Social aspects of formation and development of professional chess players

Ernesto INARKIEV: “A SHARP FROST ADDED KEENNESS”

The Russian chess player Ernesto Inarkiev was knocked out in the tie breaks of Round 2 to the Ukrainian Grandmaster Pavel Eljanov. He doesn’t comment his personal life but gladly speaks about his professional career and future plans.

– How did it go for you in Khanty Mansiysk? All went ok? Was frost a problem for you?

– Of course, a sharp frost adds keenness. A drop to -32 was a unexpected surprise for me. This is my third visit to Khanty Mansiysk, so I feel rather comfortable here, – says Ernesto.

World Cup 2009 was more professional than two previous for me from the chess point of view. But I finished quicker than I expected. I am satisfied with the quality of my play, excluding the first day. I had enough possibilities in the last match as well, though I could not go farer.

– Your opponent was stronger than you?

– Luck supported him not me this time.

– There were several young chess players at the World Cup. What can you say about the performance of the youngest participant, the Russian chess player Sanan Syugirov?

– He is very talented. He did not excel here much, but the fact that he started winning strong chess players impresses already. I was following his games in the European Chess Championship and Premier League of the Russian Chess Championship. I think he will have a great success in future.

– You had considerably high rating, now it is becoming lower. What is the reason?

– My rating fell down during one tournament in fact. I was playing badly in China and lost 20 points during 4 games. When preparing I paid attention to the rating of my opponent at the last moment and was punished for that. I thought that if I would properly play and would not care of the ratings and titles of my opponents, success will come automatically. Now I became more careful about these issues. There was a moment when my rating was very close to 2700. I have worked hard but there was no breakthrough. That is why I reorganized my work; I try to look differently at myself and at what is going around.

– During two previous years you were taking part in the FIDE Grand Prix series. Was it hard for you to adapt in a company of strong and famous opponents?

– To my mind the FIDE Grand Prix is very interesting, correct, bright and spectacular project. I am very glad if these tournaments would become traditional. For me it is very important stage in my career. I started to realize it only now. One thing is when you follow the games of strong chess players online and another thing is when you meet them at the chess board. Honestly speaking, I was playing just awfully. The last tournament could have been more successful, if I could use at least half of the chances I got. But there are no accidents in chess. Of course I am not happy with my results in the FIDE Grand Prix. I will try to learn a lesson.

-What is the situation with your study now?

– I am in the graduate course for the second year. The sessions do not comparatively take a lot of time, I have less subjects now. But from the other hand I need to write a dissertation.

– What is the theme of your dissertation?

– The theme is not approved yet. From the beginning I wanted to write about the social aspects of formation and development of professional chess players. I wanted to examine the following issue: what conditions should be provided to have extra class chess players. Look, there are cases that in some places, where chess is not that popular, there are bright and talented chess players. And vice versa, they have active support, a lot of popularity, but there are no promising chess players. It is important to understand which conditions to create to make sure that the number of high class chess players would be stably increased.

– How do you spend your free time? Do you like to read, any hobby, sport?

– I read “Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho here. The only book I managed to buy before leaving. It is an interesting book, I liked it. During the tournaments you don’t have a lot of free time in fact. Everything is planned in professional chess. From August till October I was at home only for 10 days. As for hobby, I like books, movies, music. I like to go to cinema in Moscow. But more important for me is to spend time with relatives, friends. I don’t have it because of my tight schedule.

– What future plans do you have?