The World Finals players speak

By Frank “Boy” Pestaño
Chessmoso

In just a few days (Sept. 27) the World Championship will finally take off in San Luis, Argentina after a wait of almost 15 years.

The last undisputed champion was Garry Kasparov when he edged out Anatoly Karpov in 1990 in New York and Lyon, France.

Although this championship is a little bit tainted with the absence of Vladimir Kramnik and the retirement of Garry Kasparov, the whole chess community is generally in agreement that the winner of this tournament is the true world champion.

The San Luis press office has interviewed all the players by asking the same set of questions. 1) What are your thoughts about this tournament? 2) How are you preparing yourself?

Here are the players’ brief and interesting answers.

Rustam Kasimdzhanov, 26 (Elo 2760 Uzbekistan): 1) “The competition will be interesting and full of fight and at the end, the pressure will be very high and he who best deals with it will prevail. 2) I would not open the details of my preparation nor would others.”

Alexander Morozevich, 28 (2707, Russia): 1) He has expressed that all the players that will take part are very strong and “they were not invited by mistake.” He also “considers this competition as a big step for getting out of the actual chaos.” 2) “In Aquarius time, old methods of preparation are no longer valid. You need new instruments and methods for working. I’m in that way but my last results don’t give me much hope.”

Michael Adams, 34 (2719, England): 1) “There are eight very strong players so anything can happen.” He also declared that the double-round robin is fair enough to assure that “the strongest player will win.” 2) “Of course, I will do a lot of work for this very important event.”

Judit Polgar 29 (2735, Hungary): 1) “Every game can be extremely hard. I try to prepare the best way I can and to play the best chess.” 2) “I am preparing against my opponents one by one and in both colors, and of course a lot of my repertoire. Also, the physical training is a very important part of my preparation.”

Peter Svidler, 29 (2738, Russia): 1) “This is probably the strongest event I will ever play in and I will do my best to do well in it.” He added that “all the best and most exciting chess players are in San Luis.” 2) “Mostly mentally.”

EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE. Peter Leko, 26 (2763, Hungary): 1) “Everything is possible if I am able to show my best chess. But I am not thinking about the final results that much. My approach is just to play game per game as good as possible, step by step. My opponents are strong but I will fight.” 2) “In terms of chess there will be nothing special. You cannot compare a tournament with a match against one player as I had it last year against Kramnik. In a match, it is necessary to dedicate a big part of your preparation, especially towards him. But it is impossible to do the same with seven opponents. For San Luis you need to be motivated, fresh, full of energy and be very flexible.”

Veselin Topalov, 30 (2788, Bulgaria): 1) “I’m very happy for being able to participate in this historical World Chess Championship and I am only thinking of winning it.” He also added that “this is the first time that the best eight players of the world are gathered together to see who is the best. This will be the most important tournament of my life.” 2) “I cannot reveal the secrets of my preparation but I have trained hard for a long time.”

Vishy Anand, 35 (2788, India): 1) “Of course, it will be a very important event. I think all eight of us will be training our guns for the event. I will start training soon. Since it will be a tough double-round robin, every game will be really important.” 2) “I am playing in Mainz a rapid match. After that, I start working for Argentina. I do some physical exercise routine, some preparation and lots of rest before the actual match.”

It has been estimated that considering the pressure and quality of the opponent, a single game in this championship tournament will equal 10 rounds of boxing in terms of energy and effort. Since the players will be playing 14 games in 20 days, it will really be tough and exhausting and the prizes, compared to other sports, is puny and scandalously low for a world championship.

The champion will receive $300,000 and the second and third will take home $140,000 and $100,000 respectively and down the line. The last placer’s consolation prize is $50,000.

Compare this to the $2,200,000 won by Kim Clijsters in the last US Open in tennis and the $1,750,000 that Manny Pacquiao will receive in his rematch next year against Eric Morales. And to think that there are approximately 700,000,000 chess players all over the world, more than any other sport!