Over the previous few days, Ian Nepomniachtchi has swapped his trademark pink shirts and darkish blazers that he religiously wore for his World Chess Championship battles in opposition to Ding Liren for a lemon inexperienced jersey of the Balan Alaskan Knights. Gone too, is the strained expression on his visage that the World Chess Championship had pressured upon him. Currently in Dubai competing within the inaugural version of the Global Chess League, Nepo is comfortable.
After 14 exhausting classical video games, the destiny of the World Championship was sealed by a tie-breaker. Once once more, Nepo skilled heartbreak in opposition to Ding in what was a merciless deja vu from two years in the past, when he had misplaced to Magnus Carlsen.
“Of course, there’s always relief after it’s over, but it’s not the sort of relief you really want,” Nepomniachtchi advised The Indian Express. “In my case, (what the defeat did) was sort of made me lose my right to have some rest, finally. Some 10 years ago I wasn’t really focussed on my chess career. I was just enjoying myself. But as soon as I started knowing the taste of a World Championship, it’s sort of difficult to stop until you get it. I should keep on doing things.”
Balan Alaskan Knights’ icon participant Ian Nepomniachtchi competes on the Global Chess League. (Photo: GCL)
But within the quick aftermath of the bruising defeat, Nepo confesses he quickly misplaced the style for chess.
“After the World Championship, I had back-to-back tournaments in Bucharest. I wanted to skip it, but unfortunately, the organisers did not agree. It was a sort of torture, which was unnecessary, both for Ding and me. But after that, I just didn’t touch any chess for a month,” reveals the Russian GM.
“Here (at the GCL) as well, I’m trying not to pay too much attention to preparation. Just come and play. Be remotely fresh-minded. It’s not working perfectly so far, but I guess it’ll help during the World Cup (in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 30 July to 24 August). Maybe by then, I’ll get back to my normal routine or preparation. But before that, I needed some time to recharge and rest from chess.”
A chess participant’s ‘normal routine’ making ready for the World Championship is an all-consuming, obsessive grind. Carlsen selected to abdicate his shot at defending his throne citing the fatigue this form of preparation brings about. Nepo reveals he spent six months working for the conflict in opposition to Ding.
“You must construct your schedule for no less than half a yr (earlier than the World Championship). For half a yr, you’re selecting your tournaments, planning camps, constructing your staff (of trainers or seconds), and dealing on chess and the bodily half. That’s fairly a busy time. It may very well be mentioned that for half a yr you aren’t residing your regular life. Everything is form of relying in your particular schedule.
“The physical bit shouldn’t be too much. Your body should be prepared to sustain some prolonged pressure for several hours. That’s the point! I did a lot of cardio,” he says.
While no Indian has been part of World Championship battles since Viswanathan Anand in 2014, the nation has seen the emergence of a younger bunch of GMs, significantly 17-year-old Gukesh D, who’s wanting more likely to make the lower for the Candidates Tournament for the subsequent World Championship cycle.
Asked if he had any recommendation to offer to younger Indian prodigies from his personal World Championship expertise, the tremendous GM says: “It’s hard to give advice because the scene has changed drastically from the situation 15 years ago when I was a teenager myself. Compared to me, these young Indians are stronger already. They work way more professionally than I did. As for me, I was always trying to find some balance between chess and normal, routine life, you know hobbies and education and so on. But times are different now and (players are) pushing barriers at a younger stage by skipping school and other things which bring really fast results.”
While speaking concerning the Indian conveyor belt of teenage GMs, he has a word of warning. “Producing so many GMs yearly is nice, but we should also understand that not everyone will become elite players. Having said that, if this momentum doesn’t stop, it will get more and more promising. There’s still time before chess will be completely destroyed by computers. So there is still time for the next generation to shine.”
At the GCL, Nepo has performed six speedy chess video games over the previous 4 days. That’s extra chess video games than he has performed over the course of your complete month earlier than he landed in Dubai. But the 32-year-old, who says he’s a ‘big fan’ of staff competitions, thinks the GCL has an “unexpectedly light schedule” for a speedy match. He factors out that on the World Rapid Championship, they play 5 video games a day whereas most speedy invitational occasions have them enjoying no less than three video games a day.
“I would say playing one or two rapid games in a day is something I am not used to. But on the contrary, when you play five games a day you have some sort of warm-up. If the first game is not going well, or you’re not focused, you can pick yourself up for the rest of the games. This is not something I’m really used to,” he says.
Another factor he’s not used to? Feeling completely happy after a private defeat. On Monday, whereas he misplaced his battle in opposition to five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen, his staff Balan Alaskan Knights edged previous Carlsen’s SG Alpine Warriors.
“I was quite delighted that our team won,” the ‘icon player’ for the Knights says with a disarming smile.
