WFM Maaike Keetman is a Dutch chess player who was a part of the Dutch Female National Team at the Baku Chess Olympiad in 2016. Outside of the Dutch chess circles, she is probably better known as Chessable’s employee as during her two-year reign in this company she supervised, edited and quality controlled hundreds of Chessable courses. In fact, due to her contributions and work-ethic, in late 2020 she became a Publishing Manager at that very company, at the age of 21.

On top of it all, Maaike also managed to apply all the knowledge about course creation she gained over the years and channel it into the creation of her very own course. In October 2020, the world saw her debut as a Chessable author as her highly successful (and verbose)¹  Chessable course on the Nimzo Indian defense, titled The Fierce Nimzo-Indian, was released.

I first met Maaike soon after I joined Chessable. We started collaborating and working on the same projects and I was immediately impressed – not only with her thoroughness, precision and work ethic, but also with her patience, friendliness and sense of humour.

We immediately found the common language and developed a very good relationship based on mutual respect and appreciation.

In all sincerity, Maaike is one of the nicest and friendliest people I have encountered and I am happy she is not only my colleague, but also a friend – and am therefore really looking forward to this interview!

Maaike Keetman as a Chess Player

Q: Hi Maiike and welcome to Chessentials, it is really nice and exciting to have you here! First of all, since I am not well-versed in Dutch names, would you mind sharing how did you get your name? Does it have any deeper meaning?

A: Maiike doesn’t have a deeper meaning however, Maaike is the Dutch/Frisian (an area in the Netherlands where they also have their own dialect) version of Maria.

Q: In the interview for Chessable Blog you have already talked about how you got involved in chess ² and you mentioned you started playing chess after your brother started playing it. But I haven’t realized who actually taught you the rules? Was it your brother, your parents or were you some sort of self-learning prodigy?

A: My parents did (mainly my father). We read many books together when I was young, as my English wasn’t good enough yet to understand it all, so he helped me read them.

Q: Was the fear of being unable to beat your parents also the reason you decided against learning checkers? Or were you born as a true chess elitist and always considered checkers as an inferior game?

A: I always was more fascinated by chess – somehow, the fact that there is only one (okay, perhaps two, when you „promote“ your piece) piece made it seem so boring compared to chess. I’ll admit that in my own country, checkers is reasonably popular (less than chess, but we have had many world champions) so it would definitely have been a logical choice for me – but chess was just much more inspiring for me.

Q: Okay, okay, you very soon joined a chess club? What happened next? When did you start playing tournaments? Did you have any trainers? When did you first realize you might be gifted for the game?

A: Yes, quite early! Soon I played my first tournament, the Noord-Holland (area in the Netherlands where I’m from) championship under 8 when I was 6. This was the qualifier for the national championship U8. As I was the only girl, I automatically qualified – but I ultimately skipped the tournament to perform in a ballet show… luckily, I soon realized I had zero talent for ballet, but that the chess was going much better! So the year after, I did play the national championship and made second place total (and girl’s champion).

(A photo of young Maaike with a Harry Potter book. Note: All photos were provided by Maaike from her personal archive.)

Q: In the Chessable interview, you also mentioned you studied the Step method, a special chess teaching method devised by Dutch authors that has been recently gaining some recognition? Would you mind sharing your experience with it? What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of using it with young players compared to other more conventional methods (books + analysis) or modern methods (Chessbase + engines)?

A: I personally really loved it! In Dutch chess clubs, almost every child learns from that method, I think. It is very methodical and therefore leaves little gaps in the knowledge of patterns – in the category of tactics especially. There is an instruction book for the teacher, and exercise books for the pupils: a basic one, but also 2 other ones with even more exercises. To make it more fun for the kids, usually, one „step“ book is covered in a year and there are exams at the end when you can get a sort of degree and a grade for how well you did.

I enjoyed solving exercises so much, that I would usually go through all of the books multiple times. I even made a game out of it with myself, that I would use a timer and try to solve a whole book as fast as I could! I truly believed this helped my pattern recognition a lot and I think that tactics is the area of chess where I’m strongest currently as well. These days, Chessable is perfect for such ways of training, but back then I of course had never heard of space repetition – I just tremendously enjoyed it!

As for conventional/modern: in the Netherlands, this is considered conventional but at a later age/higher level, I think that learning from books and especially analyzing your own games and learning from your mistakes is very useful to improve.

Q: How successful were you as a player in your youth? How were you faring in your age group on the national level? Did you play a lot of international events (in terms of European Youth events, etc.)?

A: I was usually at the top of my age group, especially when I was young. I already mentioned the second place overall U8, and I had the same result the year later. From the age of 10, the championships are split in my country, with separate categories for boys and girls. In the U13 girl’s championship, I became the national champion. After that, I always played in the open category where I was usually the only girl. My best result there was a fourth-place U15.

I did have some international results as well: when I was 9, I played my first European Youth Championship and had an average performance. In total I played in 5 different European Youth Championships (2008, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2016) and usually played in the (sub)-top, often fighting for top 10 and getting shared 2nd in 2015 (see next question!). I also played in the World Youth Championship in 2015.

Q: You have mentioned one of your greatest successes is the shared 2nd place in the U16 category at the European Youth Championship 2015 in Poreč, though. Can you describe a bit how did your tournament go? What was your daily routine? What were you feeling like when you finally climbed the podium?

A: This is quite a crazy story actually! I had won the first 2 rounds, and then in the third round, all was going alright. However, at some point during the game, my chair broke!! The arm rests broke off, which hurt me a bit but was mainly very distracting (also I felt very embarrassed for breaking something, as this happens to me a lot…). I played very badly but somehow managed to draw an endgame an exchange down. The day after I also drew, but in round  5 I lost to the number 1 on rating, Stavroula Tsolakidou (now an IM). So it wasn’t going smoothly at all.

Luckily, I managed to score 2,5 out of 3 from the next games and was on 5,5 out of 8. In the last round, I faced the number 2 on rating who already had 6,5 points. It is worth noting that there was additional pressure here, since my roommate, Anna-Maja Kazarian, was in fact leading our group! ³

If I would win, she would win the title. After a tense game, I managed to win, Anna-Maja became champion and I got shared second – naturally, a very happy moment for me and the whole Dutch delegation :)! ⁴ The following (embarrassing) picture shows how happy I was…

(A photo from the final ceremony of the tournament. Anna-Maja Kazarian is to the far left)

As for the routine, I was coached by the strongest Dutch female player, GM Zhaoqin Peng who helped me prepare every day and also trained with me and the rest of our small group (usually at those international championships, coaches have 4 of the Dutch players and will have training/prep sessions with them) which was very valuable for me. I also really love the social aspects of those international tournaments, so I definitely wasn’t just focused on the chess, and really enjoyed being a tourist and swimming a lot, as well as playing games with the other Dutchies.

Q: As a side note – quick impression of Croatia and Croats? Can we boast our country and people contributed to your good result?

A: Well, the great hotel definitely helped! The food was truly amazing and put me in a very good mood. I remember it was around 20 mins walking to the playing hall from our hotel, which was perfect: the Croatian weather is lovely! The scenery from the bus also seemed amazing, so definitely a good impression of the country.

However, my trophy had the word „chess“ misspelled, so perhaps the Croatian people didn’t make a perfect impression on me…

Q: A year later, you also became a member of the Dutch National Female Team at Baku Olympiad 2016. How did you qualify and get this opportunity? Who were the other team members?

A: I was quite lucky to get this opportunity. I did not qualify or anything, but my rating was rising and I believe they wanted to have a mix of experienced and young and upcoming players, so I was selected as the reserve board! I was really really excited, of course. The other members were the very strong players GM Zhaoqin Peng, WGM Anne Haast and IM Tea Lanchava, who have all won the national championship at some point, as well as the already mentioned Anna-Maja Kazarian.

Q: What was it like to play in the Olympiad and represent your country? Were you impressed or inspired? How are you satisfied with your result?

A: Highly inspired, yes! It was a very unique atmosphere. Thanks to our very strong men’s team with Anish Giri, we were in the hotel with all of the top countries and it was highly interesting to see all of those players in a casual atmosphere. Usually, you just see them behind the board, all suited up, but now people were wearing sport’s clothes, just casually chatting with their team members (or one particular country stood out to me for the fact that their members would all sit at separate tables and not talk at all).

It was really cool to be part of that! About my result we can be very short: it was disappointing. But if I ever get the chance to be on the team again, I’m highly motivated to do better!

Q: It is also well-known that Olympiad is rich in off-the-board events (who doesn’t know of the (in)famous Bermuda party). Do you have any memorable (or not so memorable, if you catch my drift) stories to tell? What was your impression of the top players and Grandmasters when you got to see them in a less formal environment?

A: I have plenty, but as may expect, many are not suitable to be put here on the internet I did have one funny conversation at the prize ceremony, where I was sitting close to Baadur Jobava, and he asked me „I can’t even remember who won last year, do you?“ and in fact, no one around us seems to know! I guess that’s how it goes when there are so many tournaments…

I also remember that the Chinese women would celebrate a win by eating KFC, a ritual I very much support!

(Maaike as a part of the Dutch Olympiad team 2016. From left to right: WGM Anne Haast, GM Peng Zhaoqin, IM Tea Lanchava, Maaike and WIM Anna-Maja Kazarian)

Q: A look at your rating graph reveals it was precisely in 2016 that you achieved your peak rating of 2254 (December 2016).

Even though there is a lot of variation subsequently (presumably caused by K40 rating?) and even though you did reach a very similar rating a year later, it is very chessplayery to try to conclude anything on the basis of rating, so let me try – would you say you played your best chess in that period? That you were at the peak of your form?

A: I think that in general, I played much worse than I do these days. Especially my opening play has improved a lot since, as that was quite a weak point of me back then.

Q: Alas, starting from late 2017, a certain drop in rating, followed by a period of stagnation in upper 2100 spheres, which lasts to this day, is apparent. Would you mind sharing your perspective on this?

Is there a certain correlation between the work you put in the game and your playing strength and that god damn number? Or is it a pure coincidence that doesn’t reflect the true state of affairs?

A: I don’t think this is a coincidence at all. As I just mentioned, I think I play better these days, but there is a very logical explanation: between October 2016 and September 2017, I took a gap year where I worked 3 days a week at New in Chess (more on that later) and would devote a lot of time to chess on other days.

Being in this mindset obviously helps a lot when you play a tournament, and I would often perform well. I also played on a very regular basis. In September 2017 I went back to University to pursue a degree in Econometrics, which is considered a very challenging subject. That meant that I could devote a lot less time on chess, and whenever I did have a tournament, my results would often be mixed as I sometimes felt too tired to play.

That said, when I did feel energized, I manage to achieve some good results – for example, I did not score any norms in 2016 or 2017 (although I was often very close), but in 2018 I made my first WIM norm in Barcelona and in 2019 I managed to win the WIM Arisan Chess Ladies tournament, scoring my second norm. In both cases, I scored a half-point extra than needed!

So when I’m on form, I do believe I can play better than I did in the past. Sadly, when I lack focus, I will have some bad losses and drop a lot of rating – for example in the Dutch league, which is just on a Saturday and you don’t know your opponent beforehand. That lack of preparation and not the full tournament mindset often costs me rating points, as I have suffered quite some losses there in recent years.

Q: What is the current state of your game? You did mention in the Chessable interview you don’t work as much on chess, but that you still train daily. How many hours do you devote to chess training? What do you do?

A: Because of Covid, I haven’t played since March and I find it hard to say how strong I would currently play, as I definitely lack some rhythm now! That said, I love chess and try to train as much as I can besides my job and studies and usually study something every day. This can be many different things: openings, strategy, tactics, you name it.

Q: I know that you have a very ambitious long-term goal of becoming an International Master (and a short-term goal of becoming a Woman International Master). Is becoming an IM more like a future idea, or an actual dream/goal you are definitely going to try to commit to once the Covid crisis is over and things get back to normal?

I am asking because I also have a goal of becoming a FM, but I am not sure if I am ready to really commit to it (spend time and money, experience the agony of defeats and potential setbacks, etc). Since recently more and more people are declaring ambitious chess ⁵ goals, I am curious to hear your thoughts on this topic?

Do you think there are any inherent dangers of setting ambitious long-term goals or do you consider it helpful to maintain focus and direction? ⁶

A: I have always dreamed of becoming an IM, ever since I was little (never GM, actually). I definitely want to commit to achieving this, but indeed, where to find the time? My motivation dropped a bit with the whole Covid situation as there are no OTB tournaments, but when that is over and I have graduated, I expect to have a lot more energy again and am really excited to see how far I can come!

I am ambitious in many ways, and the thought of setbacks doesn’t really scare me. However, you of course do have a point that there can be some dangers to having (too) ambitious plans – if things don’t work out in the short term, it can be very disappointing.

There is also the small issue that when you have achieved your goal, there suddenly is this „emptiness“ and you don’t know what to do anymore. I think this is quite often seen, and that people who get FM/IM/GM drop some points soon after, as the motivation has dropped.

That said, I do think it can be very motivating to have a certain goal and work towards it in small steps, as long as it’s realistic. This is of course very cliché, but I think it’s important to not only think about the goal but also the journey, and just enjoy that as much as possible. Then it should be fine!

Maaike Keetman as a Chessable Manager

Q: Okay, I think I have poked enough about your chess career. Let’s switch the topic and talk about your Chessable career. You mentioned in the Chessable interview you had been working for New In Chess before you switched to Chessable. The million-dollar question is – how did you start working for New in Chess?

A: As is often the case, I was lucky and had some connections! My trainer at the time, Wim Andriessen, was actually the founder of New in Chess! So I managed to get some small chores there from a very early age, I believe I was 13 or 14.

Usually, during the summers, I would do some work, or just throughout the year as my high school was about 5 minutes biking from their office. I would often go once a week after school to do some work. In October 2016, I started working there on a more regular basis, working 3 days a week there for 9 months.

When I went back to university, it became less regular again, but I kept working some occasional hours.

(Maaike in good company – with GM Daniil Dubov at Tata Steel 2020)

Q: When you say you „switched“ to fully work for Chessable, what exactly does it mean? Could you elaborate a bit on how did this transition exactly happen?

A: In the summer of 2018, I was working at NIC again for the full summer. One day, we had a visitor – David Kramaley, the CEO of Chessable! He showed me the site and there was an agreement that I would start importing New in Chess books to the Chessable platform.

This meant that essentially, I was doing work for both companies. I was very fascinated by Chessable and saw great potential there (keep in mind, the site was nowhere as big then as it is now!) and in February 2019, I decided to only work for Chessable and I’m still very happy about that, as I love it here!

Q: If I am not mistaken, some of your family members have worked for NIC back then (and they still do)? How did they react when it transpired you will be switching companies?

A: Yes, in fact, my mother, sister and brother all work there until this very day! Although admittedly, my brother only started working there more after I had left. We just talk about work as little as possible, and that is fine by me.

Q: Okay, after you joined Chessable, what exactly was your job description? Would you mind explaining to readers what Chessable exactly is and what were you doing? What does it mean to „import a book“?

A: I have always been part of the content team. In fact, I was one of the first members of that department – these days, we have a lot of staff members who focus on creating and improving our content, but back then it was much smaller.

Any Chessable course doesn’t appear out of anywhere, but a staff member (or author) has created it based on the available (pgn) files. This is often a lengthy process, editing and formatting the course so it is suitable for the platform and it’s famous MoveTrainer technology that helps you study and train all exercises/variations.

One important thing is that before publication, a course always gets „beta tested“. This means that actual users will try out the course and give feedback on it, which the staff member would then incorporate.

This communicating with people and making a product better together was something that I always really enjoyed, as it ensures that work is never boring or repetitive!

Q: How have your responsibilities and role in the company changed in the prior two years before you got your current position? Could you summarize in one paragraph your journey from being an importer to becoming a Publishing Manager?

A: I was an importer for quite a long time: if you count my time as an importer for NIC courses as well, I did it for almost 2 years. This was because the company was less big, so there was less organizational structure necessary, and because I was only a freelancer. In the last week of April, I pitched the idea of making my own Chessable course (more on that later!) and coincidentally (or not…?), 3 days later, I was asked if I wanted to join Chessable full time.

I said yes, and because I had a lot of experience (keep in mind that most people only joined the team in 2020, including this blog’s owner) I was made co-head of the Content Quality Assurance. This was a lot of fun, and I had a lot more communication with authors which I really enjoyed. To improve the standards of the content, the Quality staff members will give authors feedback on their files, and also give the importers feedback on the final course on Chessable.

This is getting longer than one paragraph but at the end of August, Chessable had grown a lot more, and I was asked if I wanted to be Publishing Manager to help manage the content team! I did not need to think about it for long, and of course, said yes, and have been enjoying it for 3 months now.

(Maaike with the Dutch Chessable gang, back in the day when hanging out without a mask was still a thing…)

Q: What exactly does a Publishing Manager do? How different is the job in your current role in contrast to what you did in the past?

A: There is a variety of things, but one of the key things is that we manage the publishing schedule. This means that we are in charge of communicating with authors and planning their courses, making sure everything is published on time.

It also means that we manage the importers and Quality staff members, as they are creating the content. Besides that, there is a variety of other things, such as communicating with new potential authors, creating contracts for them, but also planning sales and many other things.

A key difference is that I have to talk a lot with a lot of different people and thus have a lot of meetings, whereas in the past there was a lot of manual, actual importing work. But as you can probably tell from this (very!) lengthy interview, I don’t mind talking at all!

Q: How does it sound to be a „Manager at 21“? Were you surprised when you were provided with the opportunity? Do you ever look back and feel proud about everything you have achieved in your professional life (and not only professional life) in such a short span?

A: Haha, I usually don’t say that out loud, it sounds so weird! I have to admit that I was surprised, yes. I was very happy as the co-head of Quality Assurance and as I was only doing that for a few months, I didn’t expect to get promoted so soon. But I’m very happy to have gotten the opportunity!

I usually prefer to look forward and am excited about the future!

Q: Last but not least – allow me to put you on the spot right now, but you know I can’t resist . Gun to your head, what would you say is the best thing and what would you say is the worst thing when it comes to working for Chessable?

A: Well, I truly love chess, so being able to work in that world is amazing! And I love everything about the company. I guess that forces me to say that the best thing is the amazing coworkers

As I like it all, the worst thing is probably something that can be both good and bad, and is probably relatable for a lot of people in this Covid-era: the working from home and not seeing your colleagues in person.

I personally enjoy the flexibility that working from home gives you, but it can be a bit tricky too: there is a less clear distinction between working hours and free time, so it can be very tempting to keep working until very late (just answering an email here, a message there, and suddenly, it is very late).

(Well, I guess there are easier ways to achieve work-life balance… :D)

Maaike Keetman as a Chessable Author

Q: Apart from being a Chessable employee, you recently also joined the ranks of Chessable authors, as your first Chessable opening course, titled „The Fierce Nimzo-Indian“ was published.

Why did you choose to do a course precisely on Nimzo-Indian and not, say, the French Defence, which is also an opening you have been playing in your youth and in which you have great expertise?

A: Well, I pitched several ideas I had. I really wanted to do something on the French Defense, but then we had just signed Anish Giri up to make a repertoire on that opening (which is really excellent by the way)! So, that didn’t seem to be a very good choice anymore. However, I always struggled when facing 1.d4 and thought others may have the same issue, and I had been very happy with my Nimzo-Indian analysis there, so I pitched that idea and it was approved!

I’ll add that it was always my dream to write a chess book (keep in mind that I worked for a publisher for a very long time, so a book was the ultimate goal). However, a Chessable course seemed just as cool, so I was really excited AND nervous to pitch that! I postponed it for a very long time, but ultimately am really happy that I took the leap.

(Artwork for Maaike’s course. Let the Tiger roar!)

Q: In the Chessable interview you mentioned it took you 5 months to create that repertoire, which already speaks volumes about the difficulty of creating a Chessable course (or any chess book, for that matter). Could you talk about the specifics in greater detail? What was the process like? Which steps does it consist of? What caused you the most difficulties?

A: Yes! I just pitched it as „b6 Nimzo“ but after lots of analyzing, ultimately used none of my old analysis and made it all new from scratch. I think it could have been done a lot faster, but I had 2 very specific things in mind for this repertoire which made it a lot more challenging.

First of all, I wanted it to be very dynamic. It is much easier to just follow your engine and try to find positions where Black can draw. But I was very keen on creating unbalanced positions, not aiming for a draw but where Black can really fight and try to win!

This of course does not mean that Black will be better from the opening, but just that there are more chances for both sides to get a real game. This meant I often had to redo analysis if the positions were too boring or if White had too many options to force a draw, so it took quite long to find lines that suited my purpose. Ultimately I succeeded quite well with it I think, or at least users have told me that they get very fun games with the lines, so that makes me really happy!

Second of all, I find it really important to truly understand why something is played. As I have seen so many different courses, there is one thing that comes up almost every time: users who want more explanations and want to understand what to do after the opening moves have ended. So, that’s what I gave them!

I believe it ultimately boiled down to over 180K words which is very, very big. As this number did not immediately mean something to me, I googled that the first Harry Potter book has a little over 75K words. So my course is almost 2,5 times the first Harry Potter book! That truly shocked me, and you can imagine it takes a while to write that much.

Q: You also went on to record the video. Even though you haven’t had a lot of experience in front of the camera, you seemed very natural. Were you nervous at all before you started filming? How did you manage to maintain your composure and be so relaxed?

A: Soooo nervous!! In school, I was always terrified when I had to do a presentation, so I was very worried it would be really awkward and everyone would hate it, but I thought it would be good for me to try and see how it goes. And in fact, after the first day where all technical details were taken care of and I got a bit used to the process, it went quite smoothly.

It probably helped a lot that I was at the professional studio, as I only had to focus on the recording itself, and not on how to set up the equipment and such. Whenever I started a chapter, I would just get really excited and happy to talk about the lines that I spend so much time on! So all the nerves would just fade away as soon as I started talking.

I learned a lot too so hopefully next course, it will go even better!

Q: Do you have any ideas/plans for subsequent repertoires? Since Fierce Nimzo-Indian only covers 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 move order, are there any plans to complement it with another repertoire against other White 1.d4 „shenanigans“? There are rumors your knowledge of Jobaava London might need some refreshment.

A: Definitely! In fact, I have already started working on it, so stay tuned

Q: If you got to give advice to all potential Chessable authors (and/or some existing ones), what would it be?

A: For potential authors: to not be afraid of the whole process. It may seem long and perhaps scary, but I enjoyed working on the material so much and it was so amazing when it got published! So I can definitely recommend making a course.

As for the actual creation: as a publishing manager, I often give advice to authors on how to improve the content, and I think one key thing is to keep the target audience in mind. The average user will not be a top player, so it is important to include lines they will encounter often and explain things that may be obvious to you but can be very valuable for the users. So the key advice is: don’t make it too difficult!

Maaike Keetman As Female (Chess) Ambassador

Q: There is one more chess-related topic I would like to talk about and then expand on it – your role with the Chess Queens organization. Would you mind explaining how was this organization founded and what is your role there?

A: This is a Dutch foundation, that was founded almost 6 years ago by the top players of the country; the 5 founders all played in the national team at the time. I will admit that I was not involved from the beginning (as I was only 15), but 1,5 years after that, somewhere in 2016, I was invited to be a part of it as a „chess princess“, so basically a slightly younger version of it

The aim of the foundation is twofold: to improve the level at the top, and promoting chess for women on a broader level. These days, the second goal is the most important and we are mainly targeting young girls.

In January 2019, the foundation expanded and now we have 7 members (all called chess queens). Currently, I’m the treasurer.

Q:  The main focus of the organization is inspiring young girls to play chess. How exactly do you go about achieving this goal?

A: One thing we do is organize tournaments for the girls (see picture). Covid had made things more difficult, but we are organizing online tournaments for girls now and we have for example a grand prix series, currently on its third season already. Those include a tournament on Sunday morning for girls under 13, and one in the afternoon that is open to all women but mainly focused for girls under 18.

Several members of the foundation are also very active in giving training to young girls.

(Maaike: This is a picture from our OTB girls tournament in 2019, which was a big success!)

Q: Is there anything that could be done on a much broader scale (chess clubs, chess federations, FIDE, regular politicans and governments) that could entice more girls to play chess? If yes, do you have any ideas about what?

A: I think that with the Netflix series, the Queen’s Gambit, there is a lot of attention for women in chess right now. If FIDE or other federations/organizations can capture that and turn it into something real, I think we can definitely get more women to play chess. However, doing so is definitely very challenging.

Q: How welcome did you feel in chess playing halls throughout your career. How often did you have negative experiences connected to the hidden or not-so-hidden forms of sexism? How many times did you experience situations which made you extremely uncomfortable? Are „creeps“ exceptions to the rule, or rather the rule itself, in your experience?

A: I did always feel welcome; no one ever told me I was not allowed to participate somewhere. However, sexism is of course very present. At a young age, people would often not take me very seriously. Now at an older age, that is different, but still, when men lose to a female player, they tend to make more excuses for why they lost, instead of just admitting that someone played well.

There are definitely „creeps“ and it’s almost customary to encounter one or more at every tournament, but that means that the rest of the people are nice so I wouldn’t call it a rule. But it is definitely something that happens regularly and it can definitely discourage women from playing.

Q: What can an average, normal chess player do to make chess playing tournament halls more welcoming toward females and to make one „small step“ toward achieving the desired changes? ⁷

A: I guess that last comment just says it all I think just treating women, in the same way, would help; so just take the game equally seriously and no derogatory comments or excuses. But I don’t think such a culture can easily change.

Q: Considering everything you achieved in the chess world and in a professional sense, you are a great role model for many young girls (even though – knowing you – you probably haven’t thought of yourself this way). What would your message be to any girl thinking about entering the chess world or fulfilling her dreams in a professional (or any other) sense?

A: Don’t let anyone stop you! If you’re passionate about something and you have the possibility, pursue it! If you have passion, you can achieve anything

Maaike Keetman off-the-board

Q: Okay Maiike, I think we have talked quite a lot about chess and plugged Chessable so far :D. Let’s conclude this interview with something not strictly chess-related.

First, the most important question of them all: Ketchup or Mayo?

A:. Ketchup, of course! Mayo is one of the most disgusting things on the planet! ⁸

Apart from doing everything mentioned above, you are also currently in the process of getting your degree. What are you studying and how is it going?

A: I mentioned Econometrics before, but that proved too challenging for me (given that I liked to also work and play chess), so I switched to Economics and Business Economics, where I’m focusing on the latter one and majoring in Finance. I really love numbers, so that’s a good fit for me! I hope to graduate and receive my bachelor’s degree in the Summer of 2021, although I’ll admit that studying in the Covid era is a bit different.

Q: Listening to you, one can’t help wonder how you manage to be so active on so many fronts? What is your secret when it comes to handling all these obligations?

A: I truly enjoy the things I do! If you enjoy something, it seems to cost way less energy.

Q: What do you like to do in your free time? What are some of your hobbies outside of chess?

A: Eating ice cream, cooking/baking, reading, Netflixing, taking walks, playing board games, (online) shopping, cuddling cats and just talking to friends! Oh, and I have been trying to learn Russian in my free time, although I put that on hold for now.

Q: Do you do also do any physical training? Any sport?

A: I no longer practice any sports (I briefly practiced judo at some point) but I love walking, running and just general fitness exercises. I think it is very important to be physically fit as chess games are much more exhausting than people think! Being able to concentrate for hours definitely requires a good fitness level.

Q: Are you interested in sport in general? Do you watch/follow any sports? ⁹

A: Not at all, surprisingly. I think many chess players are, but I never watch any sports. Perhaps that is why I have so much time for other things

Q: I do recall you mentioning Netflix quite often in the past, though. Do you have any good TV shows you watched recently? Or any old favorites to recommend?

A: So many! I mainly watch detectives or thrillers, although comedy is of course always good if you are tired and just want something easy. There are so many good ones, I always loved watching Dexter, I recently watched the first season of Bron (Danish detective, The Bridge in English) which was really good and these days I’m watching Lucifer again.

Q: What about books? Made any progress on that Mythos Trilogy? Any other good books you read recently you would like to recommend?

A: I have started on Troy, have to catch up with you of course! I have always loved to read, in the past I mostly did fiction but now almost exclusively non-fiction (although hard to say which category Mythos is…). I love reading about things such as history, mathematics, economics, science and psychology. Some of my favorite books are :

• Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner,
• How Not to be Wrong by Jordan Ellenberg,
• and I also really enjoyed the book The Unexpected Truth About Animals by Lucy Cooke

Q: If you could invite three persons to dinner, whom would you invite and why?

A: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. And maybe just Vjeko and our other publishing manager Juan Almaguer, as we always have a lot of fun together! ¹⁰

Q: Do you have a life motto? If yes, which is it?

A: Not really, although in Dutch I like to say, „rustig aan, komt goed“ which is something like, relax take it easy. Given how much there is to do often, it is usually helpful to take a deep breath and just be calm!

Q: Finally – allow me to conclude the interview with the most important question of them all – on a scale from 1 to Vjekoslav Nemec, how chessplayery would you say you are? What is the most chessplayery trait you have? ¹¹

A: This is probably your hardest question! I probably have to be honest and say that I am closer to Vjekoslav level than 1, but I still like to think I rate lower than you…

I have a tendency to make things more complex than necessary, which is very chessplayery. But there are countless typical traits, I’m afraid.

Q: Okay Maaike! I would like to thank you for taking the time and demonstrating the true extent of your „verbosity“ by completing this marathon interview! I wish you all the best on all fronts and I wish you to fulfill your goals in the future – I am holding my fingers crossed that those chess titles start falling like ripe apples soon. 

Looking forward to releasing this interview and collaborating a lot more in the future!

Now, if you could stop fooling around and actually do some meaningful work, it would be appreciated.

Those emails ain’t going to send themselves!

A:

The post Chess Author, Player, Manager: Maaike Keetman Interview appeared first on Chessentials.

The first part of the interview, in which we talk about his early years, his adulthood and time in college and how he got into poker, is available here.

Ben Johnson as a Chess Teacher/Educator

Q: At the end of it all, you decided to get back to your former love – Chess Teaching. During the years you were playing poker and trading, you didn’t do much of that, right?

A:  I was not coaching or even very active in chess from 2003-2015, although many of my best friends were still from the chess world.

In the early poker years, I worked with a former student for free, and I played the occasional tournament, but didn’t study or take it seriously and my results in chess weren’t good. Throughout those years, though, I always fondly recalled my years teaching chess, and I always felt like I could be happy doing it for a living again if circumstances warranted it. (I was right about this, as I do enjoy teaching chess)

I didn’t return to teaching chess until 2015, first on a part-time basis while I still traded, then closer to full time in 2016 when I quit trading.

Q: From the outside, it seems that chess teaching is a big thing in the United States. So many schools, colleges and organizations…How many people make a living out of chess teaching? How difficult and lucrative it is?

A: Good questions! It is very hard to guess accurately, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there are 200-300 full-time chess teachers in the US and many more part-time. For most chess players the most challenging aspects of teaching are going to be classroom management/communication-related.

As for how lucrative, basically no one gets rich teaching chess, but scholastic teachers can make a pretty good hourly wage during the hours they are most in demand, which is primarily after school hours, nights and weekends. The problem can be that this schedule is not very conducive to having a family, because that’s when your wife and kids are home. So in summation, chess teaching is a great job for a young person without a family, but as you get older you have to be very deliberate in planning a professional life that is compatible with other life goals.

Q: As far as I understood, you focus on teaching groups of young kids. Can you describe how an average session looks like? How do you keep their attention without being too pushy? How do you keep the balance between being serious and being fun?

A: Most of my afterschool chess clubs are 75 minutes long. I typically teach something very basic for the first 20 minutes, ranging from how the rook moves to what a pin is. Then they do related puzzles for about 10 minutes, and then they play chess. It is very important to vary the activities, especially with younger kids.

You learn to teach through trial and error! When I was hired by Chess in the Schools I was a terrible teacher, probably 1000 strength. As for the balance between serious and fun, I think chess teachers should be fun. There are a few reasons:

• We are teaching a game
• The kids have been in school all day, so it’s a bit unfair to them to be a taskmaster after school too.
• It keeps them engaged

The challenge can be that if you make too many jokes or are too care-free the students can get a bit silly.

Q: What is the one thing you find the most enjoyable about working with kids?

A: They generally have contagious happiness, as they have not yet been beaten down by life.

Ben Johnson as a Chess Podcaster

Q: Okay, let’s talk about the thing that made you famous – Perpetual Chess Podcast :D.

On your about page, you already hinted at how the idea of a chess podcast came to life. Can you wrap it up and/or elaborate a bit further for the readers?

What motivated me to start the podcast? There are several reasons.

1. I was and am a huge podcast junkie, and couldn’t believe the lack of offerings about chess. (I have to give a shout out to Macauley Peterson, Lawrence Trent and Simon Williams of the Full English Breakfast though- at the time I dreamed up Perpetual Chess, their podcast had gone dormant, and they had a different format than the long form interview one that I envisioned for Perpetual Chess)
2. This reason is a bit more personal, but at the time I started the podcast I did not feel very fulfilled professionally. I had just gotten back into teaching chess to kids in Pittsburgh PA after many years of playing poker, and then trading stocks.  I enjoyed the teaching, but it can be lonely since you are in a different school every day and in Pittsburgh, I didn’t really have any work colleagues. Although my home family life was a reasonably happy one, my wife and I were sleep-deprived and spread a lot thinner financially than we had been before kids)

My feeling of unfulfillment also felt exacerbated by my having young kids at home. I felt like I was surrounded by kids every moment (with the notable exception of my wife), and although I am lucky to like kids, this was a stark difference from the prior 12 years spent primarily working alone in front of my computer and socializing with adults.

The idea of starting a chess interview podcast to me solved two problems at once- it gave me the chance to talk to adults (brilliant ones at that, and about a subject I love), and it was likely to expand my connections in the chess world and help me feel less isolated. Needless to say, I am very happy that I made this decision and forever grateful to my wife that she gave me the space to invest the time and money necessary to pursue this project.

Q: That is fascinating! It is not the first time I hear that a good idea was developed because someone wanted to solve his own problems.

But many people never go beyond the step of thinking of an idea. How long did it take you to start implementing it in real life? Did you have the equipment? Who made the website? Did you have a producer at the very beginning?

Can you tell us how the podcast actually came to life?

A: For about a year I had the idea for this podcast, and even kept a “notes” file on my phone where I brainstormed potential names and guests for the show. I also would frequently check iTunes to see if someone else had started a chess podcast. Part of me wanted someone else to do it, so that I wouldn’t have to think about it anymore!

I am not particularly tech savvy, so what kept me from doing it was not knowing how any of the back-end stuff like recording and uploading worked. That problem was solved, by chance, when I saw a tweet from a finance guy I follow on Twitter, Patrick O Shaughnessy. He was singing the praises of his podcast producer, Mathew Passy and recommending him for anyone thinking of starting a podcast. I reached out to Mathew and he helped me take it from there.

Q: And so it took off. I have listened to the very first episode with Greg Shahade the other day and I kinda got the feeling I was listening to two high-school friends who were surprised themselves that they are talking about chess and recording it (I don’t mean it in a bad way – I died from laughter).

Looking back, what do you think about the first steps? Did you have your doubts? Were you afraid no one would ever listen to it?

A: I was pretty confident that there was an audience for a chess podcast- because I wanted one myself. What I was more concerned with was that someone more qualified than me should be the one doing it! Listening to those early interviews makes me cringe, but I wasn’t going to learn to podcast without just doing it.

Q: But okay, you have come very far since. 131 episodes later you have spoken to a number of world-class GMs, chess content creators and businessman. You have also gained a decent number of Patreon supporters.

Did you even think at the beginning podcasting might become more than a hobby? A profession? A business?

I would be lying if I did not admit that I also saw creating a chess podcast as a business opportunity. As a big podcast fan, I had seen how creating a podcast had changed the life of Marc Maron in the comedy world, and of Nate Duncan in the NBA world, just to name two of my favorite podcasters.

Chess obviously is not as popular as show business or the NBA, so I didn’t expect success on that scale, but I figured that at minimum, Perpetual Chess could be a decent, gratifying side-hustle that augmented my teaching, and thanks primarily to the Perpetual Chess Patreon supporters, that is what it has grown to be as of now.

Q: How many people are working on the podcast? Have you reached the point where the income is higher than the expenses?

A: It is just two people- me and my producer. Mathew Passy. Without Mathew, the podcast would not be possible. He does the editing, plus the troubleshooting on any tech issues I encounter. I am happy to report that thanks to the Patreon supporters of Perpetual Chess it is reasonably profitable. As I have said on the podcast, it undoubtedly has the lowest hourly rate of all my work (chess and poker both), but I enjoy doing it, and if the revenue continues to grow it should be sustainable for a while.

Q:  You always seem excellently prepared for every interview. How much time does it take you to do so? How much does it take you to promote it on iTunes and social media?

Can you take us through the process of recording an episode? From the preparations to the very interview and the (post) production?

A: Thanks! I take pride in preparing as much as I can for every interview because it is the aspect of producing a good show that I feel like I have the most control over. I know that there are plenty of stronger chess players than me and lots of people know more chess history, so being fully prepared for and focused during the interview is the least I can do.

As for how the podcast gets made. First I try to chase down a guest. Sometimes this can take one email, sometimes I feel like everyone I ask is ignoring me. Also sometimes someone is initially responsive, but then disappears. This is frustrating because it makes it hard to sequence guests and not a miss a show or overbook with the limited amount of time for interviews that I have. Scheduling guests is my least favorite part of creating Perpetual Chess.

Once a guest is scheduled, I alert my Patreon supporters in case they want to submit questions, then begin research. If its an author I try to read at least one book of theirs, usually the most recent. If not, I scour the internet for other interviews or check out whatever project they are doing. I probably average about 5 hours of prep per guest, but it depends a lot on who it is and how much they have written. The good news is that it often doesn’t feel like work, because I am reading about chess and learning new things. Recording the interviews is my absolute favorite part of doing the podcast, and makes it all worth it. When I am talking to the likes of Gata Kamsky or Judit Polgar and they share a story or tip that I know my listeners will enjoy I really feel like I should pinch myself at times.

Once the interview is recorded (on Skype). I send it off to my editor/producer with any edits and he makes the edits, adjust sound levels if necessary and posts it be released on my hosting page when ready. Once it is ready for upload, I relisten to the interview and post show notes and links. This adds another 60-90 minutes to the amount of time it takes, but I do think it greatly improves the product.

Then when it is released, on Tuesdays, it takes about an hour to do the release stuff. I tweet about it, which takes annoyingly long to compose due to Twitter’s character limits. There is also posting it on the webpage, sharing to the email list, via MailChimp, and sharing in the Facebook group. This stuff takes about an hour in total, but is relatively mindless.

Q: Do you have some episodes you are particularly proud or fond of?

A: So many that it really is hard to list. Not because of anything that I did, but just because chess has so many great personalities with awesome stories to tell. I have noticed that experienced chess authors are amongst my favorite guests. This makes me think of guests like GMs Genna Sosonko and Jacob Aagaard, and IMs John Watson and John Donaldson.

I also felt privileged to get to interview GM Gata Kamsky, as he has such an incredible career and interesting life, and he doesn’t seem to do a lot of long-form interviews.

Q: Do you have any future plans regarding the podcast? Have you defined a specific goal, or are you simply “going with the flow” and waiting to see where it takes you?

A: Definitely “going with the flow,” It is really hard for me to keep putting out an episode per week, so I never seem to find the time to think more big picture. If I had more free time I would focus a lot more on the “macro” aspect of the show, and could think more about stuff like soliciting sponsors, updating the webpage, selling merchandise, making additional content, etc., but as it is, I feel like I just barely get an episode out each week. So I fall back on the content creator’s mantra that if I put out a quality product everything else will take care of itself (someday.)

Q: Apart from Patreon, how else can people support your work?

A: Spreading the word about the podcast is always helpful.

Ben Johnson Off The Board

Q: Okay, last but not least, I would like to find out something about Ben as a person. ¹

I know you are married with two kids. But can you tell us how and when did you meet your wife?

A: My wife and I met through an online dating site in 2008. At the time I was an online poker pro, living in Brooklyn NY. Poker, like chess, has been a predominantly male-dominated field, so it was hard to meet women at times. For any lonely chess players out there, I strongly recommend overcoming your inhibitions and trying online dating.

Q: Did you have a magical pick-up line? Or did you stick to the good old „Hi, I’m Ben?“ 😀

A: Haha. This could be the subject of its own podcast, but let’s say I was better at writing friendly somewhat humorous emails to women I’d never met then I was at approaching them. I suspect this would be true of many chess players.

Q: Since you have a successful track record and since many chess players are struggling in that domain, what would your piece of advice to them be? 😀

A: Hmm, depends on whether you are trying to be a teacher, a content creator, or both. But I think it is generally good advice to pick one thing or one small aspect of a field and try to do it really well and really consistently.

Q: How old are your children? What are their names?

A: They are 6 and 3, a boy and a girl.

Q: Have you started teaching them chess? There is strong evidence one of them is quite incompetent in that field 😀

A: Ha! I teach the chess club at my 6 yr old’s school. So far he prefers “giveaway chess“ aka “suicide chess“ to regular chess, but he does seem to enjoy the social aspect of the chess club.

Q: How do you balance your professional and family obligations? How does an average day in the Johnson family look like?

A: Oh man, it is so hectic. It is hard to balance especially because I am a freelancer. My wife has a demanding full-time job so a lot of the parenting grunt work falls to me, such as getting the kids ready for school, cooking dinner, taking them to music classes, etc.

Q: If someone asked you about a secret to being a good parent, what would you say? What would your advice be to other future (and current) parents?

A: My kids will be able to tell you in 20 years whether I am a good person to answer this, but I can give basically the same advice I did with regard to teaching and content creation- Don’t halfass it!

Q: Apart from chess, poker, podcasting, stocks, TV shows and family, do you do anything else in your free time? ²Do you have any other hobbies?

A: I think you covered all of my interests except for sports. I am a big NBA and Major League Baseball fan. As a native Philadelphia, the 76ers and Phillies are my teams, but I follow the leagues as a whole as well.

Q: I am going to make a random guess here, but I somehow imagine you read a lot. Can you give us a list of your five favorites (non-chess) books of all-time? Or five good books you read recently? ³ 

A: I love reading and was reading 1-2 books per week until my kids were born. Arg!

In my teens and 20s, I read a good amount of fiction- I liked Murakami and Milan Kundera among many others. These days I read mostly non-fiction if/when I have time.

Seth Godin is half motivational writer half marketing wizard, and I love his books and his blog. Recently I have been loving the writing of Scott Galloway who I guess you would call a business writer. I just started reading The Algebra of Happiness and it strikes me as a  great book for a 20 something trying to find him or herself. Scott Galloway also does a free weekly column called No Mercy No Malice that everyone should read.

Both Seth Godin and Scott Galloway have podcasts too, because of the way things work these days.

Also, read everything by Michael Lewis.

Lastly, if you haven’t read Born Standing Up by Steve Martin, an American actor and comedian, you should!

Q: Do you have any intentions of getting back to serious tournament chess at some point?

A: That is a very good question. I do miss competing, but as a competitive person, it would be hard for me to enjoy without feeling like I was in decent playing shape. And in order for that to happen, I would need to spend 5-10 hours a week studying for a solid 3 months, at minimum. That is not happening imminently, unfortunately. But I definitely want to get back in the ring if my professional and family responsibilities ever settle down. Sadly, that may not be until my kids are in college, but chess is always there for you!

Q: Do you have a life motto? If yes, which one is it?

A: As my friend, IM-elect Donny Ariel famously said, “ life is about the quality of your relationships.“

Q: If you could invite three persons to dinner, whom would you invite?

A: Wow, should I be asking someone this on the podcast? Let’s go with Grischuk, Anand and Barack Obama.

Q: Last, but not least, is there a message you’d like to send the readers? Especially to those who don’t know what to do with their life? Who are struggling to find their passion?

A: OK, its gonna be impossible for this not to sound like a cliche. When you are young, without family you should be trying stuff. Quit your job, start a blog, start a YouTube channel- take chances. If you are not sure what your “passion“ is, think back to what interested you as a child. And read a lot!

Q: Phew, we have finally made it to the end. Thank you so much, Ben, on your time and on your effort – the depth and the length of your answers were quite amazing!

It was a real pleasure talking to you and telling your interesting and fascinating story to the broader public.

We wish you all the best in the future and hope for further growth of the Perpetual Chess Podcast audience ⁴!

A: Thanks Vjeko! I feel like anyone who read this much about me should win a prize! Thanks to anyone who read this, and good luck with your chess writing!

Links where you can find more about Ben

Perpetual Chess Podcast Website

Perpetual Chess Podcast Patreon

Perpetual Chess Podcast on Apple Tunes

Ben’s Twitter

Perpetual Chess Podcast Facebook Group

Perpetual Chess Academy

Ben’s Chesscom profile

This is the second part of the interview, in which we talk about Ben’s trading years, his transition back to chess teaching, about Perpetual Chess Podcast and his family.

The first part of the interview, in which we talk about his early years, his adulthood and time in college and how he got into poker, is available here.

The post Educator, teacher, podcaster – Ben Johnson Interview – Part Two appeared first on Chessentials.

The second part of the interview, in which we talk about his trading years, his transition back to chess teaching, about Perpetual Chess Podcast and his family, is available here.

Introduction

Even though the chess world has been full of chess playing websites, book reading apps, computer engines, youtube channels and mediocre blogs ¹ from the start of the digital era, for a long time it was severy lacking in the area of podcasts.

Apart from the Full English Breakfast ², at the end of 2016, there wasn’t a single one out there. This gap was recognized by a former Poker player, trader and nowadays a chess teacher from New Jersey: Ben Johnson.

In December 2016, a first episode of the new Perpetual Chess Podcast was aired and as they say, the rest is history. 131 episodes and 195 patrons later, ³ The Perpetual Chess Podcast has gained a lot of recognition, and won the hearts of chess players worldwide by allowing them insight into the lives and minds of world best chess players, authors and promoters of the game.

A couple of weeks ago, I contacted Ben on a completely unrelated note. ⁴ The mail exchange was extremely pleasant, Ben indeed turned out to be the nice guy he seemed to be in his podcasts. So I ventured to ask him if he would be like to be the man on the other side of the microphone for a change and do an interview for Chessentials.

I am incredibly thankful to him for this. Even though I overdid it with the number of questions ⁵, Ben answered every single one of them – in great detail.

I am very happy he did so – I find his life story fascinating and inspiring. I think there is a lot to learn about chess, life, poker, business and being a decent human being, in general.

Hope you guys will enjoy it as much as I did.

Ben Johnson as a Kid

Q: Hi Ben! It is a pleasure and honor to have you on Chessentials. Since you have a very rich and versatile biography, there is a lot I want to ask you. But since this is a chess blog and you are a chess podcaster, it probably makes sense to start with chess-related questions. Can you tell me when and how you learned to play the game?

A: Thanks for thinking of me, Vjeko! As I mentioned to you via email, I am not sure if anyone will care about my background, but I will spell it all out here just in case.

I was introduced to chess by a family friend at the age of 6, I was immediately taken by it, but back in the stone ages I was one of those people who did not know at that time that chess books and tournaments existed, so I was not exposed to the game again for a long time.

Q: How long did it take you to start playing it „seriously“? How did that happen?

A: At the age of 12 I rediscovered the game when some kids from the just-forming school chess club were playing at lunchtime in the cafeteria. A friend and I approached them, joined the club, and the rest, as they say, is history.

That program – the Masterman Chess Club in Philadelphia PA – went on to win many US Scholastic team championships, with several master level player graduates, along with its most well- known chess alumni, my good friends IM Greg Shahade and WIM Jenn Shahade.

Q: Okay, now I understand why Greg was the very first guest of the podcast and why you announced that you sometimes have great guests, but sometimes you also have Greg during his latest (third) appearance. 😀

Anyway – 12 is a “relatively” late age to start playing chess ⁶, in terms of becoming a World Champion or professional. I can easily imagine a kid losing motivation after being beaten by his peers who have had a head start.

Was this the case with you? Could you already feel a marked difference of level between Greg (and/or other 12-year olds) and yourself? Did you ever get discouraged?

A: I agree that it feels like a late start these days, but that was less the case back then. In my later teenage years, I would often be on the bottom half of the US Chess “Top 50” (now top 100)  lists for my age, so at that time I occasionally regretted having not started playing chess earlier, but mainly I was happy to be enjoying a new hobby.

As for feeling discouraged, I have always thought it was a good thing for me to encounter someone with more chess talent early in life, as it kept me motivated and kept me humble. I think this was particularly helpful when I became a poker pro, as I will likely detail later.

Q: In the end, you not only stuck to chess, but became a fairly decent player. According to your About page on Perpetual Chess Academy, you earned the title of the USCF National Chess Master and reached peak USCF rating of 2279 in 1995 – when you were 18. Considering your late start, it sounds like a great achievement.

Can you briefly take us through that journey? How serious was your approach to the game? Did you have a training routine? How often did you play? How did you balance chess with school obligations and… you know.. having a childhood?

A: During those years I loved chess and spent a good amount of time on it, but I would not say it was an unhealthy amount. The Masterman Chess Club had afterschool chess club twice a week, and I probably averaged playing two tournaments a month. I never had a personal coach, although Mike Shahade (Greg and Jenn’s dad, who is a US Chess Senior Master), certainly helped me out along the way. On my own, I studied maybe 5 hours a week on average, but I did it because I enjoyed it, not because anyone was pushing me, or because of any sort of driving ambition or goal.

Ben Johnson as a College Student

Q: Considering the circumstances, it is reasonable to guess why it was your peak. If I calculated correctly, ⁷ not long after you achieved your personal best, it was time to go to college.

First thing I would like to ask – in one of the episodes with Greg, you „cursed“ him because he got a chess scholarship for which you also applied. Since such things don’t exist in Croatia, could you explain what exactly it was about?

Did you already back then want to try for a chess career? Or was it more of a „that-sounds-nice-me-like-it“ decision?

A: Wow Vjeko, you really did your homework!

So, to clarify,  Greg received two different distinctions in a span of a few years:

• A scholarship to University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) in 1996- at the time UMBC was one of the only schools giving full scholarships to strong chess players. Greg was a year lower than me in school, so that did not factor into my college decision, and going to UMBC was not something I seriously considered. I really enjoyed my college experience at Pomona College.
• A few years later, in 1999, Greg also won a very prestigious award called The Samford Fellowship. This fellowship gives money to the top young American chess player each year to pursue chess professionally. This is the one I was jealous of! However, let it be noted I was not jealous in the sense that I thought I deserved the award- I was 300 points lower rated than Greg and by now had long been his whipping boy in blitz matches. There were dozens of kids more qualified to receive this award than me, and I had no illusions about that.

What  I was jealous of the lifestyle that the Samford afforded Greg- he had quit UMBC about a year after starting, and the Samford enabled him to not work, sleep in every day, play and study chess,  etc. To a 20-year-old racking up student loans this lifestyle sounded pretty good!

Q: In the end, you chose Pomona College where you graduated in Russian and History. How exactly did you choose those particular majors at that particular college?

A: I chose Pomona College, as it was the most prestigious and appealing school that I was admitted to. Believe it or not, I also had vague ambitions of playing college baseball. Once I got there though, I quickly realized that I wasn’t even good enough at baseball to make their team.

California is quite far from Philadelphia, and I liked the idea of “striking out on my own.“ As for my majors, politics was a subject that always interested me in an academic sense. I started studying Russian because I often heard it spoken at chess tournaments. I used to joke (sort of joke) that I wanted to be able to make sure my opponents weren’t cheating when they conversed in Russian during my chess games.

Q: How did chess fare during your study years? I recall you mentioning in one of the episodes you didn’t work seriously on chess after the age of 18. Is that correct?

A: My chess fell by the wayside pretty quickly. I couldn’t afford a car in college and thus couldn’t really get to any tournaments.  Without competing I didn’t have much desire to study chess, so I played blitz when I could, and played a few tournaments a year, but I didn’t spend nearly as much time on chess all in all.

Q: One of my favourite episodes of the Perpetual Chess Podcast is the episode nr. 42, featuring notable entrepreneur and anti-college advocate James Altucher. Although I don’t agree with him about everything and am not the biggest fan of his marketing methods, I learned a lot from his blog and books.

Considering you ended up doing something completely unrelated to your studies I am really curious about how you look back at your college years today. Where do you stand in the whole „College is not worth it“ debate?

A: Yes, I really enjoyed the James Altucher interview as well! I also do not agree with him on everything, but I am sympathetic to the arguments he makes about the cost-effectiveness of college. I think that the R.O.I on elite institutions is still decent despite the hefty tuition, but I think it would be an economic mistake to borrow $50K a year to study the humanities at an average university. As a parent, I think about these questions a lot, and I hope that the structure of American universities is changed in some way before my kids reach college age. Hopefully, you have a better system in Croatia! ⁸

Ben Johnson as a Young Adult

Q: In any case, time flew by, the „finish college“ mark was checked and adulthood knocked on the door. According to the About page on Perpetual Chess Podcast (you seem to have a lot of them :P), you said you worked two years after college in an office job. What kind of job it was?

A: After university, I took a job as a Legal Assistant/Paralegal in New York with the intention of going to Law School. Basically, my work entailed getting various documents for lawyers and sometimes scanning them for particular words, etc. The work was boring, but New York was fun.

Q: Where did this sudden transition to the law come from? Did you even try to find a job within your field of expertise (Russian/History)?

A: Not especially. Here in the US, it was fairly common to just pick a field of general interest within “the humanities” in University and then pursue a general job once graduating. I selected subjects to major in because one must pick a major, but I never felt like I had a clear sense of what my professional ambitions were. For such kids considering a career in law is fairly common, and my mom is a lawyer, so it was always a possibility in my mind.

Q: You mentioned the work in the office was boring. How fast did you figure out that the traditional 9-5 work might not be for you?

A: My decision not to work 9-5 that came about through trial and error.

After I finished working as a Legal Assistant/Paralegal I decided to apply for law schools despite seeing a lot of unhappy lawyers at my law office. I felt like I didn’t know what else to do.  While applying to law schools, I decided to teach chess for a year for Chess in the Schools.

Working at Chess in the Schools was when I became good friends with Mike Klein, (of chess.com and chesskid.com) as well- we were friendly from the US Chess Scholastic circuit, but started work at CIS the same year and ultimately became good friends and were roommates for 2 years.

Once I was teaching chess I realized I enjoyed it much more than office work, and fairly quickly decided not to pursue a career in law.

I should mention that during these years, I also had been playing poker by this point for a few years. Me and a few other chess players, including Greg Shahade, IM elect Donny Ariel and our friend Yakov Hirsch, who is a USCF expert,  all became immersed in poker together and began to make money as poker became increasingly popular and lucrative. In my mind, my nascent success in poker was another reason to freelance as a chess teacher rather than immerse myself in the rigors of law school or a more traditional 9-5, as it allowed me more time to play poker and see what came of it.

Ben Johnson as a Poker Player

Q: Ah yes. Poker! Everyone listening to your podcast has heard you mentioning it and discussing it on air. ⁹

Can you tell us when did you start playing poker? How did you come into contact with the game?

A: Yes, those who have been with Perpetual Chess from the beginning may have heard more poker mentions than they desired! I hope that I have gotten better at “sticking to chess“, or at least avoiding a lot of poker talk on the podcast as time has gone on.

I had discovered the world of poker via the movie Rounders in 1999 and ordered my first poker book a few days after seeing it.

As I mentioned above – I soon started playing it together with some other chess players. And earning some money.

Q: It sounds to me you started doing it as a hobby first. When did you realize it might become a career?

A: I was playing poker as a hobby while working from 1999 to 2003. Although it was a hobby, I developed an ambition quite quickly of playing it for a living.  In 2003 I started to have a lot of success playing poker, both in tournaments (which there is sort of a record of) and in online “cash games” which basically are buy in with what you want and leave with what you want. You also aren’t tracked publicly. You can sort of trace the timeline of my poker career by seeing my tournament record here. I also “multi-tabled” online, and was pretty successful with that as well.

(Note that although these are big numbers, they are “net winnings” and don’t reflect all the tournaments someone buys into and doesn’t make money in. Despite the buyins, overall I was doing very well in tournaments though. )

My first “big score” was in September of 2003, the beginning of the school year. The Borgata Poker Open for $11,000. That was the tournament that allowed me to finish paying off my student loan debts, and I continued to have success in cash games from there. So I finished out that school year from 2003-2004 as a chess teacher, then transitioned to playing poker full time in June 2004 by which point, I had a couple of even bigger tournament scores, including winning $80,000 for coming in  36^th place in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker in 2004.

Looking back now, the money I was winning is hard to fathom, as I work pretty hard to earn a normal wage here in 2019, but at that time there was just a ton of money flowing into poker, and if you read some books, had good emotional control and had some luck you could have results like I did, without being a poker genius.

Today, that is not the case!

Q: Yes, I have heard several times that the “Golden Era Of Poker” is behind us. Can you elaborate for the uninitiated? What made the difference?

A: A confluence of events led to an explosion in the popularity of poker. Probably the biggest factor was that a “hole-card camera” was invented that let people watch broadcasts of poker and see the players cards. This made everyone think they could be poker champions too, so lots of people tried poker online and at casinos.  As a result, games were extremely profitable in the 2000s, as it turned out most people weren’t so good! Once new “fish” stopped entering the pond, the fights for the old ones got more intense, and it became harder to make good money.

Q: Poker also started gaining more prominence… of authorities. We all know the example of Francisco Vallejo Pons ¹⁰. There were other events. For instance, 2011 is also when the US government unexpectedly shut down the biggest online poker sites, known to poker players as “Black Friday”.

 In a previous interview, Polish FM Kamil Plichta – who also makes a living out of poker, told me his parents weren’t satisfied with him “devoting time to that stupid card game”. How did your parents react when you told them :D?

A: My mom would have agreed with Kamil’s parents! In her defense, she had seen me come up on the short side of a few gambling encounters with chess hustlers in my teens, so I think her suspicion was warranted. My success at poker ultimately sort of won my mom over, but she has a bit of hippie-ness in her heart, so even when I was making a lot of money playing poker I think she would have preferred I be a broke poet rather than a rich poker player.

Like most parents, she mainly wanted me to be happy though.

On the other hand, my dad is an optimist by nature, and an avid sports fan, so to him the idea of competing to make money was one he could get behind right away, and he was my biggest fan when I was competing in tournaments regularly.

Q: You are definitely not the first chess player who fell in love with this particular card game. You already mentioned some names. There are other renowned examples, such as Jen Shahade or James Altucher. Even some world class player, like Hikaru Nakamura, Peter Svidler, afore-mentioned Francisco-Vallejo Pons or Alexander Grischuk have played it. Or still do.

In the podcast, you also mentioned several world-class poker players who have achieved 2200-2300 levels in chess.

I also know two lesser-known examples: Croatian IM Goran Djurović and the above-mentioned Chessentials guest Kamil Plichta.

Is there a reason why so many chess players get involved with poker? Can you reveal the secret behind this connection between two games that seemingly have nothing in common?

A: I think the mentality that chess instills is perfect for poker. In chess when you lose, you must honestly assess what you did wrong. There is invariably lots of study involved.

In poker, there is so much variance that one can avoid that question and blame luck if so inclined. Chess players generally are willing to look past the variance and “take responsibility for their results,“ and that goes a long way in poker.

The other thing is that chess has often attracted a type of person that is not interested in conventional academic pursuits and conventional jobs. Since seemingly every chess player knows another chess player who has become a poker pro it is a natural avenue to explore if one is seeking to avoid real life 😉

Q: Have you ever met some of the chess greats in a poker hall? Does your friendship with Jan Gustafsson stem from there? ¹¹

A: I have played poker with one of the original chess to poker cross over heroes, Dan Harrington, who reached about 2400 USCF and has had great success as a poker tournament player and author. Similarly, I am old friends with FM Ylon Schwartz, who is a chess lifer who made 2 million + in the World Series of Poker Main Event one year. I have not played poker with any true chess legends, like Hikaru, though.

As for Jan, I knew him through Greg Shahade before any of us were into poker, but our time as poker pros overlapped. Following my biggest poker tournament success, in Baden, Austria in 2006, I and another friend went to Hamburg to see the city and visit Jan. We had a good time.

Q: How is the process of improving at poker similar to the process of improving at chess? What does the poker training routine consist of?

A: Well is has changed a lot since my heyday. Back then, the 3 ways to improve were:

• Read books
• Study with computers. Programs like Pokertracker collected all of the hands you played online and helped you figure out in what situations you were making money and in which you were leaking it
• Talk over hands with other players

These days those things still apply, but there has also been an explosion in “poker solvers,“ something Jen Shahade talked about on Perpetual Chess, and that she discusses in her fun new poker podcast, The Grid. I still play a bit of poker, but I have not had the time or inclination to keep up with this amazing technology, instead, I try to learn from those who make videos synthesizing the information.

Q: As the old saying goes – all good things come to an end. In 2011, you said farewell to professional poker after 7 years. Can you tell us why?

A: As I explained above, it became more difficult. After some great years making 6 figure income, my earnings were slowing down significantly. I wasn’t working as hard on my game as I needed to be. I was also tired of traveling to casinos for tournaments and wasn’t particularly interested in traveling/moving just to chase the best games, which was becoming increasingly necessary.

Plus I had gotten quite interested in financial markets and trading starting in 2008 during the financial crisis.

After the “Black Friday”. I decided to focus on trading stocks- something I ultimately devoted 5 years to.

Q: Oh, I didn’t realize you were trading for so long. I think in the episode with Altucher you said that you weren’t that successful (as in – say – poker) and that you were “somewhere around zero” in total. Is that true?

A: Well, if you consider opportunity cost and cost of living trading was not even a break-even endeavor for me. I devoted years to studying, practicing and journaling trading, and I am proud of the approach I took despite a lack of success.

Q: How come you decided for day trading? I have done some investing on the side myself and literally, every book, from Benjamin Graham’s Intelligent Investor to A Random Walk Down Wall Street advised against it and recommended buy and hold instead.

With hindsight, which trading strategy would you recommend to a young investor?

A: I tried every trading/investing approach under the sun, and ultimately was drawn to day trading futures markets. I liked the combination of data analysis and pattern recognition that it required similar to poker. Based on my experience, I cannot argue with those who argue against it. I would guess that 1% of people that attempt to day trade find a way to consistently generate income, and I was not amongst that 1%.

With hindsight, I would not recommend any trading strategy to a young investor. Passive investing is the way to go. Even the “value investing” espoused by Benjamin Graham is having a tough go of late, as value investing is now taught in every business school in the world.  If you are looking for an edge in a market the financial markets are about the last place I would look! Sorry to be so cynical, but this is also the advice that I heard and read as well before I ignored it and insisted on going and making my own mistakes!

Links where you can find more about Ben

Perpetual Chess Podcast Website

Perpetual Chess Podcast Patreon

Perpetual Chess Podcast on Apple Tunes

Ben’s Twitter

Perpetual Chess Podcast Facebook Group

Perpetual Chess Academy

Ben’s Chesscom profile

This is the first part of the interview, in which we talk about Ben’s early years, his adulthood and time in college and how he got into poker.

The second part of the interview, in which we talk about his trading years, his transition back to chess teaching, about Perpetual Chess Podcast and his family, is available here.

The post Educator, teacher, podcaster – Ben Johnson Interview – Part One appeared first on Chessentials.

On May 21, 2018, a Reddit post by relatively unknown Polish Candidate Master (and software developer) Andrzej Krzywda, titled I Was ~ 2100 for > 20 years (I’m 38). Last Week I Made an IM Norm, sent a shockwave through the chess community and immediately became viral.

As the title suggests, after spending two decades in the 2100 levels, Andrzej managed to score the norm of an International Master with a rating performance of 2579. And with a +95 ELO gain.

The popularity of the post was not that surprising because Andrzej had done something incredible.  Violated the „common principle“ that rapid chess improvement at the late stage of life is impossible. Proved that it is possible to make major leaps as an adult.

Moreover, he didn’t leap from being a beginner to being a category player. He surmounted the gap between the Candidate Master and Master level. After decades of being „stuck“.

Since so many chess players find (including the author of these lines) get „stuck“ in the 2100-2200s ELO heights, Andrzej’s result was incredibly inspiring. And it made everyone curious. There were so many questions.

How did he do it? What training methods did he implement? What ‘clicked’ in this particular tournament?

How did he decide to devote himself to chess improvement after all these years? Why exactly now? Why not earlier?

How did he organize his private life to align with his old/new chess goals? What changes did he make? How did he adjust?

And so on. And so on.

He became a sort of „chess celebrity“. But he never behaved like one. Prior to this interview, we talked a couple of times over Facebook and I can honestly say that the success didn’t spoil him. Andrzej is a very nice, humble, down-to-earth and approachable guy. Who doesn’t hold the knowledge for himself. Who is open about his methods. And who is willing to share them with the world.

He answered some of the questions above in the episode of the Perpetual Chess Podcast.  He keeps answering others and talking about his path on his Facebook page (and sometimes also on his Twitter). And incredibly enough, when I contacted him about this interview, he agreed to sit in front of the „hot Chessentials mic“ and answer my questions about chess, chess improvement, the psychology behind the moves and life in general.

Because Andrzej is much more than a chess player. He is a very successful programmer, an entrepreneur and a family man. There is a lot we can learn from him, both on and off-the-board.

I hope you guys will find it useful. Or at least that Andrzej will inspire you to evaluate your own chess goals.

And to aim for more.

Note: Due to the length of the interview, we have decided to split it into three parts. In the first part of the interview, we talk about Andrzej’s chess beginnings and follow his career up to his adult years.

You can find the second part of the interview here. 

And the third part of the interview here.

THE BEGINNING

Q: Hi Andrzej. Thank you so much for agreeing on this interview, it is a pleasure to have you on Chessentials.

As usual, we would like to start… at the beginning (quite shocking, I know). I couldn’t find any info whatsoever about your earliest days. Can you tell us when did you first start playing chess? Who taught you the rules of the game?

A: When I was 5, I learned how to play by watching games between my father and my older brother. Once I started beating them they were not interested in playing with me anymore

In my primary school we didn’t have a proper gym hall, so during winters, we’ve had table tennis and chess as main activities. We’ve had a “school league” with 4 divisions. I remember that moment when I finally was promoted to the first division.

Now that I think of it – the level was quite high overall.

Q: How did the story develop further? When did you first join a chess club? Who was your first coach?

A: I was 13 when I was in the chess club for the first time. That’s very late. Those were times before the Internet and I had no idea that only 20km from my place there was an active chess club (Opole, Poland). Neither my parents knew anything about that, nor my teachers, somehow.

I only learned alone until then and I bought 2 books by mail – a collection of Rubinstein games and a collection of Tarrash games. I’ve also cut chess games/diagrams from local newspapers (I had no idea there were specialized chess magazines) and glued them into my notepad.

Q: And when did you play in your first chess tournaments? Do you remember the feeling? The games? The result?

A: My first proper classic tournament was in 1993 when I was 13. My cousin joined a chess club in his city (Prudnik) and they went to this summer tournament in Rudnik in July 1993. My mom asked them to take me but I didn’t know anyone there. My first 4 rounds were 3.5/4 and one game I won in 7 moves against a 1800 player.

I think that was the game:

     d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. e3 c5 5. Bxc4 cxd4 6. Ne5 Bxd1 7. Bxf7#     

I was already tricky enough to create this “omg” face when I played Ne5 and my opponent smiled and grabbed the queen.

Overall at that first tournament, I got 3rd category (1600), if I remember correctly.

The Prudnik’s coach (Jan Siekaniec) noticed my level of playing and asked me to join the club. I was a member of Zarzewie Prudnik until when I was around 20 and I started my own chess club with my friends (LZS Victoria Chroscice), where I play until today.

It felt amazing, it’s like my whole life started to make sense when competitive chess appeared. My parents were very supportive, they took me to the tournaments, financed all the trips. But they never pushed me too much. I’ve seen that among my colleagues and found it crazy how the parents could “press”. It wasn’t the case for me, full support, but no pressure at all.

Q: How good were you when you were young? How did you fare in your age group in youth competitions in Poland? Did you ever play in European Youth Championship?

A:

Playing in the club exposed me to stronger players, but I quickly got into the competitive mode of trying to beat everyone locally. When I was 15 I played in Polish Championship U-16 semi-finals for the first time. I got promoted to the finals.

However, in the Polish finals, I was never at the top or anywhere close to that. My biggest success was being 1st in the semi-finals in 1997.

That was also when I’ve had a proper coach (but only 2 sessions, 3-days each). It was IM Kalinin. He taught me how to play London

As for the European Youth Championship, I didn’t even come close. That was something I could only read about in the magazines. During this time, our Polish juniors (a bit older than me) were very successful Europe/World level. GM Kempinski, GM Macieja, GM Soćko, GM Blehm, GM Antoniewski, WGM Radziewicz and many others were an inspiration.

When I was close to 18 years old, other things were already important in my life. Even though I was qualified to U18 finals, I didn’t go there to play. Instead, I chose some school/party related events.

Q: What kind of kid were you? Were you calm and indifferent about the games and the results? Or were you angry and made tantrums?

A: More on the calm side. I don’t remember any situation where things went too emotional. I enjoyed competing, but never really took it very seriously.

YEARS OF „STAGNATION“

Q: Okay, let’s get away from the childhood years. In the Reddit thread, you said you were rated around 2100 for ~20 years. It would mean that the „years of stagnation“ started in your twenties.

Is it correct? When did you first feel you are struggling to improve?

A: When I started my Computer Science studies in 1998, this was hard for me. The studies were super hard and it was easy to drop off (more than 60% who started didn’t go to the second year). I focused on learning programming.

That was also a difficult time in personal life – our family (and our family business) were hugely impacted by the 1997 floods in Poland. Our situation has changed a lot and I just didn’t think about chess that much. I had to focus on earning money to support my studies and this was made a priority. I still loved chess, but it clearly wasn’t a priority as compared to studies, learning programming and working. In a way, this helped me get a good education and start my professional career in programming early on.

During this time I lived in Wrocław, which is a big city and very active in chess. I could compete with stronger masters now and that something new for me.

Q: With hindsight, what happened when you first reached 2100s heights? What did chess mean to you back then? Did you give up your ambitions due to lack of interest (hope?) or because your focus shifted on something else? Can you talk a bit about what went through 18-year-old Andrzej mind?

A: I never gave up on chess, but I think was smart enough to understand that I need something else in my life. The priorities have shifted. Even though as a junior I didn’t achieve much, I didn’t really have big expectations so it wasn’t big deal for me. There was no pressure from my parents, no pressure from a coach (as I didn’t have any). I always treated chess as something more long-term and didn’t focus on short-term goals that much.

18-year-old Andrzej was focused on finishing school, starting the studies, parties, girls, being exposed to a big city, having fun, trying to find jobs etc.

Q: But you didn’t give up your chess career completely. According to your FIDE profile, you were rated 2074 at the beginning of January 2000 (when you were 20). In the next couple of years, you continued improving (and playing tournaments relatively frequently). In 2007 you reached your first peak – 2197. And only in 2009 does the number of games per year drop significantly.

What was happening in the 2000-2007 period? Did you work on chess? Did you play any tournaments, or were those local and league matches?

A: I finished studying in 2004, took me 6 years, but working as a software developer was a big part of it and I’ve had my first successes in programming.

I think I mostly played the league once a year and occasionally some other tournaments, but often it was more for fun. I wasn’t really improving.

Things changed in 2005. I’ve had a good job, financially things were looking better and I was able to afford a coach, a local National Master – Mirosław Perdek. We attended the training together with my long-time chess friend (we met first in 1993), Rafał Zgadzaj, (who BTW is also now in the process of improving).

Early 2006 I moved to London and stayed there for 2 years. That was amazing for my chess, as I could literally play a classic game every afternoon. I worked 9-5 and then went to play every single day. The training started to pay off and I remember I’ve had a result of 18/21 games at some moment. In the team matches, I got to the first board in my teams and even played against some GMs.

That was my highest peak – I reached 2197.

BTW, that was a time, when I was switching from my usual 1.d4 to 1. e4 a process which ended in a complete switch later – I was an e4-only player from now on.

Q: In your Reddit threat you said you took a big break from chess between 26 and 35 years of age.

What changed in 2009? How come you „suddenly“ reduced your chess activity? I know it had nothing to do with children. Yet!

(Andrzej is a father of a 7-year-old and a 4-year-old – VN)

A: 2007 was the year when I moved back to Poland and started my programming company – Arkency. Again, chess was put aside and I didn’t have a coach. I tried to study chess on my own, but this didn’t work well.

You can probably spot a pattern here – when I work with a coach, my results get better. I guess I’m the kind of a player who needs this coach support.

The business part of my life became very important. My entrepreneurial DNA became visible and strong. Over the next years, this gave me a big satisfaction. I’m proud of what I have achieved in this area. I run a small (~15 people) but a strong company which is important worldwide in our programming niche (Ruby on Rails).

Q: Did this decision come easy? Did you regret it at a time? Did you ever feel like you were running from the fact you haven’t fulfilled your goals? From the fact you are at 2100 for quite a long time?

I ask for a friend.

A: I think I found it easy to deal with priorities. Business was more important to me. Programming was more important. I don’t regret that at all. Chess was still part of my life. I did care about getting to 2200 finally, but this didn’t work. I think I knew that chess had to wait until other things work well, especially the finances. Chess is an expensive profession and in my case, it needed to be supported by other areas (business/programming).

Q: Did you premonition you would ever return to serious chess training? Or did you think you were saying goodbye forever at the time?

A: I never said goodbye to chess. I didn’t really have a clear plan for chess at that time, but I knew it wouldn’t disappear. However, seeing that I’m getting worse and worse (rating-wise) was very frustrating. Every year I was playing in the same league (2nd Polish division). Somehow I always hoped to get a good result but it was always mediocre.

There was one specific moment of time, I think it was 2015, June, I played in that team competition and I’ve had another kind of 5/9 result and some -10 Elo. I was dangerously close to getting to <2100 level. A level which I never wanted to get to, as I wouldn’t respect myself.

(No offense to the lower-rated readers. My >2100 mindset was created before the big Fide/Elo changes. It was just my chess-bar.)

THE RESURGENCE

Q: Okay, enough about the wounds from the past. Let’s talk about the main topic – your breathtaking result and what led to it.

First of all, I would like to what led to you taking up chess seriously again. You said you started working seriously three years ago.

In the Reddit thread. you said the fact your rating dropped to 2100 again motivated you. In the Perpetual Chess Episode you mentioned you hated losing against players you „knew“ you shouldn’t lose. Anything else to add?

A: Usually I wasn’t very emotional about my chess level. But the losses were very frustrating. It’s funny because some of the losses were to players who at that time I considered weak, but now they are IMs. I was probably over-reacting a bit.

My successes in business and programming made me a stronger person overall. My success in private life (meeting my wife, having kids) has also boosted my confidence. I never really believed in the whole “chess talent” thing. I knew I was able to play better at chess and that felt like a right moment to make something about it.

I came up with this idea of a 5-year plan to get the IM. To be honest, I don’t think I really believed in this goal. But thinking big helped me in some changes.

First of all, my wife became very excited about this plan, that was so great. She comes from a chess family, she is a chess player (11 times finalist of the Polish championships). Her father is a successful chess coach – he was the first trainer for GM Jakubowski, WGM Bartel (Przezdziecka), FM Szymański. I felt the support from all the family too.

Having a clear and big goal helped me to take actions. I contacted GM Soćko and in August 2015 we started first Skype sessions.

Q: Correct me if I am wrong, but your younger child was 1 at a time. Weren’t you afraid you won’t manage to balance the paternal, the professional and chess improvement duties?

A: I was worried about it, but I also knew that I’m the kind of person who needs to have even sometimes too much on my plate, so that I can switch the contexts. When things go bad at chess, I can always remind myself of my family happiness and I’m smiling again. Or switch to my professional activities. This works for me.

Making a decision in chess was important but it was clear to me, that if my family or business would suffer because of it, I’d change the direction. It was a “let’s try it attitude”.

Q: How did your wife react? I know she is a chess player, but nevertheless… Did you ever spent a night on the couch because you were „studying that bloody Hedgehog again?“

A: She is super supportive all the time, for all the years. She understands the chess passion. We don’t really play at home together, but she totally understands why “that bloody Hedgehog” is a very important part of my life

I’m terrible at calendar thinking or things like booking hotels or registering to tournaments – she does it all for me. Otherwise, I would probably forget to register, book the flights etc.

I’m not a very organized person.

GOAL SETTING

Q: In any case, you started working on chess seriously. I’d like to talk a bit about the psychology and the training methods behind your improvement.

The first thing is – goal setting.  You said your initial goal (3 years ago) was to get back to 2200. But then you realized that was your goal forever and it never really worked. So you decided you wish to go for the International Master title. Did you think it was realistic at a time? Or were you trying to „cheat yourself“ to at least break the 2200 barrier?

A: Yeah, so 2200 was my goal for like forever. The IM goal I think at the beginning was more like cheating myself, just to get the 2200 level finally. But over time I took it more seriously. That mostly changed because I learned so much from GM Soćko. He showed me a totally different side of chess. I always loved chess, but now I’m enjoying it at a totally different level. My chess perspective is so different now that it was 3 years ago. I evaluate chess positions differently.

That was a big moment for me. I knew that with this new attitude I could reach for big goals. Even though for a long time there was nothing to support my belief, I “felt” it.

Without setting a big goal, I wouldn’t even think about reaching the top chess trainer like GM Soćko.

Q: Did you have a similar approach toward goal setting in other endeavors? Do you set high or „unrealistic“ goals in your business life, for instance? Did setting the bar very high help you in the course of your programming career?

A: This attitude with bigger goals was something that grew in me, over the years in the past decade. With more confidence, I set such goals in other areas of my life. It works for me. It doesn’t have to work for others. We’re all different and motivated by different things. I’m motivated by big visions and big goals.

Q: You also made Facebook and Twitter accounts and announced your goal to the world. You even said it was crucial because it made you more accountable about it. I kinda agree that there is no sense in hiding your desires. But some people are extremely against such approach and say you should let your results speak, not your goals.

What is your opinion? Do you think you should ALWAYS announce your goals publicly? Or is it sometimes sensible to work in silence?

A: I think the FB page did help me. I wanted to share my journey, regardless if I would be successful or not. Again, this works for me, doesn’t have to work for others. At some point, I realized that what I’m doing might be inspiring to others and I was fine with it. It does bring some responsibility but I’m OK with it. I can handle this. Chess is easy to measure – you can see when I’m doing well and when not. People can decide on their own if my journey is worth watching or not.

Q: Since the chess community is rather cynical, weren’t you afraid people will laugh at you and call you delusional? Did you ever receive some snarky and mean comments through social media? Or in real life?

A: I understand enough about human psychology that I didn’t care that much about it. I quickly forget the snarky comments. I focused on my own. But to be honest, there wasn’t much about it. Quite the opposite, I think I inspired my close chess friends and people whom I never met. This feels good. Some people approached me during chess tournaments and thanked me for being public about my journey. This is really nice.

In my programming career, I’m also very public with what I think about programming – not everyone loves it, I was already used to “the haters”. I’d be surprised if I didn’t have any It’s actually fun having haters

Q: In the Q&A website Quora, one of the most frequent chess questions is: „I am X years of age and rated Y. Is it possible for me to become a Grandmaster?“, where X is a number between 30 and 40 and Y a number between 1600 and 2000.

I personally believe some goals are not realistic. No adult that took up chess that late in life became a Grandmaster in the last 50 years. The fact is that our cognitive capabilities degrade with age.

I agree that some goals are attainable (as your result has proven), but I also think there are constraints to how much one can improve (of course, I can always be wrong about everything).  No matter how many hours he puts into the game.

How would you answer these questions? Do you think there are limits to how much an adult can improve?

A: I don’t think I’m qualified to answer this. It’s definitely something that I find fascinating – how far you can get if you start late.

I’m lucky in many areas of my life – I have a supportive wife, I have a great team of coworkers at my company, I have friends who support me, I can afford one of the best chess coaches in the world. This makes such goals less unreal.

Still, even having all of this support is not enough. There’s so much work that I have to put in. Things are not easy. But there’s a clear correlation, the more I work smartly, the better the results. I keep learning what works for me, what is not working. I don’t look much at others. I don’t believe much in chess talent, but if there is anything like that, then I don’t have it. That’s clear to me.

Can I become an IM? I believe so!

Can everyone become a GM, given X and Y? I have no idea, but I think there are more chances to it than many people believe. I think it’s more likely than most of us suspect. If you love chess and you are passionate about it, if you keep improving smartly, if you can afford to play chess (coach, trips), if you have relatives to support you then your chances are not so bad. The important question is, whether it’s really worth it for you? Such goals do require certain sacrifices – does it make sense for you to make them? In the end, IM or GM is “just” a sheet of paper and a record in the Fide database.

For me, it’s about the level of playing, more than the “certificate”. Still, I like measurable goals, so the actual IM title is my goal, nothing less than that.

Q: What would your advice be for setting the bar (not too low, not too high?). How did you determine you want to become an IM and not, say, FM or GM?

A: It wasn’t really much thinking here. Once I realized that thinking small (2200) doesn’t work for me, I targeted for something big. FM/2300 didn’t feel big enough. GM, on the other hand, sounded too unrealistic. IM it was.

Just to be clear, I do have the goal split into levels.

My first level was to get 2200 and get the official CM title. This has happened this year and if I remember correctly that was “scheduled” for last year, in my plan. So, a slight delay.

My second goal is FM/2300 and is scheduled for 2019. I was so close to it this year (2296), but then all rating progress came back to <2200….

I don’t know if setting goals works for everyone. It works for me. You need to experiment and learn about yourself to know what works for you.

One thing I learned – there’s no magic between certain levels. Once you’re 1800, then 2000 is clearly in your reach. When you’re 2000, then 2200 is an achievable goal. If you’re 2200 then IM is realistic. If you’re an IM, GM should be possible.

I’m ~2200 now and I was close to 2300. My highest rating performance in a single tournament was 2580. That’s my potential. If I did it once, I can repeat it. It won’t be easy, though. It’s a matter of getting more precise in my chess, more hard work needs to be put, more studies need to be solved, more classical games need to be played and learned from.

There’s a finite number of chess areas you can improve on. If you get systematic and smart about it, you will see the improvements.

For me, 2200 was my mental blocker. It was in my head, that I wanted it so much, that I couldn’t reach it. Once I unblocked it with bigger goals, I almost didn’t notice that I have achieved my previous life goal – getting to 2200 at least once.

What I’m worried about now is whether my IM goal wouldn’t be a similar blocker as it was with 2200…

LINKS AND RESOURCES WHERE YOU CAN FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ANDRZEJ:

Afore-mentioned Viral Reddit Thread: I Was ~ 2100 for > 20 years (I’m 38). Last Week I Made an IM Norm

Perpetual Chess Podcast: Episode 76 – Adult Improver Series With Andrzej Krzywda

Andrzej’s Facebook Page

Andrzej’s Twitter Page

Andrzej’s Youtube Channel

Andrzej’s FIDE Profile

Andrzej’s Medium

Andrzej’s Chessable Interview

Andrzej’s Audio Clip: Hard Times – Back To 2100s After A Bad Tournament

ON 26. FEBRUARY 2019, ANDRZEJ WILL HOLD A FREE WEBINAR IN WHICH HE WILL TALK ABOUT HIS IMPROVEMENT IN GREATER DETAIL

YOU CAN JOIN HERE

The post From 2100 To International Master – Andrzej Krzywda Interview – Part 1 appeared first on Chessentials.

She also caused some stir when, in November 2017, she announced she will leave Montenegrin Chess Federation and switch to Serbian. Today she lives and studies in Belgrade.

We took this opportunity to chat about various matters. About her first chess steps, her greatest chess successes, about the reasons for the switch of Federations and challenges female chess players face, about the role of chess in her life today and the relationship between chess and education and about Tijana Blagojević the non-chess-player.

Although we don’t really know each other (if you don’t count online blitz games) she really took the time and effort and answered most of our questions in great detail. My general impression is that Tijana is a very positive, nice, kind and determined person. I think she was also brave to speak openly about problems and challenges she had to face and I take my hat off to her for that.

THE BEGINNING

Q: Hello Tijana! Let’s start with the most cliche and boring question. When did you first learn the rules of chess?

A: I first learned the rules of chess when I was 5 years old.

Q: Your parents are both chess players (Tijana’s father is a Grandmaster, and her mother is a woman Fidemaster). While preparing for this interview, I read you, just like many chess prodigies in the past, learned the rules by observing their blitz and rapid games.

Do you remember how that happened? How come your parents didn’t teach you the rules themselves before?

A: As a little girl, I would see my mother and dad playing chess and I always wondered what were they doing. What were the rules of this game?  And what’s the goal?  How do you win? I asked my dad if I could play against him, and he beat me. In the next game, I tried to give him a mate in 4 moves, but of course, I did not succeed.

Q: As for these „friendly“ games between your parents – how competitive they were? Was your mother able to hold her ground against a grandmaster? Has your father ever spent a night on the couch because he was winning too much :D?

A:  In our family, every “friendly” or “family” game ended up as if we were the biggest opponents.  Because, in chess, when you sit at the table, an enemy army is always opposite from you, and not a friendly one.   My mother was basically losing against my father, but in the event of her winning, there was joy in the house and my mother would radiate with happiness.

Q: I assume your dad (or mom?) was your first chess trainer. How did it look like? Was it more difficult for him to make you work on chess because you were his daughter? 

A:  Yes, my dad was my first trainer.  I remember he started teaching me the endgames. Although I thought it was boring then and I was losing games in the openings, now I am immensely grateful. I think the biggest mistake young players do is starting to learn from the opening.  Also, I think it’s an advantage when your parent is a trainer because you have more freedom to work when you are interested or to stop when you say you do not want to play.

They never forced me. When I needed to work, we worked. When I needed to take a break, we took a break. And of course, later I had other great trainers.  But none as amazing for me as my parents.

Q: I have often seen parents, especially those who were engaged in a sport themselves, pushing their children and expecting too much from them, which often has a counterproductive effect. In Croatia, some table tennis clubs strictly prohibit parents from entering the playing hall, both during the practice and during the tournaments.

I am often horrified when I see parents „living through their kids“ and putting an enormous burden on their shoulders. Since you won a number of medals and remained in chess to this day, I assume your parents didn’t belong to this group.

What was their secret? How did they balance the line between their wishes and ambitions and your well-being? 

A:  Fortunately, in our family, we had the freedom to choose what we would like to do.  For example, I have 2 brothers (they are twins), and they played chess for 2-3 years, and then realized they did not like it.  But, of course, my parents supported them in what they want to do, which was in their case basketball.  We always had the possibility of choosing and I have always been grateful for that.  They always supported me in with every choice – college, chess, everything.

Q: When did you join a chess club? Did you get your own trainer there, or was the main burden still on your parents? 

A: I joined the club at age 9.  Although I was too young to be in such a strong club (Telekom) who won the European club championship, Dušanka Jovicevic recognized my talent and helped me during my career, and I am very grateful for her.  I came to the club as a girl who did not have any results, and already that year I was 2nd under 10 years old, and the next year 1st.

Q: When did you realize you are gifted for the game? What was your first success?

A: As a child, I thought that I was gifted for playing because I played equally with the older boys from the club.  I consider one of my major achievements as a child as getting a norm for the Woman Grand Master title when I was 14.5 years old.

Q: How did you develop a genuine passion for our ancient game – it is not a common hobby choice in general, let alone for a female. Was it because of your parents, because you thoroughly enjoyed it, because you started winning, because of the combination of everything mentioned above, or something else? 

A: To be honest, I’ve always loved sports that give equal opportunities for men and women.  Where physical strength is not so important, where you can use intelligence to think and to independently make decisions and stand behind your choices and results (not as in team sports, where you can say that someone else is guilty of your success or failure).

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Q:  In your youth, you showed potential by reaching 2100  in 2012 (before the infamous K40 rule change, mind you – VN). However, then followed a 2-year stagnation period, typical for players close to master level (trust ME dear readers, I know what I am talking about – VN).

Would you talk a bit about this period? Was it a matter of a lack of interest in chess, or another case where hard work didn’t bring immediate results? 

A: I think this period of stagnation or even fall during 2012-2014 was due to less work. Although, during the summer breaks, I tried to work more at chess.  And though the work did not bring immediate results, the following year a lot of progress was made.

Q: Fortunately, at the end of 2014 the stagnation ended in a spectacular manner. In one tournament, you increased your rating by 140 points (from 2105 in December 2014 to 2245 in January 2015).

How did this surge suddenly happen? Was the K40 coefficient already introduced?

Did you change something in your chess training routine prior to that tournament?

A: It was clear that I played better than a 2105 Fide rating, but we just did not know how much I played better.  Because I worked a lot (June, July, August) during the summer, this work paid off and I won my second norm for the Woman Grand Master title at the open tournament in Belgrade!

If the opponent in the last round had 10 points higher rating, I would have also gotten an International Master norm!

Q: In a way, this rating leap announced there is a great year ahead of you. And indeed, 2015 was remarkably successful. Most notable were two bronze medals at the European youth championship and World youth championship. Which one was harder to achieve? Which one makes you more proud today? 

A:  During my first European Youth Championship (2007 under 10 years old) I dreamed of going to the winner’s stand.  In the previous years I had the chance to take the medal at the European Championship, (in 2011, in Albena in the last round I lost, if I would win I would be 3rd), but at that moment, although I was won, the desire for victory was so strong that I began to overlook the pawns and at the end mate.

In 2013, I shared a 3-5 place in Budva, but unfortunately, I was 5th. So, I decided last year to give my maximum and try to win a medal at such an important competition and fulfill my childhood dream.  It was difficult to win a bronze medal at the World Youth Championship because in the final round I had to beat the world champion under 18 years old with black pieces. Fortunately, I was able to accomplish it!

Q: In the European championship you were close to gold, but you suffered a heartbreaking loss in the penultimate round against Harazinska Ewa, who was rated 300 points below you at a time.

Can you tell us a bit about that game? Did you underestimate her a bit? Were you nervous because you knew you had a genuine shot for the title?

A: It was a hard defeat, which I still remember today. I did not underestimate my opponent, because I knew she was playing much better than her rating. Dad (who was my trainer at that tournament) suggested that I play the best I know (the old repertoire), and that was the first time I did not listen to him. I made one of the typical mistakes that young players make. In such an important game, I tried to play a new variant and “avoid” preparation. But I just did not feel this position and easily lost in the middlegame.

Q: Something similar happened in the World Championship. Two rounds before the finish, you suffered a loss against the underdog Parpieva Nodirabegim from Uzbekistan.

Can you recall your state of the mind at a time? How did you manage to compose yourself and finish the tournament in style – with two wins? Did the situation from the European championship help you cope with it? 

A:  When the pairs went out, I can say that I was satisfied.  Because I was at the top of the crosstable and played with the girl with a 1900 rating, but when we started preparing for her, my dad said that she plays much better than her rating and that I need to be careful and not underestimate her.  I tried to give my maximum in that game, but sometimes things are not under your control, and I made a blunder and lost that game.

Q: Apart from good results in youth competitions, you were also breaking through in the „adult chess world“. If I am not mistaken, this is the period during which you became a woman international master. In which tournament did you accomplish did? What did this title mean to you?

A: I won norms for the Woman International Master title in Premier Montenegro League (2012), Karpos Open (2014), Grand Europe Cup Albena (2014) and Grand Europe Cup Golden Sands (2014), but I had to wait to have 2200 (almost 1 year!), to achieve this title.

Q: You also have three norms for woman grandmaster and one norm for the male international master.

At which tournaments did you achieve them?

A: I won these norms in Premier Montenegro League (2012), Open tournament in Belgrade (2014), and Open tournament in Petrovac (2015) where I also achieved the norm for IM.

Q: Which one of these tournaments is most memorable for you?

A: Probably the Open in Petrovac, where I beat 2 GMs, and had 1 draw.

Q: In one interview you stated you play even better when your father is participating in the same tournament, as he both inspires you and helps you with the preparation.

Did he help you with the preparation in other events as well, especially in these European and World youth championships?

A: Yes. it is true. He was my coach at both European and World Youth Chess championships.  Also, at the open tournament in Petrovac he did not play, but went to help me to prepare for the games, and I think that I made the biggest success in this tournament.

Q: I have noticed you have played a lot in 2015, but I would also assume you were able to focus on chess more before college and before all the drama with the national federation start to unfold. With hindsight, would you agree with the assessment that you played your best chess ever during that period?

A:  I was in high school, and I had more time for chess.  I traveled more and played a lot of tournaments during the year.  Two years ago I enrolled in college and I play less ever since. During 2015, I achieved some of my chess goals, and then I dedicated myself to my studies.

CHESS IN MONTENEGRO AND CHANGE OF FEDERATIONS

Q: Now that I have mentioned drama with the national federation – I would like to talk a bit about your relationship with it – a relationship which ultimately led to you switching federations.

For starters, how would you rate the state of chess in Montenegro in general? Are there enough tournaments, do young players get support and what’s the situation of female chess? 

A: Unfortunately, the situation in the Montenegrin chess is catastrophic.  The Montenegro chess federation is headed by the president of the Chess Federation, the Montenegrin delegate in FIDE and the secretary.  They take what belongs to young chess players.  Children themselves finance their departure and travel to European and World Youth Championships. Is not that a shame?  All the money belonging to those children, and they don’t spend it on children.  There are no open tournaments at all.  The only tournaments that are played are national championships and leagues.

There is no women’s league (!), which sufficiently speaks of the blatant issues in Montenegrin chess.  They do not invest into the youth at all which exemplifies the results from the European Youth Chess Championships and the European Women’s Team last year!

Q: Let’s talk about „The Decision“. In your open letter to the federation in which you publicly declared you are breaking away from the Federation (available here in Montenegrin language – VN), you said you have „listened to empty promises long enough“ and that you „can’t wait for better treatment any longer“.

What kind of treatment, if any, did you have? Did you get any support whatsoever?  

A: Before the current structure in the federation arrived, I had some support. But the poor treatment came after winning medals in the European and World tournaments, after the change of the people and the president of the Montenegro chess federation.

They didn’t pay the coach or the tournaments. They boasted to the Ministry about my results and received money which they never paid to me.  They just promised me that it would be “better next year”. Of course, as before, this was just an empty promise.

And that’s just one of the reasons why I decided to leave the Montenegrin federation.

Q: Did anything change after you won European and World medals?

In the aforementioned interview, you said officials were exploiting you for their own personal benefit. How?

A: Unfortunately, it has changed and gotten worse.  I was only rewarded by the Ministry of Sports of Montenegro.  If you’re interested in what I got from the federation after the medal from the European tournament, I can tell you.  A Photograph! It was astonishing.  A photograph of the hall!  And after the World Youth, nothing!

Q: The comments below this interview are quite disturbing, but one of them stated you complained for no reason, that you are ungrateful since you got enough support and had some sort of stipend. Your comment? 

A: Stipend?  I never had a stipend from the Montenegro Chess Federation.  Never!  I really don’t read the comments on these posts because they are anonymous, but I can certainly guess who wrote them!  Of course, they are from the President of the Montenegro Chess Federation, the secretary and delegate of Montenegro in the FIDE, and the people who lead that federation.

Q: When did you first start thinking about switching to Serbian Chess Federation? 

A: When they set up a selector, who is morally unlike for that position.

Q: Yes, you mentioned in your letter that the final nail in the coffin was the selection of International Master Predrag Nikac as a trainer of the Montenegrian female chess team for the European Team Championship 2017. In your letter, you have written that you „ […] think Nikac is not a suitable choice PRECISELY for the female chess team“ and that you „ can’t place the participation in a chess event above your DIGNITY“ (my capitals – VN). 

Can you explain on what exactly did you refer there? In which way was your dignity disrupted? What was problematic about Nikac’s behaviour?

A: I am terrified of his dishonesty and all he says, writes or does. I can not quote it. If you are really interested in this, you can check his facebook profile, where you can read some of the nastiness.

Do you think that he can be the selector of the WOMEN’s team and hold meetings?

Q: How difficult was it to decide on it, especially for someone still relatively young? Were you afraid of the effects this radical step might have on your future?

A: That was the only solution. It’s very easy because there is no other choice. When you have nothing in your federation, it is easy to decide to leave and go somewhere where they will respect you more.

Q: How did your parents react? What was their opinion? Were they afraid people from the federation might cause them some problems; especially for your father who is one of the country’s top grandmasters? 

A: They support me in everything. Whatever decision I make in life, they will stand behind me.  Whatever happens, they stand behind my back and guard me.

GOALS AND FUTURE PLANS

Q: Okay, but thankfully, these problems are now behind you. For the last couple of months, you have been a member of the Serbian Chess Federation. How different is the chess scene in Serbia compared to Montenegro?

A: Yes, it’s behind me, and I do not want to think about them anymore. They’re insane.  The competition in Serbia is considerably stronger.  The girls are incredibly strong and this is great competition.  And they accepted me very well.  There are no jealousies like those who were in Montenegro, and it makes us stronger.  We fight hard at the board, we work more at chess, we play tournaments and we make progress.

Q: At the beginning of the year, you entered the Information System and Technology Study at the University of Belgrade.

How do you manage to combine your stacked chess schedule with demanding university obligations? 

A: I enrolled in college in 2016.  In the first year of college, I played less, in order to concentrate and focus on the school work.  This year, I played more tournaments, but I did not work on chess enough.  But I am using this summer to the maximum.  I finished the 2nd year of the faculty, and this year I will be 3rd! When you organize yourself well, you will have time for faculty and chess, and friendships, fun, traveling and so on.

Q: What about your chess future? Do you have any short term or long term goals?

A: A short-term plan is for me to become a woman’s grandmaster because I need only one norm. And I did not think about the long-term.  I’m working on my chess and I play how much my time allows me, so we will see.

Q: Have your goals changed compared to, say, three years ago?  Have you ever thought you might become a chess professional in the past?

Since you entered a respectable college, I am going to assume the education has prevailed and became a priority.

Have I just blundered there? 

A: I love chess, and I enjoy it.  But I think that professional chess in this region is not a good choice for women.  So, I decided to dedicate myself to education, but surely I’ll play chess as much as I can.

Q: Do you have an ultimate chess dream? What is it?

A:  When I was a kid, I had a dream to get a medal from the World Youth, which I have achieved, but now my dreams are not related to chess. But definitely, I think that it is the dream of every player to become World Chess Champion.

Q: If someone offered you to make a living out of chess, would you accept it?

A: I can hardly imagine myself being a professional chess player, but it’s even more difficult for me not to play chess at all.  Though chess is a part of my life, it’s not a priority, and I want it to stay that way.

Q: Have you ever considered alternatives to playing chess in the chess world? Female players such as Anna Rudolf, Alexandra Botez and Sopiko Giri have attracted a large number of followers by broadcasting, streaming and creating chess content. Does something like that, or say, chess coaching interest you at all? 

A: Yes, this is an interesting alternative.  At this moment, since I’m in college and education, I do not have much time to do that, but maybe in the future.

WOMEN AND CHESS

Q: Okay, now that I have mentioned female chess players, I would like to talk a bit about women chess and women in chess a bit, since I think it is an incredibly important topic. A topic that is often sidelined. 

As a chess player and engineer, I often see ‘testosterone displays’ in these two fields. What is it like to be a female in a dominantly male environment?

How often do you feel uncomfortable? How often do you face sexism, misogyny and bigotry? How do you deal with it?

A: I grew up in a family with two brothers.  My parents never considered gender as a difference between us.  And I’ve never felt less valuable than some men, and I think every woman should feel equally valuable.  Unfortunately, some people make gender a difference.  So, women and men do not have the same conditions.  I think the world is changing, and women are slowly occupying their position of equality.  I hope things will be completely equalized in the future.

Q: What about creepy online messages? Do you get a lot of these? Did you ever get harassed online?

A: I do not allow people to write such messages.  I would just block it. Luckily, I do not have any such inconveniences, and I hope that it will remain that way.  I usually talk to friends, dear and nice people, who support and love me.  And I’m very happy about that.

Q: Unfortunately, it is not only about Internet trolls. Anyone who has ever googled ‘Kevin Spragget images’ knows what I am talking about. Besides, Garry Kasparov himself has once remarked: „there is real chess and women chess“ (he did later apologize for that). And the current candidate for the FIDE presidency and former World Championship challenger Nigel Short said women are not suited for chess since it requires logical thinking.  

How often do you hear the eternal „ women can’t play chess“ argument? Does it bother you? Does it make you angry? 

A: Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion.  Of course, several times I heard ‘women’s chess’ from some people, but I was generally more successful than them.  I overlook the comments of irrelevant people.  It matters to me what my family and my friends think. I’m not interested in the discussion about ‘women chess’ or ‘men chess’.  Everyone can have their own opinion.

Q: Although I completely disagree with such an attitude, I can sort of see where it is coming from – currently there is only one woman in the world top 100 and only one woman in history entered the world top 10.  Nigel Short tried to defend his statements by claiming woman have a different (not inferior) skillset.

In principle, I agree that men and women are different (that is not to say they SHOULDN’T BE equal. Just that they are biologically different. Seriously, why do people make it so difficult? – VN). On average, spatial, logical and mathematical intelligence is better developed in men, while women excel in emotional and verbal intelligence. 

However, the key word here is ON AVERAGE. I don’t think this argument is relevant in chess, simply because the sample is too small. The number of women players is too small.

The inequality of outcome is caused by an inequality of opportunities. 

If an equal number of female chess players existed for an extended period of time (say 50 years) and men still dominated, then perhaps drawing some conclusions would be justified. But as long as cultural and other factors are present, the NUMBER OF WOMEN in chess is the root of the problem, not their intelligence. 

Sorry for that digression, but I think it was kind of important. What is your opinion on the whole matter? How would you solve the problem with numbers? How would you motivate women to take up chess as a hobby or profession?

How would you change the situation?

A: I think that generally, women are less interested in chess than men. They do not spend as much time working on chess, or maybe it is believed they do not have enough strength to handle the hard training. This may be true in many sports. Less power. But, in chess, this is the least pronounced.

It’s hard to change something for one, two or even 10 years, it’s a process.  But it should definitely start from the fact that women play more with men, that the conditions and awards are multipurpose.

Q: Would you say there is a difference in approach to chess and playing style between men and women? What is it?

A: It is interesting to note that women are more warlike. You will rarely see draws made before 10, 11, 12 moves.

Q: How about coping with losses? Do you think men and women react differently? How do you personally feel after a tough loss?

What do you do to deal with the pain?

A: It depends on the defeat. Not all defeats are the same. If you better, and lose, it hurts more than when someone has outplayed you. I’m a positive person, and after 10, 15 minutes I forget about defeat. I think I’ll learn something from it. It’s a sport. You need to learn how to fight against the rise. It’s an integral part of the game.

OFF THE BOARD

Q: Phew… we are done with difficult and controversial questions. In the last part of the interview, we would like to know who Tijana Blagojevic is away from the chessboard. How would you describe yourself in one sentence?

A: Tijana Blagojević is an ordinary girl with an unordinary hobby surrounded with wonderful people.

Q: Chess players are often considered as fachidiots (or Schachidiots – heh heh – VN). Which hobbies and interest do you have outside chess? What are your interests? How do you like to spend your free time? 

A: I spend my free time with friends, traveling, with the people I love. I like to visit different cities and places. That’s interesting to me.

Q:  Do you like to read? Which book can be found on your bed table as we speak?

A:  When I was in high school I had more time to read, but now only college books can be found on my desk.

Q: The life of a chess player is pretty boemic and involves a lot of travelling. Do you ever get tired of it?

Do you sometimes wish you were just a normal girl with a normal life?

A: I think I will never be tired of traveling. It’s part of my life and the beautiful side of chess.

Q: What about partying, drinking and going out? Do you have time for that? Do you do it as much as you would like?

A: Yes, of course, like many girls my age. But I’m moderate in that.

Q: You have lived in Montenegro, moved to Belgrade. And, as we have said, a life of a chess player is pretty boemic.

Was it difficult to maintain your friendships? In the previous interviews, Leon Livaic and Sven Tica said most of their friends are chess players themselves. What about you? 

A: I’m in constant contact with the best friends from Montenegro. When I come to my hometown, we try to use every moment and to be together. My best friend travels to Belgrade when she is free. And I’ve met great friends at the college.  My best friends are mostly out of chess. But, of course, I have great friends from chess, and I also hang out with them at tournaments and in Belgrade and outside of the tournaments. They are great chess players and positive people.

Q: What about relationships? Do you have time and resources for one? 

A: There’s always time for it. But now I do not have a boyfriend.

Q: Which character traits do you value in people? Which ones are important to you?

A: Caring…

Commitment…

Compassion…

Q: Do you have a life motto? A quote you like? Which one is it?

A: “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”

“Invest in yourself.  “

“Time you enjoy wasting was not wasted.”

Q: What is your biggest fear? 

A: I’m not afraid of anyone and anything as long as I do what I think is right.

Q: In the end, which message would you send to young girls contemplating to join a chess club?

A: Do what you love – whether it is chess, another sport, art, or anything else. And always give your best. Nothing in this world can stop you!

Q: Okay Tijana, I’d like to thank you so much for the time and effort you put to answer all these questions.

We hope you will be able to achieve your goals and dreams. We wish you all the best in the future!  Good luck!

The post Tijana Blagojević Interview appeared first on Chessentials.

For almost a decade now, Ivan Šarić has been both the top-ranked and the strongest Croatian chess player.

Already back in 2007, he introduced himself to the broader chess public by winning the U-18 World Chess Champion – a tremendous success. Ever since then, he has been rapidly progressing on the World Rating list, achieving notable successes along the way.

His latest and arguably greatest achievement so far happened in March 2018. After grueling 13 rounds and tiresome battles against best Grandmasters of the Old Continents, he became the sole winner of the European Chess Championship 2018.

Immediately after this tremendous achievement*, we asked Ivan for an interview and he very kindly agreed.

Hope you will enjoy it!

*In the meantime, Ivan also won the Croatian Chess Championship 2018

(Cover photo credit: Croatian Chess Federation)

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP 2018

Q: Hello, Ivan! First of all, we would like to congratulate you once again on your title of the European Champion! How are you feeling now, when the dust has settled? Are you back to reality and everyday routine, or is the moment of euphoria still slightly present?

A: Thank you very much! I feel more tired than usual, but I don’t have much time to relax, because Croatian championship is in a way.

Q: You said your main goal before the tournament was to qualify for the World Cup (Top 23 players gain the right to participate – VN). Did you believe you could aim for more? Did you dream of winning the title beforehand?

A: Yes, qualification was the main goal, or to score plus 4 to be exact, otherwise tournament would be unsuccessful. The second goal was a medal, and winning the tournament was closer to dreams than reality. Anyway, I believed I can win the tournament because in previous championships I had some good results, for example, 2 years ago I was leading the tournament after 6 rounds, and in 2014 I shared 2nd place.

Q: Okay, I would like to talk about your tournament path in the greater detail. It is well known that many surprises happen precisely in the early stages of an Open. How do you usually approach these early rounds? Is it more difficult to „warm up“ in the European Chess Championship where your first „weaker“ opponent was already a 2422 FM?

A: Maybe only first round can be called as a warm-up since in all other rounds you (should) play against a GM. In my experience, I play highest quality chess in early rounds (usually 2-4, round 1 is trickier because of acclimatization) while I’m still completely fresh. The fact you have already decent opponent makes it easier for you in case of a draw or even a loss, because you know that these things can happen easily. In regular opens, everything except winning the first round is a disaster.

Q: In general, is your thought process and approach different when you approach someone who is lower rated? Does it affect your play?

A: The main difference when you play a much lower rated opponent is that only one result satisfies you, a draw is a failure, and I don’t even have to mention loss. I try to play the strongest moves no matter who my opponent is, and I think it doesn’t affect my play.

Q: In any case, after very strong start (3.5/4) came the first critical moment. You faced a fellow Croatian, Grandmaster Marin Bosiočić and won in brilliant style (The final sacrifice of the rook – Rd7! – is well worth noting – VN). In the previous editions of the European Championships, your encounters against Croatians ended peacefully (e.g. Palac – Šarić in 2016 or Brkić – Šarić in 2015). How and when do you guys decide whether you will fight in the game or not? How do you approach such a game against someone you know pretty well?

A: I wouldn’t call this game a brilliant one, although I played perfectly. I was very well prepared, he didn’t defend accurately and quickly I was completely winning. In the position where every move wins I found the quickest and most beautiful way to finish the game. Here in this European Championship, our encounter was still early (5th round) and in fact, nobody even mentioned the draw. In last two Croatian encounters, they were both quite close to the end, rounds 8 and 9, and it made more sense to draw those games and rest. Curiously, both Palac and Brkic later qualified to the World Cup in those Championships.

(Game is given below – VN)

   [Event "European Individual Chess Championship"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.03.21"] [EventDate "2018.03.17"] [Round "5.3"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Ivan Saric"] [Black "Marin Bosiocic"] [ECO "B48"] [WhiteElo "2657"] [BlackElo "2611"] [PlyCount "53"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Qd2 Nf6 8. O-O-O Bb4 9. f3 O-O 10. g4 b5 11. g5 Nh5 12. Kb1 Rb8 13. Nxc6 dxc6 14. f4 c5 15. Be2 g6 16. Bxh5 gxh5 17. f5 Bb7 18. g6 fxg6 19. fxg6 Bxc3 20. gxh7+ Kxh7 21. Qxc3 Bxe4 22. Rhg1 Rf5 23. Bc1 Rf3 24. Qd2 Kh8 25. b3 Rbf8 26. Qh6+ Bh7 27. Rd7 1-0   

Q: After such a strong start you suffered a pretty convincing loss at the hands of Radoslaw Wojtaszek. Can you tell us a bit what happened in that game? To the outside patzers like me, it seemed that your g5 move was the result of the constant pressure. With hindsight, do you think it was the matter of the opening choice?  Was it the matter of misevaluation of the position? Or your opponent simply played a very good game?

A: My opponent chose a venomous and rarely played line, which created me some difficulties early in the opening phase. Now I think that my reaction wasn’t bad, but during the game, I wasn’t sure and I was worried that my passive (but solid) position will crack somehow after 5 – 6 hours of play. I simply misevaluated the position arising after g5 and missed the forced win for white. My intuition was telling me that I will have enough counterplay on the h-file and that I will manage to defend my biggest weakness, pawn on g5. I was wrong and also I should have calculated more before playing such committing move. In the end, my opponent didn’t have a hard task, just to play simple moves and win.

(Game given below – VN)

[Event "European Individual Chess Championship"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.03.22"] [EventDate "2018.03.17"] [Round "6.2"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Radoslaw Wojtaszek"] [Black "Ivan Saric"] [ECO "D43"] [WhiteElo "2738"] [BlackElo "2657"] [PlyCount "67"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 g6 8. Be2 Bg7 9. O-O O-O 10. Ne5 Nd7 11. f4 Qe7 12. Qb3 Nxe5 13. fxe5 Bd7 14. cxd5 cxd5 15. e4 dxe4 16. Nxe4 Bc6 17. Nf6+ Bxf6 18. Rxf6 Rad8 19. Rd1 Rd7 20. h4 Rfd8 21. Qc3 Qf8 22. a3 Qg7 23. Rf4 g5 24. hxg5 hxg5 25. Rg4 f5 26. exf6 Qxf6 27. Rf1 Qh6 28. d5 Bxd5 29. Rf6 Qh5 30. Rg3 Qh7 31. Bd3 Be4 32. Rxg5+ Rg7 33. Rxg7+ Qxg7 34. Bxe4 1-0  

Q: Did you remember the European Championship 2016 at this point? Did you consciously or subconsciously opt for safety in the next two games, to gain some respite? (In the European Championship 2016, Ivan started with 5.5/6 but then scored only 1.5/5 – VN)

A: Yes, and the positive thing about this loss was that it happened before the free day, not like in 2016. In some strange way, this was a relief. Actually, next two games I played too aggressively in the opening phase, and probably underestimated my opponent in round 8, which lead to the fact that I was trying to save a draw in both of them. I wasn’t far from losing in both, but luckily in the crucial moments, I managed to find best defensive moves.

Q: Okay, but after this, you ended the tournament just like you started it. First of all, a fantastic win against Donchenko, a real positional gem. Most people would say this is not very typical of your attacking, uncompromising style. Would you agree with that assessment? Is it more satisfying to win with a dashing attack or to grind down your opponent in Magnus’ style?

A: Lately, it seems that I’m winning way more games positionally and I endgames than in attacking style. Probably, my opponents are trying to avoid positions where I can attack them, and sometimes they end up in slightly worse positions where I can squeeze the advantage. Every win is satisfying, no matter how you win.

(Game given below – VN)

[Event "European Individual Chess Championship"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.03.26"] [EventDate "2018.03.17"] [Round "9.13"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Ivan Saric"] [Black "Alexander Donchenko"] [ECO "B10"] [WhiteElo "2657"] [BlackElo "2588"] [PlyCount "137"] 1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Qe2 Nxe4 6. Qxe4 Qd5 7. Qh4 Qe6+ 8. Be2 Qg4 9. Qg3 g6 10. d4 Bg7 11. Bf4 Qxg3 12. hxg3 Nd7 13. a4 O-O 14. a5 Re8 15. O-O-O Nf6 16. Bc4 Nd5 17. Rde1 Be6 18. Bh6 Nc7 19. Bd3 Bd5 20. c3 Ne6 21. Bxg7 Kxg7 22. Ne5 f6 23. Nf3 Nc7 24. Re2 Rad8 25. Kc2 Rd7 26. Rhe1 Kf7 27. Nd2 Kf8 28. f3 Red8 29. Ne4 b6 30. Ra1 Ne8 31. g4 Nc7 32. g3 Bf7 33. b4 Ne8 34. f4 Nd6 35. g5 Nxe4 36. Bxe4 Rc7 37. Rh2 Kg7 38. axb6 axb6 39. Ra6 Rb8 40. Kd3 fxg5 41. fxg5 Bd5 42. c4 Bxe4+ 43. Kxe4 Rd7 44. Ke5 b5 45. c5 Rd5+ 46. Ke6 Rxd4 47. Rh4 Rd3 48. Ra7 Re8 49. Rxe7+ Rxe7+ 50. Kxe7 h5 51. gxh6+ Kh7 52. Rh1 Rd4 53. Ke6 Rxb4 54. Kd6 Rg4 55. Kxc6 b4 56. Kb5 b3 57. c6 Rxg3 58. Kb4 Rf3 59. c7 Rf8 60. Kc5 g5 61. Kd6 g4 62. Rb1 Kxh6 63. Rxb3 Rc8 64. Rb5 g3 65. Kd7 g2 66. Rb1 Rg8 67. c8=Q g1=Q 68. Rxg1 Rxg1 69. Qh8+ 1-0

Q: The rook endgame was particularly beautiful and instructive. Chesscom report even mentioned that endgames are seemingly your strong suit. Would you agree with that observation? How would you rate your endgame technique compared to, say, other 2600, 2700 players?

A: I enjoyed playing it, I was convinced that it should be winning for white because of all the differences between kings. I found all those moves easily and I felt like they were natural. I think that my endgame technique is about average

Q: After this brilliancy, you faced young and rapidly improving German Grandmaster, Svane Rasmus with the Black pieces. Instead of yet another Slav/Queen’s Gambit, you opted for King’s Indian instead. Was this change of hand the result of the game against Wojtaszek? Or you’ve decided it is a better choice against Svane on the basis of your preparation?

A: I’ve chosen King’s Indian because of the concrete variations that Svane played against it. I was happy with a draw in that game because it would practically secure me the World Cup (I would just need a draw with white in last round).

Q: In the game, your opponent employed very aggressive idea, queenside castling against hedgehog. He seemed to have an advantage, but then you stunned him, first with a pawn sacrifice, followed up with a piece sacrifice, which ultimately won the game. Did you think the sacrifice is correct, or you didn’t like your position and decide to take radical measures?

A: I think white can never have an advantage in those type of positions if he castles long. Engines tend to give a plus for white because they appreciate space advantage and often underestimate pawn sacrifices and attacking possibilities for black. I remember I was quite happy and optimistic when he castled long and I thought that my position is better already. Pawn sacrifice is the most typical motif in those structures, and piece sacrifice is normally a motif in dragon type positions where the white pawn is on c2. With the pawn on c4 it should be much stronger for black, but on other hand prevents black from typical exchange sacrifice on c3. When he accepted the piece sacrifice I considered my position as close to winning, which is true, but then I made a blunder which spoiled it completely. Luckily he also missed my inaccuracy.

(Game given below – VN)

   [Event "European Individual Chess Championship"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.03.27"] [EventDate "2018.03.17"] [Round "10.9"] [Result "0-1"] [White "Rasmus Svane"] [Black "Ivan Saric"] [ECO "E71"] [WhiteElo "2587"] [BlackElo "2657"] [PlyCount "98"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. h3 O-O 6. Be3 c5 7. Nf3 cxd4 8. Nxd4 a6 9. Be2 b6 10. Qd2 Bb7 11. f3 Nbd7 12. O-O-O Ne5 13. Kb1 Rc8 14. b3 e6 15. g4 Qe7 16. h4 b5 17. cxb5 axb5 18. Ndxb5 Nexg4 19. fxg4 Bxe4+ 20. Bd3 Bxh1 21. Rxh1 Nxg4 22. Bg5 Qb7 23. Rg1 Ne5 24. Rc1 Nxd3 25. Qxd3 Qa6 26. a4 d5 27. h5 h6 28. Be3 g5 29. Bd4 e5 30. Bf2 Rfd8 31. Qf5 d4 32. Ne4 Rxc1+ 33. Kxc1 Qc6+ 34. Kd2 Qd5 35. Nf6+ Bxf6 36. Qxf6 Rc8 37. Qa6 Qc5 38. Ke2 Qc2+ 39. Kf3 Qd3+ 40. Kg2 Qe4+ 41. Kg3 Rc2 42. Qf6 Qh4+ 43. Kg2 Qg4+ 44. Kh2 Qxh5+ 45. Kg3 Qh4+ 46. Kg2 Qg4+ 47. Kh2 Qf4+ 48. Qxf4 gxf4 49. Kg1 Rc1+ 0-1

Q: And then came the last round and yet another 2700+ opponent – the first seed of the tournament, David Navara. There was a choice to be made – go for safety and qualify for the World Cup or to go all in and have a real shot at the title. How did you approach this game? Was it psychologically difficult to play for the win, since in some crazy scenario you could even fail to qualify?

A: I concluded that draw is not a bad result, but obviously not the most satisfying one. It would have left me without the medal, and now when I was so close, I really wanted to win the medal. There was only theoretical possibility that I fail to qualify in case of losing, but practically impossible. I decided to play my best lines and check what has my opponent prepared.

Q: About the game, I got the feeling Navara is primarily a Caro-Kann player. Did he surprise you with the Sicilian?

A: He plays Sicilian more, and in the European, he played almost exclusively Najdorf variation. I think it suits his style much better than Caro-Kann. But his 2nd move g6 surprised me a lot.

Q: While we are at it, how do you prepare for such a strong opponent? I doubt you just look at his games and repeat the lines like us 2200 players. How do you try to find a weak spot in his armor?

A:  Last round was 4 hours earlier than usual, and there wasn’t much time for preparation. I realized that he plays so many lines that it would be impossible to guess his choice. I didn’t even repeat my lines, I just tried to sleep as much as I could.

Q: When you saw other top games ending in draws, did it boost your confidence? Or did it add extra pressure, since the stakes got even higher?

A: I expected some draws, on the board 4 it happened almost immediately. On the board 3 white chose a drawish line, so after 15 min of play, the draw was there an expected result.  My confidence was boosted by my opponent’s opening choice.

Q: In any case, you played another beautiful game and after 32 moves, you were a piece up in the endgame. But the conversion was far from easy. How did you manage to remain cool and calm? What thoughts went through your head as you were making your final moves of the game?

A: When we entered the position where I was a piece up, I didn’t know how to evaluate the position. I knew that only white can be better, but didn’t know is it enough for victory.  Position, in the end, was so winning, that it was hard to make a mistake (although still possible). I was rechecking my calculation more than I normally do. At some point, I was wondering why my opponent isn’t resigning yet, but then I realized that I should just enjoy my position.

(Game given below – VN)

   [Event "European Individual Chess Championship"] [Site "Batumi GEO"] [Date "2018.03.28"] [EventDate "2018.03.17"] [Round "11.2"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Ivan Saric"] [Black "David Navara"] [ECO "B39"] [WhiteElo "2657"] [BlackElo "2737"] [PlyCount "133"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Bg7 5. c4 Nc6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Nc3 Ng4 8. Qxg4 Nxd4 9. Qd1 e5 10. Bd3 d6 11. O-O O-O 12. a4 Be6 13. a5 Qd7 14. Qa4 Qxa4 15. Rxa4 Rfc8 16. Nd5 Bxd5 17. exd5 Re8 18. Re1 f5 19. Kf1 Kf7 20. b4 Rac8 21. Rc1 e4 22. Be2 Be5 23. g3 Rc7 24. c5 Rec8 25. Bxd4 Bxd4 26. c6 bxc6 27. b5 c5 28. b6 axb6 29. axb6 Rb7 30. Rxd4 cxd4 31. Rxc8 Rxb6 32. Ke1 g5 33. Bd1 Rb1 34. g4 fxg4 35. Rc4 Kf6 36. Rxd4 Ke5 37. Ra4 h5 38. Kd2 Kxd5 39. Bc2 Rg1 40. Ra5+ Kd4 41. Bb3 e3+ 42. fxe3+ Ke4 43. Bc2+ Kf3 44. Rf5+ Kg2 45. Rxg5 Kxh2 46. Rxh5+ Kg3 47. Bd1 Rg2+ 48. Be2 Rf2 49. Ke1 Rg2 50. Rd5 Rg1+ 51. Kd2 Ra1 52. Rd4 Ra2+ 53. Ke1 Ra1+ 54. Bd1 Kh3 55. Rxd6 g3 56. Kf1 g2+ 57. Kg1 Rb1 58. Rd2 Rc1 59. e4 Kg3 60. e5 Rc6 61. Rd4 Rc5 62. Rg4+ Kh3 63. Re4 Rc3 64. e6 Rd3 65. Re1 Rd4 66. e7 Rh4 67. Re3# 1-0

CAREER

Q: So, that’s how you became European Champion. However, success at the very top level is not unknown to you. European and World Junior Champion, a share of 2nd place in the European Chess Championship 2015, the convincing victory in the Tata Steel B Group 2014, 7/11 in the Tromso 2014 Olympiad, multiple titles of Croatian National Champion and a whole lot of first places in the Open tournaments. Which of these successes is dearest to your heart? Which one was the hardest to achieve?

A: It’s usually the latest one, and this case is not an exception.  In general, winning open tournaments is much tougher than winning round robins.

Q: For me personally, victory at Tata Steel B Group 2014 was particularly impressive. 10/13, 1.5 ahead of Jan Timman, perfect score +7-0=6 and victories against strong players such as Wojtaszek and Yu Yangyi. If I am not mistaken, Garry Kasparov himself agitated for you to be invited. Did chess legend’s belief boost your confidence and inspired you to play so well?

A:  This was probably the tournament where I played my best chess ever. Garry’s recommendation was part of the deal between the Croatian chess federation and Garry Kasparov at that time, it’s no secret. I think what motivated me most, was the fact that in case of winning the Challengers I will have the chance to play against best players in the world in the most famous tournament in the world.

q: By winning the B-Group, you gained the right to participate in arguably the most prestigious chess tournament in the world – Tata Steel A group 2015. Virtually for the first time, you found yourself playing in a closed tournament against world’s very best (Magnus Carlsen, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Anish Giri, Wesley So, Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian all participated, among others – VN). How did you prepare for this tournament? Do you have some sort of specific routine when preparing? Did you do anything differently, like hiring someone, this time?

A: Yes, I had a second during that tournament, but preparation before the tournament wasn’t much different than usual.

Q: What were your pre-tournament expectations? Did you feel some extra pressure because you don’t get these chances that often, or did you simply enjoy being one of the underdogs? Did the huge press coverage and publicity affect your play?

A: I had expected definitely more than I achieved, and I was really unhappy with my play there. I liked the fact that I’m an underdog and that I don’t have much to lose. It seemed like a great opportunity to gain more rating points and reputation in the chess world. Outside factors didn’t affect my play.

Q: In the end, the score was not brilliant (4.5/11, +2-6=5), but in my humble opinion, it didn’t reflect the events on the board. In a number of drawn games, you were doing quite decently at one point (e.g. against Aronian or Van Wely) and there was this unfortunate blunder against Maxime Vachier Lagrave. How do you evaluate your play and your result there?

A:  I had one horrible blunder where instead of going for the draw, I mated myself. In general, my play was far from good also. I played terrible games against Hou (even managed to draw that one), Ding, So, Giri, Radjabov (probably the worst one). The play in those games was bad for an IM level, not to mention how bad it was for me. I felt embarrassed, so in the end, I think my score was better than my play, but my play was miles from my best one.

Q: How difficult it is to play such an event in contrast to a regular open? One day you lose to a 2700+ player and next day you face another one. Is it terrifying to play one game after another without a respite at all?

A: There were a lot of free days, more than in any open tournament or any other event that I know. It’s difficult if you are in bad shape like I was. One mistake against those players usually means that the game is over. I managed to avoid complete disaster by winning the penultimate round against Wojtaszek and drawing against World champion in last round.

Q: But, in general, the whole 2014-2015 period was extremely successful for you (the crown being your victory and a draw against the World Champion himself). You peaked twice (November 2014 – 2680 ELO and October 2015 -2678 ELO). Many people expected you to finally break that magical 2700 barrier, but then you reached some sort of a slump, that lasted all the way to April 2017, where you reached 2609 ELO, the lowest since January 2011. Can you explain a bit what happened there? Was it just the matter of bad luck and temporary loss of form, or were there external factors that caused you to work on chess less than usual?  

A: The best chess of my career I played in 2014, until now. This year could be the one which will surpass 2014.

Firstly, I lost some rating points, mostly to my very bad play in Bundesliga in those seasons. Then I was more or less stuck around 2650 for a longer period. Then February 2017 appeared where I lost 40 points (33 at Aeroflot open) in two weeks. Reason for my bad play was not the time spent on training chess. It was almost exclusively some other factors.

Q: But okay, after this European Championship, you have fully recovered, and once again reached your peak rating of 2677. What are your future plans now? Do you have some sort of short and long-term goals?

A: I have my tournament calendar planned almost until the end of the year. I think everyone knows that my next goal is reaching the rating of 2700 or more. And more importantly to keep that level of play.

CHESS TRAINING

Q: Now when we have mentioned peaks and ratings, how does a typical training regiment of a 2670 player look like? What is the main difference between a 2600 and a 2700 player?

A: The simplest answer why some people have a higher rating than other ones is because they play better chess on average. If you have two normal players with a rating difference of 100 points, and for example, they both play around 100 games per year, it means that in classical 9 round tournament stronger player will score one point more in average.

In the concrete case, 2700 players don’t have weak parts of their play. Most of the 2600 players usually have some slight weakness in their play, either openings/endgames, or know only how to play aggressively / positionally.

Q: Which aspect of the game do you consider as your weakest part? How do you intend to improve it?

A: Around move 40 I often make mistakes, even when I’m not in time trouble. My evaluation of the position is usually not objective one, but I’m not sure is this is a bad thing.

Q: How does your typical training routine look like when you are not competing in a tournament? How many hours per day do you spend on chess? What do you do?

A: I usually analyze on the board with the help of the computer, and when it becomes tiring and boring I play some online blitz in breaks between. The goal is to play minimum blitz and do maximum real work, but sometimes I catch myself playing more than 3-4 hours of blitz and feel like I completely wasted my day.

Q: Do you read chess books? Do you have a favourite chess book?

A: Yes, currently puzzle types of books where I can exercise my vision.

Q: Do you have a favourite player? Who is your role model in chess?

A: Not really. Even if I had one I couldn’t copy him because every player has a unique understanding of chess.

Q: In an ancient interview in Slobodna Dalmacija, you mentioned you play 100-120 games a year. Do you analyze your own games? Do you even have time to look at them thoroughly? 

A: Now I play around 100 classical games per year. I always check them with the engine. I analyze deeply only games which I consider significant for the opening theory and critical for my repertoire.

Q: How would you rank these in order of importance?

• Practicing on a computer
• Practice matches with other human opponents
• Analyzing your own games
• Analyzing classical games
• Reading chess books

A:

1. Analyzing your own games

2. Reading chess books

3. Practice matches with other human opponents

4. Practice on a computer

5. Analyzing classical games

Q: One of the things I have noticed is that  top players have huge teams behind them.  Do you have some sort of trainer? Someone you work with on a regular basis?

A: Currently no one, but I hope this will be solved in near future. I have some sparing partners and colleagues with whom I sometimes practice, but no second.

OFF THE BOARD

Q: In the last part of the interview, I would like to talk a bit about matters unrelated to chess. You are living in Omiš with your wife and daughter, studying in Split and playing chess around the world? How difficult it is to find the „work-life“ balance considering that the life of chess professional is pretty „boemic“? 

A: No, I’ve returned back to Split. I’m not in the university for almost 4 years. I got bachelor’s degree in 2013 and quickly after I stopped because I had no time to attend all the classes.

Q: Your wife is also a chess player. Do you guys travel to tournaments together? Or only in those where both of you are playing?

A: My wife is working, and she almost stopped playing chess actively. But at least once a year we go to some tournament together.

Q: How did this dynamic change when your daughter was born? Did she already learn how to play?

A: I played just a little bit fewer games in those first 2 years than usual, but quickly I returned to my normal rhythm (around 100 games per year). She learned to play chess, but has other interests which she enjoys more.

Q: Correct me if I am wrong, but I have heard you have diabetes mellitus type 1. It makes your career and your results even more impressive.  My best friend also ‘discovered’ he has one when he was 14. Although I know to an extent how difficult it is for him to pursue any sport, I can’t imagine what a chessplayer has to go through, considering chess games often last for 6 or 7 hours. How do you control the sugar level during the game?

A: I have it since I was 11 and I was used to playing chess alongside with diabetes whole my career. I control the glucose before the game and that’s it, usually, your body is telling you how your glucose levels are, and I can feel correctly in most of the cases. It’s impossible of course to guess correctly your current levels, but you feel when is low, normal or high.

Q: Does it affect your performance on an occasion? Do you lose concentration? How difficult is it to endure these setbacks?

A: It’s hard to say, most of my mistakes are simply chess related, and very few times I made blunders because my sugar level was low. Normally, when I feel this situation I try to not make a move or calculate anything deeply until glucose goes back to normal.  On the other hand, when blood sugar is high you usually feel tired and sleepy and when this happens you obviously don’t play your best chess.

Q: Apart from chess and family, do you have some other ‘hobbies’ and interests? How do you spend your free time?

A: Most of my free time I spend with my family, mostly we go hiking.  Besides chess, I do physical training but this can’t be called a hobby, because its purpose is to benefit my chess and health.

Q: Which non-chess book can be found on your night locker at this very moment?

A: Only some books which my daughter or wife are reading.

Q: Which sports do you follow? Many chess players are big NBA junkies. Also, I would be quite surprised if you weren’t a huge Hajduk fan. Do you visit Poljud nowadays when you get a chance? Were you a member of Torcida in your younger days (Torcida is the name of Hajduk’s fans – VN)?

A: Nowadays I follow only Champions league and matches of Hajduk. Last time I was at the stadium was more than one year ago.

Q: In the end, which message would you send to young, aspiring players and chess connoisseurs?

A: To analyze positions (and openings) on the board, without the engines.

Q: Okay, thank you very much for your time and your answers Ivan. We wish you all the best in the future and we hope you will join the 2700+ club very soon. Good luck!

A: Thank you!

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