A ‘Short’ update

Nigel Short, the former World No 3 in chess, talks about his friend Vishwanathan Anand, and the state of chess in India, while on a recent visit to Kochi 

Photos: Nigel Short at the Taj Malabar, Kochi; Nigel Short and Garry Kasparov played in Belgium in 2015. Kasparov won 

By Shevlin Sebastian 

It is getting dark. Nigel Short is in the Rice Bowl restaurant at the Taj Malabar Resort and Spa, Kochi. Through the glass-paned window, he stares at a few water lilies floating in the backwaters and says, “This is so beautiful.” 

Then he looks at a hotel, all lit-up because of the Christmas season, on the opposite bank and says, “Wow, nice.” 

He smiles at his guest and says, “I have had a great time in Kerala.” The former World No. 3 had come on a five-day visit to interact with players and officials and to take a coaching session for 50 players. “I was joking with the local chess fraternity that it was good I came to Kerala at the end [after stops in Dhaka, Delhi and Chennai], because if I started here I would not have gone anywhere else,” says Nigel, who has travelled to 129 countries. 

He is a close friend of Indian chess legend Vishwanathan Anand. “At one time we were on the same level but then Anand went ahead and became a great champion,” says Nigel. “I like his chess and way of thinking.” 

But Anand, who turned fifty on December 11, is suffering from lapses of concentration during matches. “That is par for the course,” says Nigel. “No one can stop Father Time. In longer games, you can play well for the first three hours, but after that, it gets tough, if you are in your forties or beyond. You are unable to concentrate with the same intensity. Most people do not realise that chess can drain you physically.” 

It can also give you a psychological blow. When Nigel lost the World Championships final against Garry Kasparov at London in 1993, it took him 19 years to see those matches again. “Once you are defeated it plays on your mind,” he says. “For me, this happened in front of a world audience. You start to get afraid and sometimes these feelings multiply. Fear at the table is very common.”

Asked whether the mind can be trained to withstand fear, Nigel says, “Sure, you can. But in the end, we are all just human beings, not machines. We are influenced by emotions. Kasparov dominated me psychologically. Sitting across him I could feel his intense determination to win.” 

Another player who has a similar determination is current world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway. Like Kasparov, he can also intimidate his opponents because of his relentless wins. As to whether there is any player who could challenge Magnus now, Nigel mentions the name of Ding Liren from China. “He has had the upper hand in blitz chess and is already World No 3,” he says. “You need somebody like Liren who does not get intimidated.” 

Meanwhile, on most mornings, in India, when Nigel switched on the sports channels, he only saw cricket, cricket and more cricket. “I thought, ‘Where is chess?’ In the newspapers there is a lot of coverage of chess,” says Nigel. “So, the interest is there, but chess has not reached a wider TV audience. I agree that chess does not have the visual appeal of, say, football or cricket, but there are innovative ways to make the telecast interesting.” 

Three years ago, there was a proposal for a chess league, on a similar format as the Indian Premier League. “There was money coming in but this was torpedoed by the All India Chess Federation because they did not have the control,” says Nigel, the Vice President of the World Chess Federation (FIDE). “India is in the top five of chess-playing countries, in terms of talent. So, I have no doubt if you remove the brakes the game will boom.” 

(The New Indian Express, Kochi)