I interviewed Ian Nepomniachtchi

I'm here with Grandmaster Yan yishi two-time World chess champion Challenger currently world number seven and top 10 in every format Yan thank you so much for joining me also good to meet you thank you plus yes uh I guess I'll start with how's it like being in Toronto how are you enjoying the city uh well my first time okay in Canada so I arrived couple of days early of course to you know to fix the jetl things and as a proper tourist I went to the falls okay um and actually I came to like particularly in I came yesterday so it's so far so good but it's always good until it starts yeah and then and then you never know yeah that's fair are you if you go travel somewhere you like uh natural beauty like waterfalls or you prefer big cities oh you don't have waterfalls everywhere yes so that's uh that's fair that's sort of uh like place of potential interest and uh overall like for several years I think I Tred to okay uh for many years I lived in Moscow but now okay I moved somewhere like uh to the countryside yeah not so far from Moscow like 50 or 60 kilometers but still it's uh more nature and it's more calm as I'm not like going to office every day yeah so I don't have I don't have this problem uh that's not so necessary to live in the center of the big city yeah so I probably now I prefer when it's like col you know uh wasting my time in front the fireplace quite nice yeah I live in New York City and I chose to live in a place uh which is it makes me feel like I don't live in New York City so it's a little bit of a conundrum but what's uh what's this place I I I don't talk where I live publicly so when the cameras are off I guess I'll I'll tell you but it it's it's strange because it's a city of you know 12 million people and I kind of I want to be there but I don't want to fully be there uh but I also think I would get lonely in the countryside but uh let's talk about Chess that's why we're here uh uh I think you know you you are the you are a big you're a big candidate to win a third time in a row but I also just want to ask you what what's the experience like of winning two candidates obviously very different tournaments 2020 2021 was almost two tournaments in one yeah uh the last one was just kind of pure dominance from start to finish so can you take me back to 2022 and the second half of the previous tournament like how did you get it done twice well uh it was quite different so first of all like the yak tournament was uh I think it was a big mess for everyone so like uh even though we didn't know that the tournament would be stopped I mean some ideas were circulating of course because uh I mean I wasn't even sure the tournament will you know actually take off because okay at some point like they said okay rajabov is not going to play it was like all like uh in some a lot of emails here and there back and forth and then okay they said all right if he doesn't play them Maxim is playing and uh well somehow I managed to keep cool and the first part at some point was very shaky in the beginning but then okay it went good for me I think I won like two games in a row against Chinese players and then uh when I lost to Maxim okay I was completely uh I mean okay I already felt not so well back then but okay I was like so disappointed like wow okay it going be like full point head to everyone yeah uh and then okay they stopped the tournament and okay I just had no idea what's going on but somehow that's motivated me to work pretty much all this year so also partially it was like uh you know you should give some credits to FID who would say like okay it's going to be in August okay I prepare for August and okay now August September okay I prepare for September and there I mean pretty much I just did a lot of like chess more or less every day okay also of course I'm streaming some some doing nonsense yeah for example first month after the candidates like in 2020 basically the first current in month was uh I think I played computer games like 24 hours a day pretty much uh but then okay I slowly get I slowly managed to get into some working routine and I think uh uh I improved my Chess at least my knowledge yeah my quite a bit uh during this uh this year yes the second part was also not easy but uh I mean somehow it's anyway there's like it's technically two horse race so two guys were on plus two and the rest of the field was on 50% yeah somehow I managed to keep it to till the end yeah and then the Dubai match was uh didn't end according to the plan of course and then it was sort of like question uh if it was like a very random thing that I managed to you know qualify for candidates and win the candidates so it's sort of like there the result of some uh some big job that was done and somehow maybe it was more pleasing for me to think like this yeah but I thought I kill all right then maybe maybe this is like the second yes so okay maybe I'm not as mad so why should I perform why should I necessarily perform poorly like so if not this not like a pure luck yeah like a blind chance and um maybe just I should just come and play and like take it like as of course never I never take my take myself as a favorite in like in the vast majority of tournaments but uh it was quite I would say quite easy uh to play with such a mindset so this year I have no idea but uh uh yeah Madrid was very nice like from start of finish and uh had I think two losing positions against hikaro and Fabby and one very uh very dangerous against against Fabby but uh somehow I survived it all and I took all my chances more or less so okay at that point the confidence just grows every game because you also had the first game against ding right that was a big win so when you start a game you start a tournament with a win like that and then you don't lose a couple of bad positions I think the confidence is just very high or was it also high before the tournament cuz like you said said you were well I had no confidence before I never have like I don't think I I tend to have some overconfidence or whatever uh I think I just try to get to take it calmly like uh play chess first and foremost and uh there's always a lot of like purely chess questions purely chess problems uh not not everything connected to like psychology and so on I mean okay you should you should prepare this that like you should find some Novelties should repeat all the lines and uh this pretty much like uh it's all your time and you like only left with like you only left with some I know like walking around for like a couple of hours every day and like eating sleeping and preparing and then repeating yeah so uh of course like it's better to to have a good start like you know nice takeoff uh so especially dink was who said to be like the main favorite of the of the Madrid okay rating wise at least yeah uh yeah you know was was fine but already like second game was very very shaky against Fabby and the third game if I'm not mistaken was a calm draw against tamur sure and then okay it was a rest day so the rest day is that's why we play chessia yeah uh I also think you have a you have one of the most unique perspectives of the last let's say I don't know how many years maybe 10 plus years of winning first it's very rare to win two candidates right because you have like uh you have vishi who I guess was a he played in the world championship then he won he kind of got back to but you also won two candidates and played two different world champions yeah that's uh very I know I think it's like sort of a world a world record yeah like losing uh to uh consequential matches in a row I mean two two World Championship matches in a row playing against different opponents yeah but I think it's also yeah if you if you want to that's sort of I think I barely I barely know just history like not like some I'm not that great but I can't recall anything like this maybe maybe we should speak about like 1990th Century or beginning of 20th century but uh I guess yeah that's sort of like unique achievement well you said it not me I'm I'm I'm not uh I'm not going to give any any world records out but my question was going to be they were two very very different matches with two different opponents but also what was what was the media coverage like what were your emotions going into both of those matches because as a spectator obviously when Magnus has an opponent the fans immediately start saying like Okay you know maybe Underdog Story but in the second match I thought it was the complete opposite it's like Yan has the experience factor and we saw ding was a bit I don't even know what the right word is but the press conferences were like a bit shaky and strange and the stories about the hotel switching so um can you just take me through the experience of two completely different matches against well um okay the Dubai match Magnus did just great yeah so I mean uh even though it was like a very close match in the first half I think overall he committed very very little mistakes uh so it's not like I put him under a lot of pressure so I had my chances of course but he played like on a very decent level so it was not he didn't blunder like I mean for example like lately you see him playing some classical or like new classical or whatever I don't think he you know he's as dedicated as he was back now in Dubai so of course one can argue like he could he had better performances but it was more than enough uh especially like okay this uh like internal problem you know of tension of uh I know some sleep issues which was in Dubai which probably made my brain completely fried uh you know half you know Midway uh of the match yeah I mean I also like I also changed my life quite quite a bit for uh for Dubai match and at some point I don't think like uh uh it was necessary but uh you know like building a whole new schedule whole new like uh whole new basically like with like nutrition foodwise yeah you know sportswise chess wise uh was quite stressful so of course uh on a on on a bigger distance on a longer distance it's like it works well yeah so for example I managed to play Madrid like basically not showing any new material apart of of what I had for the match I mean roughly uh but uh anyway like uh back then it you know it didn't work out and let's say the ding match was uh I would say I was way more calm in terms of like some major changes in my life so I just tried okay like prepared chess wise uh like sports wise and so on so but uh I don't think I did some very big changes in my life so I thought okay let's take it slow and all right I have the experience so you know uh just I Tred to not repeat my mistakes from previous match but of course there are a lot of mistakes which I you like every time so I came up with something new so for example um whatever it may sound but um you know especially after first couple of games I failed for him so much uh for for do so I mean probably you can have some feelings yeah like okay you can like uh you know like have some empathy and so on but in sports you're about to do it after yeah not not to jump in but specifically what just his answers on the conference well his English is not so great but overall like his appearance okay this like picture from the you know uh his L he's sitting in in his in his jacket and so on uh that was overall U it's not like I'm such like a uh you know openhearted person or so on and I'm feeling for everyone but yeah um he didn't look well and uh but his level of play didn't drop that much well comparing to what we see now of course but uh back then of of course he was far from his like pick did he take you with him yeah and like in like you saw his emotions that he you know what I mean cuz if you're fighting someone let's say it's a one-on-one or in tennis you see your opponent kind of wilting you just go for the win but in chest somehow it's it's not like that I mean like like it's easier to go for a win like in one game or let's say in tennis you play okay it's like three or five hours but in chess you know you basically leave with it like for several months in your head and then okay you have roughly one month for for everything yeah so like some from the opening ceremony till till the end of the match yeah it's like three weeks or or four weeks whatever so this was uh sort of a big I think major issue uh so whenever like your opponent is sort of like like for example like in boxing yeah he's like in a knockdown you just better like finish him off yeah not like wait until he um feel some confidence and yeah when it was uh like Midway in the match like I think in the in the middle I think uh he did quite well until it was like the game he he managed to lose on time um I mean he played brilliantly but then okay he lost some time I think it was a big blow for him and then uh actually I had a lot of chances to to finish him off like I had a lot of chances but already you know the tension got me so it wasn't that easy so I wasn't sure like should I play for a win every game or should I just okay make it simple I keep keep a draw and uh yeah it's you know it's sometimes uh it's very easy let's say to see some Armageddon games uh then people are making mistakes you know unimaginable for their caliber right so like blundering here and there you know like um losing on time or something and I mean it's a whole new it's a little bit different game and in in a way I played a lot of Armageddon in a row and because understandably uh I think plus two is pretty much pretty much it but uh well it was never plus two losing in ch is a it's like a spiritual mental emotional physical takes a toll on a person it takes a toll for the people watching at home who are beginners at the game uh I take losses horribly I've I've said in in interviews the sweetness of Victory is nothing like the pain of loss for me I wins are routine and I'm happy to get them but uh losses are are really really bad for my psyche I can't imagine going through obviously what you went through on the world championship stage uh so what was the recovery period like what was the you know at what point did you kind of say okay I'm going to play chess again uh and have you sort of emerged from there are you remotiv because we are at the biggest Tournament of the year but I'm I'm just curious to hear that uh not not to bring up bad memories but it is interesting for the folks at home who also probably go through similar things yeah well regarding like playing s or not okay I never studed the opposite yeah like so well uh so of course uh I would I would say that probably winning the match would be would bring me closer to the thing you know okay like whatever I completed the game okay please let me go yeah let me go in peace yeah I I got to have some rest so of course like first like couple of days were insanely painful back then but then uh I mean I'd say from Dubai match I recovered quite quickly uh because all right like uh it was like fair fair and square like I'm okay I did poor so well what's uh you know what the big deal all right so I I have to work more but this one was slightly different story and uh you know all so to say um drama that was around but okay whatever and then okay I think like mentally it took a little bit longer than physically because on the contr like physically after the you know match with Magnus I pretty much had like some some energy to play not so poly at the world rapid and Blitz so at least okay share it first in the rapit in in woral uh and then okay I think like for three months I I was like sort of like wasted uh like no energy also got covid and it was like quite uh quite a dull time overall um like from for because of many reasons but physically it was not like as bad so I think my big mistake was to go to Bucharest this was completely unnecessary so I just I could barely digest any chest so I played for two hours and then okay I just wanted to okay whatever but okay no one wanted to make a draw with me so after two hours like uh the game was like on and on and on and okay people just grinded out a lot of points so that was a little bit um unpleasant but um overall like I think took me like one month or something so I mean it's just a part of the game yeah of course some losses are more painful some are less uh but in my case whenever it's logical I mean I can fully accept it so I see the reason I see the problem and uh as long as I'm going to play more okay I'm trying to fix like uh okay why did I why did I do that move why did I do this move yeah okay why did why did I get outplayed so I got outplayed so that's that's pretty much uh pretty much the system of course like then okay losing by like you know BL Queen and one it's like a little bit different story it's it's harder to to accept it but at the same time um there is always some logic behind everything what I appreciate about you is you uh you're not afraid to speak up when you think something is uh wrong injust uh or you know should be should be uh somebody should take a closer look at and uh in particular in this case obviously we had the way the entire uh previous candidate cycle was determined with maybe top two uh or top one qualifying and ding in particular when kaken was basically removed played a bunch of of these like qualifier tournaments where you know three players made a bunch of draws he kept his rating he was already qualified theoretically by rating but he had to get the amount of Games Etc um and at this candidates there is a player who even did something even like more wild which was just securing the rating spot a few points below by playing a tournament a few days before the deadline uh I've watched enough interviews of you where you've sort of shared your thoughts but uh more generally is is the candidate system still sustainable in some capacity is there no way to kind of get around this concept of gaming for a rating spot should it all just be a knockout should there be this whole calendar year um or do you not care that strongly about it well I have my own unique way of qualifying yeah uh so this by the way is going to be removed yeah so they said like you know should to participate in circuit or win some some tournaments to get into the candidates so on a serious note I think even uh I think somehow like when I started playing candidates a lot of stuff started happening yes first first of all Co and rajabov declined to play then after this rajabov was granted which is to me quite questionable but okay it had some logic but okay quite questionable why would you like playing two years in in tournament if you just decided not to play uh due to whatever reason uh I mean it was like his decision yeah so he wasn't like pushed or something yeah okay everyone else came and okay probably only person who was truly happy in was Maxim yeah uh yeah so and then rjab of played also he played in Madrid because of uh okay this negotiation with f and uh yeah those tournaments uh I mean they they smells pretty to B and I think it's quite obvious for pretty much everyone but as far as I know like uh D could participate in um in Grand Prix and he was on the list of the participants but did he I don't know what what exactly what did happen exactly but I think he had some of these issues but he never played in the Grand Prix though he was of course one of major favorites so he was eventually replaced I think two guys didn't play and he was replaced by Maybe by yeno by by vasik I I I can't really remember but it was like slight slight adjustments to the to the player list in the end so so it's not like he never had a chance and but but he never played any any any games yeah like also in China maybe he played like two games mat with h f or something so it's not like he was caring too much about the rting spot but once uh the situation like um this all stuff has like happened all right suddenly they became very active and that's of course um didn't look good and basically the situation like in a way it repeated uh you know last year right uh in in December and one could also argue about like how fair is it like if some participants they have this extra tournament like was it chai Masters organized specifically it wasn't like somewhere on the like on the F calendar I think until like two weeks to start so this is also quite um I mean controversial in my opinion but uh I don't think FID uh you know likes [Music] to uh I know make any serious decisions unless like punishing for half a point some some guys here like I see in in a world bleeds so think I think this was the toughest uh toughest F decision in in a year in a year or something so regarding the system uh I think the candidat tournament is fine because the candidate matches are would be very fun to watch but the problem that Kazan showed Kazan 2011 I mean it it turned out to be like very drawish so imagine like the tournament with not so many games like I think it was best of four sure and then uh okay let's say in the World Cup you also see a lot of tip breaks basically later in the like starting with quarterfinals I mean in okay in the in the world cup is slightly slightly different level of players and okay some sometimes it could be a mismatch yeah at least at least someone thinks it's a mismatch yeah and uh it's maybe more fighting but also tons of TI breaks uh but basically it was L some strategy from G Shi he was just um dragging uh the match into the tip break like I think he managed to beat Leon and King both in this style yeah so it would be very interesting but I think it was one of the least uh uh uh how to say competive yeah not like competive but I mean statistically it was only three decisive games I see uh for all the tournament imagine yeah so I think like something like round dring is fine but um also the way of qualifying I think it's like Grand Prix like cute Grand Prix what was before like now the grand s is is of course good but ideally I think over some years may we might try to move to the tennis system tennis system of ratings and so on and so on so it at least it would help like ratings to be more up to dat yeah tennis doesn't have a world chion more objective yeah yeah so well you can give it World Championship like match yeah so maybe hold it yearly make Maybe once in two years maybe change the format slightly uh but the big problem that now uh I mean basically it was this it's the same as before yes so if you're not inside let's say top 20 or top 30 elite players you're not getting um your invitations to some Invitational like ground robins and then it's very hard to get a high rating and also to you know to maintain it so okay of course there are like some young prodiges like uh sky rocket from whatever like 2650 to 2750 a year but that's sort of like exclusion a it's it's not something you can Gren out did you have that problem because I know I mean you were 2700 for a long time and being 2705 and 2730 is not the same as being 2750 plus so did you have the same problem yeah I think so but um of invitations but my case was also that I was like top five of Russia back then with 27 plus so I think my first like say pick rating was 273 20110 but then it was like top 15 in the world so I had one W can tournament invitation and I think that's it and then okay I played May T Memorial because it was in Russia and uh uh they sort of like supported me like Federation supported me with this tournament but uh after this uh I don't think I had too many chances of like proving myself so like occasionally here and there and then um I think some major tournament successes came when okay F started making this uh those um world re this tournament okay I started playing well there and uh somehow like uh maybe was noticed Again by some organizers yeah speaking of which I noticed in like 200 maybe 14 or 13 your rapid and Blitz were 2880 I understand there's a different rating factor and the classical was 2710 so how were you just always good at speed chess you were Obviously good at classical as well it was just sort of incubated you needed a chance to actually play those games but how did you get so good at all those time controls as well well I knew no openings uh no seriously I knew no I mean comparing especially to what's what's now but even then for me it was like quite normal to get some I played quite principal openings like Greenfield and either but I didn't know too much so let's say every third game I would get like completely um awful position I wouldn't I wouldn't necessarily uh you know lose it sure but it would you know like limit my chances let's say in that respective games so I played a lot of crap and uh this was one of the things in uh In classical because okay in the RIT and blit of course you can I don't know like go into some murky line and then you get away with some you know decent position because okay the your opponent cannot always be precise especially in the opening part uh but I always liked like playing rabid and breeds I for a long time I thought it's my like favorite discipline and uh well even before I think I uh lived basically when I was like 16 I just lived uh on the internet CH Club yes I think I had like maximum of 3500s there 35 plus plus it wasn't like too much because I think hikaro had 36 or 37 even but okay he sort of like um he was playing a bit too good back then and but it was like s sort of like surely top 10 uh on the on the server so I really played a lot of like also play CH play CH and uh and then yeah so it always was uh I played I played a lot yeah so I got a lot of practice and maybe somehow my like style sued us it quite nicely for you know playing some faster time controls but uh I don't know so okay I also had a lot of chances of I think winning those titles like even in World in B yeah but also somehow like uh due to many manufacturers always finished like shared first or second it's hard to say so of course like lately I started like focusing more on classical chest on my knowledge on openings uh I changed my Approach and uh that's also could be displayed you know with my you know ratings so it's like in some way it's like hard glass yeah like so I got some like I got close to 28 classical but I think uh I think my bit and rabbit okay my blit is like 28 right now but rabbit is like I think like very low like 27 whatever I don't even know why does that happen it's just yeah yeah like why why is it like an Hour Glass I mean it's difficult because you change your approach for example for me it's now more important to find the best move okay I see instead of like the trickiest move or like I don't know whatever your opponent is doing okay whatever I'm playing for some ideas like I have my idea I have some tricks that's quite nice for some uh you know speed chest I see so there's no way to uh have one approach that extends to everything else so if you specialize in rap there's a lot of guys who specialize in Rapid and Blitz well I think you can also see this uh when Magnus plays right now so he surely um he surely likes it more than it's like some you know 3 minute 1 minute whatever and um he maintains his extremely high level in Rapid and Blitz so uh but um I don't think he's as dominant as before uh in In classical because okay he doesn't work as much as before of course but it's this is also I think this sort of like corresponding things sure you obviously love chess and you're very good at it uh and is there anything in your life you uh love to do but are very bad at everything else I guess like what sports I mean your your name is associated a lot with DOTA I played a lot of OverWatch back in the pandemic and I had to quit because I was too addicted uh but uh what is it for you that's you know you do a lot you love a lot but you're not very good okay speaking of DOTA I did it really a lot so I would say when I was like I can recall like uh when I was 17 I won airl open to for Dortmund my think first ever super tournament uh but I had very special preparation for this tournament I think like I would wake up like at 5:00 p.m. uh play no no no okay listen yeah uh play like until like midnight play some DOTA okay some in house leags then uh okay everyone is hungry yeah so I would make some you know whatever call it lunch dinner so I had like some break for for food and then it was quite normal to play up to like 8 or 9:00 a.m. uh to and then okay everyone goes to bed because everyone is exhausted so then you go to bed as well and then you wake up at 5 so it was like roughly like 2 weeks preparation for airl but it like never influenced me like because okay all right not CH like uh whatever 15 hours of daa every day but still okay I managed to play and uh wow play not not that badly so if I do this now probably the result will be a little bit different wait so this DOTA uh I mean it was DOTA one or DOTA two but uh okay I used to app a bit but the schedule was before a flood and then you won a flood yeah was roughly like two weeks and then maybe and maybe I had like several several days break but maybe because okay I had some wow other things to do okay uh you know but when you're like 17 or 18 you can get an get away with any basically I don't think the current generation of 17 and 18 year olds does anything like that yeah they're playing chess I think uh with the same uh you know uh res silence would say but uh yeah I don't think they're too they're distracted by by many things because I always had like a lot of hobbies like some I don't know intellectual games like football I used to play like several times I mean before pandemic I used to play several times a week uh some yeah of course like hanging out like Cinemas uh whatever some books as well so I think maybe maybe maybe the pandemic it changed a lot but I had a lot of hobbies and if we you know sum it up like all my time I spent for all my hobbies it would be a lot more than the time I used to spend on chess and I I have almost no hobes left really I live some there in the forest yeah and do some chest okay I'm kidding uh but uh now I mean okay time times change yes so I'm I think I keep one or two but basically uh I can play some computer games but it's like it's not so interesting it's not so you know exciting anymore for me and uh whenever I try to play do okay I play so poorly I'm I'm so disgusted and it's it hardly brings me any positive emotions okay I also try to limit this if you could be as strong as you are in chess and anything else what would it be I don't know maybe some some Arts like music I don't know music literature I'm sort of like it's not like I'm in book War but I come from teachers from like teachers Dynasty mhm and also my uncle and my grandpa are poets so maybe like uh you know not necessarily music but maybe some okay there are different Arts yeah so would be interesting if we played a classical chess game how many beers would you need to drink for me to win uh maybe just uh well I don't think I I'll get to to waste it from from from beers maybe you should ask for something stronger Stronger Yeah like okay what's what's the conversion system okay some okay some tequila perhaps here like 10 shots well 10 probably would be enough once we should uh we should try but I mean okay it's not so easy to I mean you know there are a lot of cases so people would come for example opens were famous with some last rounds people like especially like uh previous generation Grand Masters like they're strong but they would come like you know basically they would bring them into the plank hole because like they would could barely move themselves so they get some coffee some espresso some kak maybe you know to uh to get the engine you know uh you know working again and then we would play like some brilliant game crushing in style you know only you know by hand only out of intuition so classical game is a little bit different but uh yeah once you still can perform I think it's uh it's pretty much enough to to play you know with some general feeling last question uh if you were to chbox somebody not going to ask for the opponent unless you already have one in mind uh what would be your price to get you to chest box actually I'm I'm I'm doing some boxing so oh yeah like in a or you're just training a little bit no I'm like for cardio let's say for cardio purposes like some I like it so but uh you know in some cases it would be completely completely free just just for my you know uh because it would you know be very pleasing to G someone yes to win okay no no no no it's like it's it's a proc process of hurting others yeah I see okay it's great but uh for some people who I don't want to he of because the price will be different okay amazing thank you so much best of luck in the tournament thank you

Channel: GothamChess

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Length: 34min 40sec (2080 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 08 2024