CHENNAI: Having conducted training sessions for promising Indian youngsters, Vladimir Kramnik was appointed coach of the Indian men’s team for the Chess Olympiad scheduled for August. However, with the Olympiad deferred by a year due to the COVID-19 outbreak, that deal may have to be reworked. In the concluding part of this exclusive interview, the former world champion speaks about Indian chess and other subjects...
After attending your camp in Chennai, D Gukesh won two tournaments and H Bharath Subramaniyam made his first GM norm. How satisfied are you with their progress?
I’m happy with the success. More and more of them are showing good progress. As I said already, my goal is to fine-tune their game, make them ambitious and help them become top players in order to be a world champion in the future. Everything before that are small steps toward the main goal. It’s reassuring that they are in the right direction and the training camps have been meaningful.
Having coached Indian juniors twice, what aspect of their game impresses you?
First of all, I am pleased with the enormous talent of many of them and their dedication to chess. I feel they have it all that is needed to become a really strong player. What is most amazing is of course the amount of such big and unique talents in one generation in one country. That is incredible and no doubt, no single country in the world has such an amount of so talented juniors. I have no doubt that some of them will become top players and I am trying to help them realise their potential. I have a dream that at least one or more will become world champions in the future. After Magnus Carlsen, Alireza Firouzja is the most talked about player at the moment.
How do you rate him?
He is extremely talented. I have no doubt he is going to be a top-10 player at least. May be he can fight for the world crown. He is a bit older than most of the kids we have in the Indian talent pool. I believe we should have our own Alireza Firouzja or maybe more than one.
What is your take on the Candidates tournament, which began in Moscow during the pandemic, before being called off?
It was a mistake to have this tournament. It was not right to hold it during the time when the virus had spread the world over, with many people dying. I went briefly through some games and did not follow it fully because I was not in the right frame of mind due to the impact of the virus globally.
Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan wants to be included in a revamped nine-player Candidates tournament. Your take on that?
The fact that Teimour refused to play and asked to postpone the tournament shows that he was right. Since he was replaced by another player, now this issue must be solved. One must try to compensate him in some way. It can be financial or by including him in the next cycle for the Candidates. It’s not about a player, but about a players’ right. I stand strongly by Teimour and they should solve the matter with him.
Do you think the 14-day quarantine in Moscow resulted in Ding Liren’s below-par show in the unfinished Candidates?
Of course it did. But from another point of view, playing under such circumstances could affect everyone. It’s difficult to play chess at such times and for some, it could be the most important tournament of his career. One cannot play under such nervous circumstances. Everyone has families. Some have children and it’s difficult to concentrate on chess. I think that’s what some of the players were talking about during the tournament.
Aleksandra Goryachkina narrowly lost her women’s World Championship match to Ju Wenjun. How do you rate her potential?
She is a tough player. The only reason she lost was she was better prepared in middle games and not that good in end games. Ju Wenjun was superior in end games. That’s why she won. This is also a good example of the fact that you should study end games more than middles games.