Schachblog

In Mainz habe ich mein drittes Interview (nach 1990 und 1994) mit Gata Kamsky geführt. Zum ersten Mal ohne seinen Vater, aber nicht so ausführlich wie Elli Pähtz kürzlich im Auftrag von Schach (August-Ausgabe) Gelegenheit hatte. Nur einige Zitate aus dem Interview konnte ich in einem Porträt des Rückkehrers (seit 2004 spielt er wieder) in der FAZ vom Dienstag unterbringen (es in der Zeitung in Frage-Antwort-Form zu bringen, wäre reizvoll gewesen, hätte aber meiner Einschätzung nach mehr Kontextualisierung erfordert, als ein im Platz ja beschränktes Interview aushält).

Gata ist freundlich und macht einen ausgeglichenen Eindruck. Nach dem Gespräch, das am Morgen des letzten Tags des Chess Classic stattfand, hatte ich fast ein schlechtes Gewissen, ihm mehrere Fragen über sein erstes Leben als Schachprofi (bis 1996) gestellt zu haben. Im O-Ton:

Kamsky: Sorry for being late. The hotel didn´t wake me up.

No problem. After all it´s only just after 2.30 am in New York. Did you get enough sleep?

Kamsky: Yes, it´s okay.

Why did you decide to come back to tournament chess after an eight year break?

Kamsky: I didn´t want to waste the experience I gained during the previous years of my life. If I was forty it would be too late. So I decided to come back while I could and see how far I can go. It´s different to play chess at 19 or 22 and when you´re 33. The part of travelling around the world is also pleasant for me.

Do you enjoy travelling more than in the past?

Kamsky: Yes, I really enjoy this now.

What are your goals in chess now?

Kamsky: I am pretty modest: I want to get into the Top Ten by rating.

You´re very close already.

Kamsky: Not really. 2700 is not what it used to be. Obviously I want to play well, I am still catching up with some stuff. With the information age even if you think you have catched up they still make so much progress within a month or two months so you realize you have to catch up even more.

Is your dad following your results day by day?

Kamsky: Probably, through the internet.

Did chess help you in any way to succeed in college and law school?

Kamsky: I think there´s no relation.

What did you miss during your eight year absence?

Kamsky: Not much. I missed the game on the life board, because I was only playing on the internet. Seeing your opponent and the atmosphere in tournaments is different. There´s all these people who are there for the love of chess.

Did you ever feel it was bad not to be playing any more?

Kamsky: No. Besides I had the ICC, where I was having fun.

Was there ever a period when you didn´t play at all?

Kamsky: It was very casual, sometimes just having fun with some kids, and now all these kids are 2700. Almost all this new generation came up on ICC.

So you helped them to improve?

Kamsky: I don´t know who helped who: Maybe they were helping me to keep my level.

Was it good not to be a chess player for some time?

Kamsky: You can´t do two things at once: If I decide to study, I can´t play chess. At least I couldn´t do both at the same time. And I was happy to be away from the chess world. The chess world is a world of its own. I wanted to experience life like a normal guy. Chess helped me at college in some way. When I told that I had used to play chess well it was a big point of celebration. Sometimes it was nice to be able to impress someone. A lot of Russians in the college knew, and to some others I explained the chess world.

Did your professors give you better grades because in chess you had proven to be smart?

Kamsky: There was no difference.

Which of the two worlds do you like better?

Kamsky: They are just different. Chess is a complete lifestyle. You play chess, then you rest, then you study chess, then you play more chess. College is different. You study, then you hang out with your college buddies.

Which world do you live in now?

Kamsky: I have a family, but I am more of a chess player, especially when I play in a tournament, and that is a good thing.

What has changed in top chess since you stopped?

Kamsky: There´s still a lot of politics, it used to be played all behind the scene, but now it´s more in the open. You get to see the e-mails, you get to see the exchanges: critique, action, some ideas. They are more actively trying to change chess lately. Some of the changes were not quite good, but as long as they are really trying... You see, I am very happy that Bessel is around.

Is chess going in the right direction?

Kamsky: Yes, I think in general chess is going in a good direction. Still a lot depends on who is the world champion. Each world champion makes his own mark. He´s like a wheel who wants to make everything turn around him. Now it´s a classical guy ruling. The one who beats him will be a more dynamic guy. And after him there´ll be a classical guy again. Something like that.

What has changed in the game itself?

Kamsky: The computer changed everything. When I left the programmes were sort of a curiosity. These programmers are really fanatics. They have been working very hard on their programmes for years. The hardware explains part of their strength, but it´s also the little details they have been adding. Now the programmes find all the moves that a grandmaster finds. A normal grandmaster has no more chance, only some people with a natural gift still have a chance.

Did the computers change they way chess is played?

Kamsky: There´s the fear of cheating. In chess at the top level getting one good move or hint can mean: game over. This has to be avoided by all means in order to take away the psychological pressure from the players. Then of course everybody is using the computers to prepare.

You too?

Kamsky: I am trying, just like every professional does. In the old days you used to prepare some lines. If the position was unclear it was playable. Now it´s more scientific. The computer never gives you the position is unclear, it´s forced to give an evaluation. Sometimes the evaluation is such that you really start to think why.

In the early days of the artificial intelligence the programmers tried understand the grandmaster, now it´s the grandmaster who tries to understand the programme.

Kamsky: There´s an old fascinating book of my favourite SF writer Jack Chalker, where a powerful computer complains: Humans are so lucky, sometimes they can be insane, but we always have to be logical and sane and tell exactly what we think.

Among the current players whose games do you enjoy most?

Kamsky: They are all professionals, all very strong. I care about my own game. My point is to eradicate my own mistakes.

Is there noone who impresses you?

Kamsky: Not really, they are all doing their job.

Are there more great players today than there used to be or just different ones?

Kamsky: I would say the latter.

Shortly after you came back Kasparov retired. He used to tell the public what to think about chess, and has often been called the greatest player of all time.

Kamsky: I agree that he had great accomplishments. He and Karpov were great players but apart from that I don´t want to talk about them because they were very much involved in my professional chess life before I retired. And it wasn´t a positive experience.

Can an individual player still influence the other professionals´ lives?

Kamsky: As I said, every world champion influences chess in a great degree. All the decisions he takes, especially when it comes to the world championship cycle, influence all the other players.

So what do you think about the changes in the future world championship cycles that Kramnik has triggered?

Kamsky: You just have to keep in mind the bigger picture of the way the reunification in chess happened, and now it´s a matter of closing all the wounds. Once the wounds are closed we start from the beginning.

One year ago we thought we had such a fresh start.

Kamsky: When you´re in a privileged position you try to grab more privileges or at least to keep them. It´s normal, it happens everywhere.

So you´re not blaming FIDE for granting privileges at the costs of other players?

Kamsky: I am just reasoning why it´s normal to expect this. I would never say it´s okay. Of course it´s not a good thing. I guess it´s something noone is really proud of. I am not surprised to see this happening. But what´s the point of being fed up with this? Eventually all come crashing down. Kramnik´s gonna loose his title one day. Probably not very soon because he´s a great match player.

There was this hole controversy between the camps of Kramnik and Topalov...

Kamsky: I don´t want to talk about it.

Okay. You said already that you have to rule out any possible influence from outside with such strong computers around. During your professional life in the nineties your father seemed to be quite paranoid about such possibilities but I never knew if you were sharing his concerns.

Kamsky: I wouldn´t say he was paranoid. He was right. Many people were not just saying hello to each other. There was a big controvery about cheaters in the big open tournaments in the US. People were using technology, which proves that it happens and that my father was right: Given the chance to cheat people will cheat. He was just ahead of his time.

Maybe he just wasn´t as apt to communicate his point.

Kamsky: He´s a very emotional man. Nobody is perfect. My father has always been fighting against injustice, for a good cause. He´s very outspoken. That kept some people in check, and many admired him for that. People accused him of this and that, but without him a lot worse things could have happened.

There was open hostility by some players and in some press articles against you. Did you suffer from this at the time?

Kamsky: I don´t like these questions. You are digging in the past. I think you should leave the past alone. It´s a good time to forget about it and think about the future. I don´t want to talk about my father. He´s following my progress and that´s all that matters.

Nigel Short recently refused to shake hands with you at the tournament in Montreal.

Kamsky: I don´t want to talk about it.

Let´s speak about Chess 960: There´s no opening theory involved...

Kamsky: That´s why I came here: I wanted to play Chess 960. And I have to say that the organisers did an amazing job. I am very happy. Seeing the qualifiers on the ICC I was very happy to see many people sharing the interest in a game like this. It has very strong potential. We don´t have Chess 960 tournaments in the US. I hope some organisers will take note and do something similar.

The opening is your obvious weakness...

Kamsky: That´s no secret.

And I wonder why you didn´t hire an opening coach for the candidates matches.

Kamsky: It all comes down to money. You have to pay people. In chess there is not enough money to do everything professionally. Simple economics. I am still not quite there were I can hire someone, maybe later. I am basically playing for almost three years. Besides I have family, and they take precedence over everything.

Are you more or less were you expected to be when you started your comeback?

Kamsky: It´s not easy to make the Top Ten. If it would be easy everybody would be there. I am slowly making progress.

Thank you, these were my questions. Sorry for digging in the past, so let me explain why I did...

Kamsky: I want this closed and move on. Obviously a lot of people are unhappy with some choices. But you can´t please everyone. Of course I made some mistakes but who doesn´t? Some of them I regret. But overall it was a good run. We did more good than we did bad. That´s all I care about. I can sleep soundly at night.