Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Arjun, Nihal can all turn out to be World champions: Boris Gelfand

Boris Gelfand challenged Viswanathan Anand for the World chess championship in 2012 and was one of many planet’s main gamers for many years. A former World No. 3, he gained the World Cup in 2009. He was part of the Soviet Union chess dynasty that dominated the sport for lengthy earlier than shifting to Israel.

Though he nonetheless continues to play competitively, he spends extra time teaching and has labored extensively with Indian gamers, together with the group of younger males that’s taking the world by storm. Gelfand, who was in Kolkata lately to go a coaching camp for India’s greatest expertise, sat down for an interview with The Hindu. Excerpts:

How do you discover working with a few of the world’s most enjoyable younger skills? You’ve got spent loads of time with D. Gukesh, R. Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin.

I’m very impressed by how a lot respect the Indian gamers give to the coaches. They could have already turn out to be top-level gamers, however they respect their coaches immensely, and I discover it fairly good. Which means they don’t seem to be simply wonderful, but in addition good human beings. I preserve involved with every coach that has helped me in my life.

Speaking of the fabulous 4 of Indian chess, what are the issues that you simply discover most spectacular about every certainly one of them?

I believe it is very important be aware that we can not generalise as a result of we’re speaking about gamers with extraordinary expertise. What unites all of them is their want to enhance. As for sure qualities of their sport, I like Gukesh’s depth of calculation and his deep pondering. I like Pragg’s feeling for the sport and his intuitive understanding. I’m impressed by Arjun’s creativity and Nihal’s approach and talent to grind.

Do you assume there may, someday sooner or later, be a World title match between two Indian gamers?

Nicely, I cannot be stunned if all of them turn out to be World champions. They’ve perhaps 20 years forward of them and meaning 10 World championships. So if every thing [about their game] goes the best way it’s, why not? Inside a couple of years, India will turn out to be the No. 1 nation in world chess.  

You’re additionally part of the crew on the WestBridge Anand Chess Academy (WACA).

I believe the WACA is a superb thought, particularly with the involvement of Anand. The academy is serving Indian chess properly.

How do you look again at your World title match towards Anand in Moscow? That was in all probability your greatest probability to turn out to be the World champion. You had tied the rating 6-6 within the 12 classical video games, however misplaced out within the tie-breaker.

I noticed the World championship as an ideal alternative. I used to be very excited after I gained the Candidates [the qualifying tournament], and earlier than that to play the Candidates, I needed to win the World Cup. I used to be very optimistic concerning the World championship; I needed to indicate my greatest and I believe I managed to do it. It was an equal match. I believe I performed properly within the tie-breaker, however not properly sufficient to win. I paid the value of being too — learn how to say — cussed in my opening decisions. I in all probability stunned Anand within the openings, however he managed to discover a resolution.

Earlier than that, in 2007, you have been positioned third within the World championship, which was performed in an eight-player round-robin format in Mexico Metropolis. You completed behind Anand and Vladimir Kramnik.

I had probability. I used to be at all times chasing him [Anand]. However perhaps I used to be not robust sufficient, as a result of I didn’t have an invite for prime tournaments for a few years. I performed perhaps two prime tournaments in 5 years. I lacked expertise, not like the others, so I used to be not robust or assured.  

Chess might be the one sport that benefited from the Covid-induced lockdown. It has turn out to be extra mainstream.

I really feel the Netflix collection The Queen’s Gambit has additionally contributed to the recognition of the sport. It elevated individuals’s curiosity in chess tremendously. Again residence in Israel, it grew to become harder to purchase chess units. The Queen’s Gambit performed a big position in taking chess to widespread individuals. My good friend, who is among the prime chess organisers in Europe, advised me that one collection did extra for the promotion of chess than the 40 years he spent attempting to do it.

You belong to the era of some nice skills like Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexei Shirov and Vassily Ivanchuk…

Completely. These days, once they inform me this man is extremely proficient, I might assume, come on. I used to be enjoying on the time of Karpov, Kasparov, Ivanchuk, Anand, Kramnik… It’s robust to impress me. Once I grew to become the Soviet Union junior champion, Ivanchuk was second. What an ideal expertise he’s, simply among the finest I’ve ever come throughout. I want he wrote a ebook of his greatest video games, annotating his strikes. Will probably be an ideal present to chess. Perhaps I’ll ask him to put in writing, however then his nation [Ukraine] is at struggle now.

How do you look again at your time as a chess participant within the Soviet Union?

Nicely, typically individuals got scholarships. There have been coaching camps and so they have been giving us each day allowance. We couldn’t go to Europe due to the Iron Curtain. I used to be 19 after I went to Europe for the primary time. And the primary time I performed a overseas participant, I used to be 17. It was an Indian participant, A.B. Meetei, and I performed him on the second board. It was a match by which my metropolis Minsk took on an Indian crew that was on a tour of the Soviet Union. Pravin Thipsay was the strongest Indian participant, by far, of that crew. After which we performed a blitz event, and I gained all of the video games.

What pursuits you other than chess?

I like soccer. I like studying books.

Your favorite authors?

[Anton] Chekhov is certainly one of my favorite quick story writers, together with Somerset Maugham and Ryunosuke Akutagawa. Among the many Russian writers, I additionally like Mikhail Bulgakov in addition to [Ilya] Ilf and [Yevgeny] Petrov.

What concerning the nice Russian masters, like Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky?

Dostoyevsky much less, however Tolstoy sure. You realize, lately I learn Anna Karenina once more. And I used to be actually impressed.