negative thoughts and regain calmness.

Due to physical conditions, Delhi was a complete hotel – tournament hall – hotel kind of experience. Chennai was mostly like that as well.

But on the rest day caused by the jallikattu ordeal, together with a few other players, we went to the Marina Beach, which was the epicenter of protests! We had to join the crowd for a few minutes, and some guys were even taking pictures with us, trying to teach us how to say ‘jallikattu’ properly. It was fun!

It did take some time to get to the actual beach and then get back home, but it was worth it.

This is your second trip to India. What do you like about playing in India and what do you consider to be the biggest challenges?

Yes, I played Delhi and Chennai last year as well. Well, for one thing, it’s a nice getaway from the winter at home! You know, I kinda like the snow, but when it’s -30 Celsius you can’t help but think that you can die simply being outdoors for too long, and you start to question all the life decisions that led to staying where you are.

Secondly, it’s the food. At home, I mostly cook for my family, and sometimes it gets boring for everyone involved 🙂 Here, it feels like getting a break. It’s delicious, it’s spicy, and there is such variety that you can always find something new.

Then again, I love being immersed into English speaking community. Hindi scripture looks interesting, and I learned some of the letters by reading the names of metro stations, but the language seems too formidable to try and learn even if only the basics. Besides, it won’t help if you are in Chennai 🙂

Last but not the least, people are somewhat friendlier here than I’m used to. Once you learn the vital skill of crossing a busy road, you begin to feel like you are going to be alright!

As for the challenges – by far, the worst thing I’ve experienced in India was the air condition in Delhi. It’s so bad that it’s unbelievable – makes you value more the air at home, though 🙂

Of course, the local players are underrated and you can easily shed a massive amount of Elo points if you’re not careful. And even if you are. But hey, there’s got to be some catch, right?

You hail from Ukraine and are currently staying in Russia. What do you find different about chess in India as compared to Ukraine/Russia?

Chess has been very popular in the USSR, and the countries that were parts of it continue to reap the benefits of the chess culture that had emerged. Whether we’re talking about middlegame and endgame ideas, or take a look at the opening preparation, the players from Ukraine and Russia normally have some advantage on account of being connected to this culture from a very young age.

India is certainly not behind any other country in raw chess talent. The trait Indian players (I mean those below GM level) are mostly known for is, I think, the ability to defend worse positions. Add to that tactical awareness, as well as being underrated, and it’s easy to see why foreign players donate so many Elo points here. Considering the fact that chess is popular and efforts are being made to promote the game and nurture the talent, it’s not hard to predict bright future for the Indian chess team. Bronze medal at Tromso Olympiad 2014 is surely a hint of things to follow.

Let’s take a dive into the past. How did it all begin?

I was five, and my father brought me along to something like a sports center for kids. I think my first choice was some kind of wrestling. But then one day, I looked around and spotted a drawing of a chess knight on one of the doors and asked my dad what it was. And so it started.

Time and again, we hear about the importance of good coaching at the grassroots level. How is the early coaching scene in Ukraine/Russia like? Can you tell us something about some of the most influential coaches you worked with at a young age?

Yeah, Ukraine and Russia are known for their good coaches at every level. I don’t know, I think the best thing a coach can do for a kid that wants to learn chess is not to stifle the natural curiosity. So you have to introduce the important tactical ideas and strategic concepts while helping him or her explore what they like the most about the game. You certainly shouldn’t overdo openings, for one thing. At some moment, of course, you have to start looking into openings more seriously and study closely how they connect to the middlegame and endgame.

I remember fondly the lessons with my first coach, Aleksander Borshchov from Kerch. He’s a very kind and intelligent person and I felt so at home at the chess club that I was completely absorbed by the game. Sometimes we would work beyond any time limit, finishing long after everyone else went home 🙂

After a few years when I was like eight or nine, he told my parents that he had taught me all he could and that I needed to move on. My parents and I moved from Kerch to Simferopol, and I went to study with a few coaches of a relatively higher caliber, but I feel like something was lost along the way as well.

While growing up as an improving chess player, which famous chess personalities had the biggest influence on you?

Honestly, I feel like I’m not strong enough to have this conversation about influences, but as far as I remember, I’ve always been a big fan of Ivanchuk. I was privileged as to get to work with the man himself after we met on ICC one lucky winter day in 2009! The collaboration has had its moments, and we’re still in touch so I’d like to say he remains my biggest influence.

You became a Grandmaster at a young age of 19. What was the journey to the title like?

Well, it wasn’t considered a tender age even back then. Since I got to around 2450, I had been trying to score GM norms in round robin tournaments in Alushta as it was just an hour’s ride from where I lived, and eventually got the three norms in six attempts. As usual, during that period I analyzed my games, worked on openings, solved a lot of different stuff, and even read some books! I remember being particularly impressed by Chess for Zebras by Jonathan Rowson.

What do you consider as the biggest achievement of your chess career so far?

In terms of performance, Kavala 2010 is the best one – 1st place and a 2775 TPR against mostly 2600+ players. But I’ve never had a more successful series of events than this time in India. Add to that getting married and you can say January 2017 was a month to remember.

How do you generally work on your chess?

Actually, I have mostly been busy with commentating for chesspro.ru as well as occasional coaching and didn’t really work on myself lately. Given time, I usually try to refurbish some opening facilities as well as to train myself to calculate better. Often, such work leads to some kind of burnout though, so the timing is really important.

What chess ambitions do you hold for the future?

I have no plans laid out further than March. I will be playing some chess in Sweden (Ed. – Adam is currently playing at Stockholm), and the ambition is just to be able to enjoy the game.

Blitzkrieg

If you had a chance to meet a celebrity of your choice, who would it be?

Hmm… Well, Barack Obama seems to have got a lot of free time on his hands, right? 🙂

A sports quote that you find the most impressive.

“Do I know what product I’m selling? No. Do I know what I’m doing today? No. But I’m here, and I’m gonna give it my best shot.”

Not a sports movie, but Zoolander helped me get through 28 games in a row. Sums up my approach in the tour pretty well 🙂

Early bird or night owl?

Nighty night owl. Morning rounds is a human invention I don’t like one bit.

Blitz, Rapid or Classical?

I think rapid is the one I am most comfortable with, even though it doesn’t necessarily translate to results.

The cuisine of your choice.

If I have to pick just one, Indian, of course 🙂 All those fantastic gravies, man!

Bharat Singh Chauhan is a name that is synonymous with Indian chess administration. However, his contribution is not limited by boundaries. Not only is he the CEO of the All India Chess Federation (AICF), but also the Chairman of FIDE’s Technical commission, Commonwealth Chess association & Deputy President of the Asian Chess Federation!

I had a chance to meet him when he came to Bangalore. We discussed a lot of technical things, apps and stuff. Finally we got down for some Q & A about Indian Chess and where things are headed!

Asim Pereira: (Given your involvement with FIDE & Asian Chess) Are you still actively involved with AICF & Indian Chess?
Yes yes. I am involved in policy making and long term element planning. I am involved in almost all the things.

What are India’s chess goals or what are we trying to achieve at the highest level? What is the aim for the next few years?
To be very honest with you, in AICF we feel that its ‘Chess for everyone’. Ofcourse medal in Olympiad, world champions are some goals which any federations should have. But we give more priority to chess for everyone, so that more and more people can play.

We have substantial FIDE rated players and we have overtaken France…

(interrupting) we are number one in the world!

…so at some point should we also be focusing on getting more people in the world top 100 and getting existing GMs into 2700 and that kind of thing?
As I mentioned regarding hunt for medal, this is very important actually and we should concentrate on that kind of tournaments (Editor: Closed round robin, elite events etc). Unfortunately it requires a lot of money like Tata Steel, Bilbao, Dortmund all are big budget events.

So this is my personal opinion: if someone asks me to add fifty thousand chess players or running this one-two tournaments in a year, I would prefer to add fifty thousand people. I personally feel we are doing service to the society with fifty thousand people added to Chess. So I give more importance to that.

I know its a requirement for federation and our players that you should have such tournaments as Bilbao & Tata Steel, but unfortunately we are not able to concentrate, but very soon we are going to have some category tournaments.

[bctt tweet=”Bharat Singh: but very soon we are going to have some category tournaments.” username=”FollowChessApp”]

In fact we started few in Airport Authority but not such a large level. But now we have lot of players already in the top 20-30 and recently I saw Adhiban (Editor: Adhiban finished joint 3rd in Tata Steel Masters 2017 ahead of many higher rated elite players) is doing well and our team played so well in the Olympiad (Editor: Indian men finished 4th and women finished 5th). Their standard has gone up. So maybe we should have some tournaments like these. Maybe atleast one or two big tournaments in a year where we can bring our players to this level.

With my limited interaction with some of these IMs and players, what I have realized is one of the problem and challenge is not having good strong tournaments in India with say a cut-off of minimum 2200 or 2300 which will give strong exposure to players. Else you end up going abroad to play. Recently there was a Marienbad tournament in Czechoslovakia where 3 Indian players participated in Round Robin tournaments (Editor: Marienbad GMa & GMb).
So some kind of tournaments like these? Maybe not absolute elite, not Bilbao not Tata Steel, but some kind of round robin tournaments which can help people gain rating and norms?
Actually round robin tournaments were organized earlier and they were doing well, but we had some problems with the round robin tournaments at lower level. Grand Master round robin tournaments may be ok. But nowadays we have 5-6 Grand Master events in the country. And some norms were gained there. And our neighbouring countries also have events.
I mean there are lot of opportunities for the players to achieve norms in India also. But I told you the reason why we stopped this. We have brought Chess to such a level, we don’t want a bad name and get back to this (lower) level.

Recently I did a bit of study (Editor: Details in the post here). By Nov 2016 India really had a good user base. But per 100 players, the amount of Titled  (GM, IM..) players that we had was lowest amongst the Top 10 nations. But the observation there was that once our players are Titled, we are good at getting Grand Masters from amongst the Titled players. Which means once our guys become Titled, the guys really go on to become GMs. So our focus should have been to get people to earn more titles because maybe then that (becoming GM) would happen automatically?

Rank	Fed	Titled	Rated	Titled/Rated (TPR) %
1	Russia	2443	60893	4.01
2	USA	724	13677	5.29
3	China	147	2072	7.09
4	Ukraine	539	8803	6.12
5	India	302	59088	0.51
6	France	405	44797	0.90
7	Azerbaijan	128	2710	4.72
8	Armenia	113	1353	8.35
9	Poland	377	18529	2.03
10	Hungary	458	9619	4.76

Table1 : Top 10 nations with total Titled + Rated players and their ratio

We have lot of things to do. I don’t say we are perfect and we are very fine. There is lots to be done. I don’t want to say people in the past have done bad or good but I just want to remind you in 2005 we had only 10 Grand Masters and now we have 48 odd Grand Masters and lot of IMs. Those days, IM was a real luxury. Manuel Aaron was the only IM for a long time.

Recently I was in Budapest and Grand Master Csaba said, if they play Indian players below 18 who have gone there to play, they feel very scared. The below 18 players are very strong. And they say that Indian rating is 200 points lesser than FIDE because standards are more. That is possible because we have lot of rating tournaments since 250 odd FIDE rated tournaments or held in a year.

We are able to get money, whatever way the money comes. Lot of money is coming and going to the players through FIDE rated tournaments. Atleast we are able to provide opportunity. We send biggest delegation to Asian youth championship, where titles are given to the winners. Our major titles like CM/FM come from there. We don’t have specialized youngster-events or Title events.

Mumbai tournament has come up further for young children which is a good beginning (Editor: IIFL Wealth Mumbai tournament had a Under-13 age category section with a huge prize fund of 8 Lakhs Indian Rupees). I would say we should have atleast 5-6 more tournaments for school children or young people. That will give more titles.

I know that data for Titled players, but its also essential to have more rated players.

Yes ofcourse, there are so many tournaments which have exploded recently. So there is a lot of opportunity to get initial rating. But maybe if the IMs or 2400 guys who are stuck had some tournaments.. or say Praggnanandhaa, if he played strong round robin events instead of playing under-age category events? Lets take an example of Jeffery Xiong the World Junior Champion from US. He recently played in the Tata Steel Challengers. (Editor: Jeffery finished a credible 3rd inspite of being the youngest participant!)! If our players get that kind of exposure, that would be really amazing. So do we right now have any plans to have some kind of round robin events?

I explained there were certain issues regarding round robin tournaments. But will be definitely doing category events; for GM tournaments or elite tournaments. But I don’t see any immediate plans to have round robin rating tournaments or IM round robin tournaments.

[bctt tweet=”Bharat Singh: I don’t see any immediate plans to have RR rating tournaments or IM RR tournaments.” username=”FollowChessApp”]

There is a lot of opportunity. We encourage them. We don’t stop people going for round robin tournaments. If they get an invitation they go. But in India there were issues and some other issues were reported. I mean we cannot do policing in all the tournaments. There are more than 500 tournaments in a year. How can we do policing for all the tournaments? But we have to try our best.

I personally feel we are able to give so much money and opportunity to the players. Ofcourse playing in India, even the Indian GMs feel that the standards are very high and they find it difficult. I don’t know if you have noticed. Lot of Indian Grand Masters don’t play in Indian tournaments. But they will go and play similar kind of tournaments with similar standards and lesser prize money outside India. I don’t blame them. But the strength of the youth in our country and the strength of our young players is really very good. Everybody abroad including foreign GMs are scared of (young Indian players).

Is there a plan for a league structure, for children, middle guys, to get experience? Has this been thought of in the future?

We already had negotiations with many people. And there is already Maharashtra league which is successful (Editor: Maharashtra Chess League (MCL) completed its 4th season last year). It is happening and it is a wonderful thing to happen for Maharashtra chess. We had plans. But again we don’t want to go the Millionaire way (Editor: The highly publicized Millionaire Chess will not be organized in 2017 due to lack of sponsorship). We want to start a sustainable tournament with a sustainable plan and policy. The person who is organizing tournaments should not conduct for a year and stop. We want somebody to organize for alteast 10 years. So we are already talking (to organizers) since a year. More money for the players will attract more people to Chess.

When we used to play Chess, most of the people in the society compared it to gambling and that one should not play chess. Now, every household ladies proudly talk that their son/daughter plays Chess and if he/she got a medal. Atleast in the metros, winning medal in a chess tournament is kind of a status symbol. Many people talk about it. But we want more and more people introduced to Chess. Anand did it (popularized chess) in a big way, and lot of youngsters like Praggnanandhaa, Murali Karthikeyan, Aravindh Chithambaram, Parimarjan Negi, Aryan Chopra are contributing to develop chess. And to introduce more people to chess, we have to make it more lucrative to parents and players. More money, more respect, more professionalism will attract more people. There is no doubt about it. If you want to grow in Chess, you have to showcase your players as stars.

[bctt tweet=”Bharat Singh: More money, more respect, more professionalism will attract more people (to Chess).” username=”FollowChessApp”]

You know when India won the world cup (Editor: he probably meant the 1983 world cup), the Cricket Board didn’t have money for the press conference. And look at what the cricket board is today (Editor: BCCI is apparently the richest cricket board in the world)! So people have to learn that you have to showcase your players as stars. You have to respect your players.

[bctt tweet=”People have to learn that you have to showcase your players as stars and respect your players.” username=”FollowChessApp”]

Yes that is a good point, to have stars. What Magnus Carlsen has done is single handedly put Norway on the Chess map. Anish Giri for Netherlands. Caruana/Nakamura for US. So if our guys get into that league of say top 20-50, wouldn’t that automatically become a nice circle such that players get to the top and then others follow and take inspiration from it?

Anand has done a big thing. Now people are talking about Harikrishna, people know Harikrishna, people know Praggnanandhaa, Aravindh Chithambaram etc. I mean you go to the lay man, taxi man, everybody will know. Even in Europe if you go to any taxi driver, they will tell you 10 names about Indian players (Editor: Obviously not an easy claim to verify!). Many people take it as their ideal and start playing.

Q: But maybe if these youngsters had an opportunity of playing strong or testing matches? Recently Wei Yi was playing Rapport. The Chinese association invites foreign players to play 4 or 6 games against their own (Editor: And Ding Liren played Wesley So). In a way these guys are just conditioned and prepared to face a future World championship match. But our guys say Praggnanandhaa or Aravindh Chithambaram might not have got an opportunity to play such a tense match.

I think in our system, in our country everybody thinks that Govt. of India should do everything. Govt. of India cannot put one person for securing one person. One police man cannot be there with every lady (Editor: probably referring to the recent spate of crimes against women in some Indian cities). People of this country have to work together. Europe has so many tournaments. There, people take it as a social responsibility. Like Tata has taken the steel company (Editor: India’s Tata group acquired Corus in 2007), but they have an agreement to continue what the previous company was doing (Editor: We have reached out to the Tata Steel Organizers for more details on this). Whether they have sold it or not, whether they have become bankrupt, whether it is a profit making venture or not, but they have to continue the social responsibility.

You go to Spain and towns like Benasque have a lot of tournaments. I had a big discussion with them to understand how they do this. They said they have people who have to do this under social responsibility. In our country, we all kill our responsibility. We don’t think what we have to do for the society. Everybody talks about their rights. Nobody talks about their duty. If people think that only federation should do this thing, it is practically impossible.

[bctt tweet=”Bharat Singh: In our country..Everybody talks about their rights. Nobody talks about their duty” username=”FollowChessApp”]

According to me, whoever is contributing to our federation are doing a reasonably good job, leaving their personal and professional things aside. Presently I think our federation is doing very well. The endorsement comes from the people. The appreciation comes from the performance of our players and our growth in Chess. But still, I am not saying I am satisfied. Still there is lot of work to be done. And how will it be done? If people think only AICF should do it, it is wrong. We all should do it!

Lets say if somebody wanted to help out like this. What kind of support can we expect. Say some enthusiast, has passion for organizing tournaments?

Full support. AICF has got a pretty open policy. If you want to organize a tournament, do it. But once again, we are very open, we allow everybody to organize tournaments, but there are a few things to follow. We cannot allow liquor, cigarettes in our tournament publicity, not have them as sponsors. Also the prize money for the players should be secured. You cannot announce 50 Lakhs and run away. It happened in a few places abroad also. We make state association responsible. If you (state association) are forwarding us a tournament request, then the state association is responsible for the prize money. One incident happened in Gujarat. One person ran away with 5 Lakhs prize money. He did not give the players. So Gujarat association paid for it. 5 Lakhs money was paid to the players. So we have to take care of their interests. we are very open with the rest of the things. We encourage people to come into chess and run the tournaments.

Recent National premier in UP. What went wrong there. What could have been done better? (Editor: The event ran into venue crisis, which had to be changed after round 2. Couple of players withdrew from the event)
One thing I can say is that the players were not on the wrong side. It was messed up by one of the organizer. They did not take full precaution. We have taken steps already that such thing does not happen. Its very unfortunate, but players were not wrong. I am sure about it. I went there personally for the closing and met all the players and discussed. I saw all the facilities that association has offered. They had some local issues. The inspection was done. The school were the championship was happening was perfect. The players liked it. 2 rounds were played and suddenly there were issues (with the venue.)

(Editor: This tragedy made national news. You can read about it here and here.)

Does AICF usually check the background of who is organizing the event and if its the first time.
UP chess association has already organized many events. Even National B (Challengers) was done very nicely. The school where the championship was held is a world class school with good facilities. I had also visited it personally and saw all these things. It was perfect. But suddenly this political thing happened.
I don’t blame the players. It is the organizer who should have taken care.

Similarly heard there was a problem with the Maharashtra Chess Association? What happened there and whats going on right now? (Editor: Although this did not make much news, the Maharashtra Chess Association was dissolved and an ad-hoc committee created in its place)
There were issues for a long time. There are guidelines from the sports ministry. (Editor: Per clause 3.19 of the guidelines, State level associations which are affiliated to the National Federation should have a minimum number of affiliated district-level associations (say 50% of the districts in the State).) We should have 50% affiliated districts in the association. There were anomalies and serious things happened. AICF had warned them again and again. AICF gave them a long rope for a long time. They did not do it. And in the past 6 months they started fighting each other. The President and secretary were fighting each other. President called one meeting. Secretary called another meeting. They cancelled the meetings three times. And finally the commissioner stopped both the meetings. Nobody can operate the accounts. Players cannot play tournaments. You cannot send entries. Who will send the entries? Who will give permission to the players? So AICF had no option but to make an Adhoc committee and run the affairs.

Has this affected the players?
It is in the best interest of the players. The basic mantra for development is we have to go to the grass root level. All the districts should be affiliated. Districts should have all the Talukas. But Maharashtra is such a vibrant state. They don’t have 50% districts affiliated? What a joke!? They were fighting each other, lot of issues. There is no option.
We have dissolved the body. A 5 member committee is working. They look after the day to day affairs till the time its all sorted.

It is again very unfortunate. People fighting and players getting affected. Its like a mother and father fight and the kids get affected.

GM Deep Sengupta has been one of the most prominent players in India. In this in-depth interview Deep talks about his recent victory in Hastings, his early career, what’ll it take to get top players to play more in India and more! Scroll down!

Srinath Narayanan: How does it feel to win a tournament with such a rich heritage?

Deep Sengupta: I am really happy to win Hastings Masters for the second time (Editor: First time was in 2010-11). Just like the previous time I started with 1/2. It seems like Hastings is a lucky place for me. It was wonderful to see my name inscribed on the Golombek trophy with several ex-world champions.

You had an unexpected defeat in round two against Bobby Cheng. What went through your mind at this moment?

To be honest there was nothing in my mind after the unexpected defeat. This time I was mentally prepared to play for fun and not bother about results.

What was your goal before the tournament?

I wasn’t really playing for any specific performance. For a change, I was simply playing for fun!

Can you tell us something about your schedule during Hastings—how many hours did you prepare and rest?

I mostly had leisure time. Chess preparation would begin after the breakfast and would go on for about 2-3 hours. In the afternoon I would have a walk before the lunch. The rounds were in the afternoon with a six-hours schedule. Hence, there would not be much to do after the games finished. My roommate was my very good friend Arghyadip Das. We walked through the town center, went to the Hastings pier. The weather for a change was excellent in Hastings this year, and we could actually venture out of the room!

Let’s go back in time and talk a bit about your childhood. How did you take up chess?
I learned chess at about 5 years of age. My father and uncle used to play the Indian version at home (where the king could move like a knight until checked). Seeing my interest in it, I was taught the basics. I picked it up quite fast. Soon I won the Nationals in 1995 in U-7.

However, the major stepping stone was the World U-12 Gold medal. Until then I was confused between academics or sports as a career.

Tell us something about the coaches that influenced the early part of your life, about your mentors.

I grew up in Chakradharpur, a small town of Bihar (now Jharkhand). In the early 90’s there was not even the most basic infrastructure in place. However, there was a local chess club where enthusiastic people played chess. I saw a few local tournaments when I went with my father to watch these tournaments. I suggested a few moves once in a while. It is from here that one of the club members realized my potential and I was assigned Mr.Amit Medda, a young player of about 15 years from the association. Hence the basics of chess were taught to me by him. He kept helping me for quite some time even in the later stages. After I played the first National U-8 championship in 1992 in Palghat (I think), my parents realized that there is much much more to learn in chess. Soon they started to look for some trainer who had competitive experience. I was then taught by Sri R.C.Chatterjee (International Arbiter) who taught me the first opening of my chess career – The french defense! I used to visit his home near Howrah for 5-6 days in a month. As I improved further I trained with Mr. Shantanu Lahiri (elder brother of IM Atanu Lahiri). But coming to Kolkata every month and staying for several days was quite difficult. The cost was quite expensive (in those days the word “sponsorship” was not known to people from small villages and towns). This continued for some time until it became impossible to continue further. It was important to get guidance from someone. Then, IM Neeraj Kumar Mishra took me under his tutelage for several months. Being aware of my background he taught me chess in the weekends without any fee! He himself was busy with tournaments. Therefore not much time was available. Somewhere around then I won the World U-12. This opened some new avenues for me like I got selected to attend a few GM training camps (by IM Lysenko and late GM Sorokin -RIP) organized by AICF.  Some financial support to participate in open tournaments came from Tata steel and the local traders association. These tournaments had a hefty entry fee of Rs.25000/-. In my youth days, my last trainer was Mr. Varugeese Koshy. I learned a very different aspect of chess from him (the endgame!) which otherwise I had no idea. I became an IM in 2004. Once I moved to Kolkata in 2006 I got acquainted with GM S.S.Ganguly. He has been my mentor since then. He helped me a lot to complete the GM title.

That’s interesting. Aside from the coaches, can you tell us something about the role played by your family members in your career?

The support from my family members has been overwhelming. They have undertaken extreme hardships to make me where I am today. It’s easy to imagine without any financial support how difficult it can be for someone living in the most backward area of the country. It wasn’t just my parents but also few of my relatives. My maternal uncle who works in National Library has accompanied me several times in the early days when it was not possible for either of my parents.

You won World Youth at quite an early age, at a time when it was not common for Indians to win medals in this competition. How did this happen and what was the impact of this in your career?

The first World Youth I played was in 1998. That was the first time I faced against international competition. I finished 15th. At that time my chess knowledge was extremely shallow compared to my foreign counterparts. The next big hurdle was the European food. I simply could not adjust. I lived entirely on french fries and some dessert. Hence the games towards the end turned to be of worse quality. Then in the year 2000, I had this gut feeling that winning is not an impossible feat. My only problem was food and some guidance for the matches. However, as events unfolded I lost my food card. I did not get entry to the restaurant. A lot of my friends went with their parents and coaches. They started inviting me alternatively and offered me Indian food. At least one issue was solved. I played some nice games and with some luck, I won the title after winning the last game against my Icelandic friend Kjartansson Gudumundur. This victory was probably the turning point in my chess career. My determination was much stronger to become a grandmaster. I also got some financial support to participate in the strong open tournaments.

It took a while for you to go from 2450 to a grandmaster. How did you cope with this and get past this?

This was probably the most difficult part for me to cope. I was struggling between 2450-2490 for a long time but was unable to complete. I have missed my last GM norm several times by a whisker. I am sure many others face this similar issue, wherein you need a draw in last round and under pressure, it becomes difficult to achieve. It’s more of a self-confidence issue and extremely frustrating. My last GM norm was completed in Cannes, France 2010. It was under similar circumstances as earlier. I was playing with the White pieces against GM Christian Bauer. I needed a draw as usual. But he played an unusual line. I was quite sure that I couldn’t force a draw out of the opening. My self-confidence was in such a state that I had almost given up the game even before it had even started! Then it was Surjo da (S.S.Ganguly) who sent me some of his “old notes” to counter the sidelines and said some really motivating stuff. I had absolutely no difficulty to get a clear advantage out of the opening. My opponent offered a draw when he was a pawn down and I accepted it looking back at my poor track record for the last GM norm.

Lately, there seems to be an influx of Indian players in European opens. Everyone seems to prefer tournaments abroad, why do you think this is the case?

My personal opinion is that the European tournaments offer better playing conditions compared to India. The number of entries are much lesser and you get a chance to face stronger opponents which is extremely important to make norms. The tournament venue is probably more conducive for chess competition with no traffic sounds all around unlike in India.

What can be done to get more Indian top players play in Indian Opens?

I think there should be a restriction on the number of entries or a rating cut off of 2350 or something for the Indian top players to consider playing here. I am sure many top players will participate.

What does a normal day of your training look like?

My training usually starts at about 10 am and continues till 5-6 pm with a small break in between for lunch.

What do you do to keep yourself physically fit?

I do yoga and pranayama daily. And sometimes when I am at home for a considerable period, I jog for about an hour.

Whom do you work with most often?

I am mostly working with my close friend and practice partner Arghyadip Das. We have been training together since 2008.

What do you do apart from chess?

I like spending time at home playing indoor games like bridge, carrom etc. I also like to play Badminton and Table tennis whenever an opportunity arises. I am also quite fascinated by my recent trekking experiences in the Himalayas and hope to do similar ones in the near future.

How do you relax during tournaments?

During tournaments, I go for short walks. If I am in Europe I like walking down the town center pedestrian zones. I also like to watch T.V Series especially my favorite genre called Wuxia.

What is the first thing that occurs in your mind when you look at a position? Do you immediately start calculating or have some general mechanism?

I usually make an assessment of the position first. Then the calculation phase begins.

How has your approach towards opening preparation changed over the years, with the exponential increase of information?

The approach has changed drastically. In the initial years I just followed what others were doing. Now I am trying to find my own ideas.

What do you think about the importance of the study of classics in the formation of a player? Is there any particular book/DVD you would recommend for this?

I think classics are of prime importance to make a solid base for chess education. My great predecessors (by Kasparov) is an extremely important book for studying classics.

2016 began with a little slump for you, what lessons did you learn from that and what did you do differently in the second half?

I think there are good and bad phases. My bad phase probably started with the National premier 2015 at Thiruvarur and the shock of losing almost 60 points in back to back tournaments continued for some time. Now I have mostly recovered that was lost 🙂

Why do you think most young Indian players stabilize at a certain point, and what in your opinion can be done to overcome this?

Young Indian players start extremely well in the age group tournaments but due to the limited training facility in India and very limited exposure to the international competition they tend to stagnate after a certain time. However, I think this is changing slowly and now we have some very talented youngsters doing extremely well.

Are there any particular insights/lessons from your career that you would like to share with youngsters/upcoming players?

It’s the same thing what I was told in my younger days but I didn’t understand – to work hard as time is very limited and competition is growing exponentially.

What is your current ambition/goal in Chess?

My current goal is to take my elo rating to 2650 as early as possible.

You’re set to get married very shortly 🙂 How does it feel?

Wedding in itself is a very big event in everyone’s life. I am hoping everything turns out to be as expected and nothing unusual happens, but I am prepared for all the new challenges.

Blitzkrieg!

What do you regard as your biggest strength?

Patience.

If you weren’t a chess player, what would you be?

Research scholar or a Chartered Accountant.

The changes you would like to see in Indian Chess?

Closed tournaments and Indian chess league.

Greatest fear?

Losing.

A historic chess player you would like to face-off over the board?

Fischer.

Early bird or night owl?

Midway.

Your most memorable game?

Against Edouard Romain in Hastings masters 2010-11.

Thanks for the interview and wish you a happy 2017!

 

The Schachbundesliga is to Chess as the NBA is to Basketball or the Indian Premier League is to Cricket. Known for the regular participation of the biggest names in world chess, the Schachbundesliga has a rich history and has grown into an avidly followed league. Players right from Spassky to Caruana have, at some point or the other, graced this fabulous event, which brings together a fine mix of the elite and the rising stars of the chess world. In our bid to decipher the ‘behind-the-scenes’ story of this marquee event, we reached out to the Vice President of the Schachbundesliga – Mr. Ulrich Geilmann. Ulrich provides in-depth information on how the league came into being and its top notch execution, while also providing important pointers for nations wishing to have a world-class league of their own.

 

Shubham Kumthekar: Hello Ulrich, thanks for agreeing for this interview. Could you please introduce yourself to our readers and how did you get involved with the Schachbundesliga?

Ulrich Geilmann: Hello, you’re welcome. I am pleased that the Schachbundesliga now attracts attention outside Germany as well.

My name is Ulrich Geilmann. I am 53 years old and the Vice President of probably the strongest chess league in the world – the Schachbundesliga. Together with my colleagues Markus Schäfer (President), Detlef Wickert (Treasurer) and Jürgen Kohlstädt (Tournament Director), I organize all matters related to the association. We do this voluntarily and understand ourselves as providers for our members.

How did the initial seasons go by? 

The Schachbundesliga is an association and was founded in 2007 as a union of the clubs then playing first league. Before that, the league was organized by the German Chess Federation (DSB).

Above all, the far-sighted idea of our founding-fathers was to manage the league beside the DSB, to become more professional and thus perhaps to improve the marketing opportunities for the first-league clubs as well. After discussions, the DSB was largely consensual and we fixed all that in a basic-contract.

The DSB is still represented in our committees and we have voting rights at the DSB. There is a joint commission also. This mainly makes sense because the business of the Schachbundesliga and DSB is intertwined with four regionally divided 2nd leagues.

Overall, this design has proven itself. We work well together, weighing the interests of all members equally.

How has Bundesliga evolved over the years?

From the start, we have worked with our members to improve tournament standards and to be attractive to chess fans.

A big step forward was the compulsory transmission of games on an internet-platform. Here, we were certainly the pioneers in international comparison.

With the renovation of our homepage, which mainly benefits from the work of our two editors Marc Lang and Georgios Souleidis, our external presentation has certainly improved even further.

As a result, the Schachbundesliga has become professional and more interesting from year to year.

With so many teams and players participating, effective coordination plays a very important part. How do you manage to ensure the same?

The coordinating work of the Schachbundesliga is unthinkable without the commitment of our member-associations. They are the ones who assemble the teams and ensure quality. This means an enormous organizational and financial expenditure. That should be emphasized. Beyond the sporting competition, we all move on the same line and, believe it or not, even in the same direction!

Also, the self-administration works well because the board of the Schachbundesliga is team-orientated and cooperates without conflicts.

Bundesliga has witnessed the participation of the top-most players on a regular basis. How do you ensure that the organisation of the event remains of the highest standard?

The central element is the tournament-regulation, which defines the framework of conditions. Everything is regulated, from the quality of the chess-boards, the tables and chairs, through to the excellence of the tournament hall. Somehow, typical German!

How and when did Frauen-Bundesliga come into being? Can you tell us more about the event?

The Frauenbundesliga (woman’s league) was created under the umbrella of the DSB and is still being organized there. But some top female players play successfully in the Schachbundesliga as well.

At the end of this season, there will be a joint event in Berlin. I am really looking forward to that. In preparation, we have started to report about the Frauenbundesliga on our homepage since a couple of weeks. So, if you ask me, it’s more than likely that there will be more cooperation between the Schachbundesliga and Frauenbundesliga in future.

What level of influence have these string of wonderful league tournaments had on the Chess scene in Germany?

Our main goal is the promotion of chess as a sport. The Schachbundesliga sees itself as a central building block. In this respect, we give an exemplary orientation and publicly effective presentation of our competitions.

That’s why, we are a role-model for the whole chess sport in Germany. An important part is fair play and playing without doping. Naturally, we also condemn all forms of manipulation, in particular the use of forbidden technical tools.

With up-to-date marketing and the use of modern media, we want to create an attractive presentation for our member-associations, in order to open up marketing opportunities as well. The aim is the promotion of a positive and radiating image of chess.

Therefore we support the DSB in its sporting, social, inclusive and educational policy aims. We therefore expressly welcome the establishment and expansion of a competent and sustainable work for youth players by our members.

Whether we are actually successful at all levels is a question that can be discussed. This applies, in particular, to all questions related to marketing. However, I also believe that we are on the right path as a whole.

While many of the top chess nations have leagues of their own, there are others, India for instance, which lack one. What are the most important pointers for such nations to get a league structure going?

Good question. The financial and organizational conditions will vary from nation to nation. Certainly, we had an advantage in the sense that the Schachbundesliga already had the basic structure in place which made our start that much easier. Also, I believe that our approaches can not be transferred without reservation. However, our structure of self-administration as well as the quality standards of our tournament-regulations are good examples (of what can be imbibed by other leagues and nations).

Which Bundesliga seasons, according to you, have been the most memorable?

I have been the team-chef for over 10 years, and I have enjoyed this very much. In doing so, the encounters with the top-players of the world made lasting impressions. Countless friendships have developed.

If you ask me regarding the outstanding sporting-results, I foremost think of the last season. After many years of domination by Baden-Baden, the SG Solingen team managed to win the championship. This made the 2015/16 event extremely interesting.

Going forward, what are the plans regarding Bundesliga? How do you plan to make it even better?

The Schachbundesliga is still open to new developments and wants to adapt to recent changes and needs for our members as well as the interested public. Chess has become an internet sport. We will have to take greater care of that in future. However, we should get better at marketing, because ultimately, money decides quality.

She came, she saw, she conquered. She won the prestigious National Women’s Premier in 2014, 2015 and as the 43^rd National Women’s Premier concluded recently at Delhi, we witnessed yet another performance of Padmini Rout at her maximum!

Fierce on the board and cool off the board, she has many titles to her credit. Currently she is preparing for the Women’s World Chess Championship which will be in February 2017. We spoke to her and asked her questions which we now present to you. Read on.

Rucha Pujari: Congratulations Padmini on winning the prestigious National Women’s Premier, and now third time in a row, wow! How do you feel and what was your first reaction?

Padmini Rout: Thanks. I am very happy and I was kinda relieved after completion of the event.

Tell us how the tournament went for you. How did you approach the games and what was your strategy? How did you prepare for the games, how was it different for this round robin tournament?

I think it went smooth. I went to the games with a free head. Like all my opponents were doing, I too checked their games and made strategies against them.

After the tournament you said that you were happy with your play, especially in your game against Vijayalakshmi which was quite crucial and important for you. What happened in that game?

Padmini, Rout • 1-0 • Vijayalakshmi, Subbaraman

36…Nc3-a2?! Like they say “A knight in the rim is grim”.  I got some serious attack after it.

Winning the Premier is a big achievement. How much effort did it take for you to win this glorious championship? Looking back, what can you say was a turning point of your career?

Well, I don’t know how to measure effort but in succinct I am a devoted chess player. Winning the U-11 girl’s Nationals in 2005, I could say was the turning point!

How do you look at Women’s Chess in India? What do you think can be done to inspire more girls to take up Chess and consider as a career choice?

I see us as with lot of potential! I think Indian Oil did a great job in giving jobs to women players. Therefore I want to thank D V Prasad who initiated the process. So young girls who look up at us will be inspired to see that we have this financial security and we can play chess freely without any worry.

2017 is coming up! Which tournaments will you be playing around the year, and what are your goals?

My first World Cup could very well be my first tournament of next year! 🙂  I will try to play in strong open tournaments.

How do you select the tournaments you would want to play? How far in advance do you plan?

I prefer tournaments which are well organized and attract strong players. I try to plan them at least two months in advance.

Also tempted to ask, New Year resolutions? 🙂

Well I don’t really want to wait till the New Year to start something good. So all improvements are implemented with immediate effect as and when understood.

[bctt tweet=”Padmini Rout: I don’t really want to wait till the New Year to start something good” username=”FollowChessApp”]

When and how did you start playing Chess? What is your first Chess memory?

When I was around 8 – 9 years old, during summer vacations we would go to my native place, and there my father would take me along to his friend’s house (who had a daughter who played musical instruments) where he would endlessly play chess. After kibitzing a few games I would sit with his daughter and play music instead. Those days I preferred music over chess and now it is just the other way around.

You seem to be participating in Open tournaments since a very young age. Do you think that has helped you, over playing women-only events?

Definitely. There is more competition. I personally feel all women player should play in as many open tournaments possible in order to improve further.

What would be your words of inspiration for the upcoming players?

Enjoy the process of becoming good at your chosen field of work. Not everyone is lucky to have passion as their profession.

[bctt tweet=”Padmini Rout: Enjoy the process of becoming good at your chosen field of work” username=”FollowChessApp”]

 

Blitzkrieg!

What do you think you would be if not a chess player?

A scientist.

Three people you would like to invite for dinner.

A P J Abdul Kalam, Richard Feynman and Vivekananda.

How many players do you think you can play simultaneously in blindfold chess?

Umm never tried more than 2.

One Super Power you would like to have.

Teleportation.

You won the Premier three times in a row, and just recently Carlsen won the World Championship third time in a row! What do you think is common between you two?

Only that!!

 

Keeping up with the rising trend of strong open events, the Isle of Man International witnessed the participation of as many as 48 Grandmasters, including such distinguished players as Caruana, Nakamura, Wesley So, Adams and Eljanov, amongst others. Apart from a slight setback in the 2nd round, GM Pavel Eljanov, current World #16 and a key member of the Ukrainian team over the years, remained in full control throughout the course of the event and deservedly clinched the title. We were fortunate enough to catch up with him after this success, with Eljanov bringing his immense experience to the fore and speaking on a wide variety of topics in this highly informative interview.

Shubham Kumthekar: Hi Pavel, good to have you! Congratulations on your splendid victory at Isle of Man. What was your approach like going into the tournament?

Pavel Eljanov: I had no particular expectations. Just two weeks prior to the tournament, I had returned from the Olympiad, which is the most energy-consuming tournament around in my opinion. I did not have time to make any serious preparations – just got to recharge my batteries a bit.

At what point during the tournament did you feel that you might go on to win the event? How do you manage to keep such feelings from interfering with your play?

At the beginning of the tournament, my energy levels were not quite 100%. However, I warmed up round by round and played some good games. I also think getting closer to a tournament victory works in my favour: it boosts my motivation and concentration.

Which was the most satisfying game of the tournament?

I liked my game against Shirov the most. I am glad that I was successful in outplaying such a great player, thanks to some sleeky manoeuvres. In particular, 13.Nb1! was a nice move, not only aesthetic but also the strongest. I was very precise in the technical stage as well.

There has been a rising trend of strong Opens in the recent years. How do you compare these events to the traditional all-play-alls?

I like this trend, whereby professionals and club players – all take part in one big festival. These festivals usually consist of a main event along with some additional tournaments, wherein anyone wanting to play can participate. For me, it’s much more interesting to follow or play in such events.

Speaking of the tournament formats, what is your opinion about the existing World Championship structure?

The World Championship matches are gradually losing their dynamism and attractiveness, with chess (opening) theory going as deep as the endgame in many cases. As we can conclude from the previous two cycles, the most attractive parts have been the knock-outs and the Candidate tournaments. In these tournaments, players are forced to play more combative and resourceful chess, due to the necessity of beating more than one opponent. I think deciding a World Champion in tournaments featuring eight of the top players (like in San Luis or Mexico) is an interesting and logical solution.

New York 2016. Carlsen or Karjakin? How do you see the match panning out?

Concerning Carlsen-Karjakin, I would like to bring a wrong prognosis of course, but I don’t think it will be an attractive match from the point of view of chess content. Carlsen is clearly the better player and a big favourite on account of his good form and appropriate preparation. What I am really looking forward to is the organisers’ intention to provide virtual reality broadcast. I have already decided to buy a VR gear – I hope I won’t be spending money for nothing 🙂

[bctt tweet=”Pavel: What I am really looking forward to is the WCh organisers’ intention to provide virtual reality broadcast.” username=”FollowChessApp”]

Let’s go back in time. How did it all begin for you? What is your earliest memory associated with chess?

I grew up in a chess family. My dad was an International Master and a well known chess books publisher in the Russian language (Dvoretsky’s books, amongst others, were published by him). My mum also used to play chess, but at a more modest level (about 1800 ELO). I made my first steps in chess thanks to her. At that time, we used to learn from some chess books meant for kids. Then, we started travelling together to my early junior championships.

Growing up, which authors and players influenced you the most?

In the mid-90s, when my father began publishing, I used to help him with the proofreading of Dvoretsky’s chess books. That way, I absorbed a lot of quality chess information. I still think that those books are top class and beyond comparison.

Roundabout the time you became a Grandmaster, computers had started taking over. What has been your approach to using computers? How can up and coming players use computers to improve their play?

This is probably the most important question for young players aiming to play chess at the professional level. It is an extremely deep topic and I can speak on it for hours together. In brief, I suggest that any young chess player should not overuse the chess engines and stay away from concentrating too much on the study of openings. The most important thing for a chess player is to develop his/her own algorithm of finding (good) moves. To have a good mentor and to read good chess books is, in my opinion, essential for every player.

[bctt tweet=”Pavel: I suggest that any young chess player should not overuse the chess engines” username=”FollowChessApp”]

You are well-known in the chess fraternity for your opening expertise, having helped Gelfand more times than one, as well as Carlsen and Mariya Muzychuk. How do you go about preparing your openings?

It’s not a secret that more or less all top players work on openings constantly. Everyone tries to anticipate and be one step ahead of his/her competitors. I am no exception to this. I try and choose openings that suit my style. 

Considering the opening boom and the rapidly developing engines, what are your views about Chess 960?

I have played Chess 960 only once – in Mainz a long time ago. I think it’s funny. Also, there are a lot of positions which simply lack harmony and are bad for black right from the first move. I think there is a lot of space to tweak the chess rules (without changing the initial position) in order to increase the effectiveness and attractiveness of our game. The simplest one (but hardly the most effective) is to cancel stalemate. In any case, classical chess still excites me very much. I believe there are many years to go before our game gets emasculated. However, an inner motivation of any chess player and appropriate formats for events are very important, as I noted earlier.

What, according to you, has been the defining moment(s) of your career?

There were a few. But I would say that the turning point – from where I started to work on chess much more professionally – was the Calvia Olympiad in 2004, when I became an Olympiad champion for the first time. I got a strong boost and realised that being 21 years old, I was still in the very beginning of my path.

If there is one thing that you would like to tell aspiring chess players around the globe, what would it be? 🙂

To enjoy the process and to not despair after failures. In any activity, there are ups and downs.

[bctt tweet=”Pavel Eljanov’s message to aspiring players: enjoy the process and do not despair after failures” username=”FollowChessApp”]

Blitzkrieg

If not a chess player, then…
A doctor.

How does a normal day of GM Pavel Eljanov look like?
Chess, family time, some sports etc.

Movies or the Theatre
TV series – my bad, I know 🙂

Early Bird or Night Owl
Night Owl.

The most influential (non-chess) book you have read till date.
Hard to choose one. From this year’s reading, I very much liked ‘The man who mistook his wife for a hat’ by Oliver Sacks.