Interview with Alisher Suleymenov
GM Alisher Suleymenov of Kazakhstan is back in Chennai, the city where he won the 1st Chola Chess International GM Round Robin earlier this year. He is the 21st seed at the Chola GM Open. He started the event with a draw against WFM Shubhi Gupta. Devansh Singh from the ChessBase India team spoke with him about why Chennai keeps drawing him back, the day he beat a 12-year-old Gukesh, the upcoming World Championship match and the psychological aspects of chess.
Here is the transcript of the video:
Devansh: Welcome to Chennai again, Alisher. Last time you played here, it was the 1st Chola Chess GM Round Robin, and you won that event. This is the first time a tournament of this strength is happening in India with average rating 2412 and 30-35 grandmasters. How does it feel to play this kind of event in India?
Alisher: It's wonderful. I want to thank Chola Chess again for inviting me. I really enjoy playing in Chennai, and in India overall. I believe this is my seventh time in India, and the third time in Chennai, because I also played the 44th Chess Olympiad here. I pretty much have only good memories of Chennai; I played very well at the Olympiad and gained even more rating points there than in the Round Robin event. And I always enjoy the conditions that the All India Chess Federation and Chola Chess provide. I have visited over 30 countries. During the 44th FIDE Chess Olympiad, the hotel we stayed in was the best. Also, everything here is just perfect.
Devansh: In that Round Robin tournament, you were the invited grandmaster while the Indian international masters were chasing norms, and some of them are grandmasters now. When you play such an event, do you feel extra motivation, knowing they have to get past you? Some players just play for draws in these events. You are not one of them.
Alisher: I was very happy when I got invited, because the average rating of the tournament was almost like mine - a very strong event. And I want to say that the idea of Chola Chess, inviting specifically young foreigners, is a very good idea. In most Round Robin events around the world, organizers invite older grandmasters who have sort of quit chess - they are not motivated, they don't work on chess - and it is much easier to earn a GM norm there. This time it was tough, because almost all the foreigners were young, motivated, hardworking professionals. The long-term growth is much more important than short-term achievements. After that tournament, I went straight to an open tournament in Russia and won it despite not being the favorite - so Chola was good training as well.
Devansh: Let's come to this tournament. Today you played one of the most talented girls in Indian chess, Shubhi. How was the game?
Alisher: A very equal game, I believe. In the opening, I was slightly better, with long-term pressure and no risk. From one point, she started defending very well. I won a pawn, but she got very active pieces in the endgame, and at once I missed a defensive resource of hers, after which it was just a draw. Before that, I could have tried something better - I would probably have posed more practical problems - but objectively it was still very much a draw.
Devansh: The World Championship match is coming up. You have played both Gukesh and Sindarov in classical chess. Who do you think has the upper hand?
Alisher: I played once against Gukesh, when he was 2500, and I was 2430 - I was 19, he was 12. That was in Russia, at the Aeroflot Open 2019. Usually there is one round a day, but because of some issues on the first day, they had to make a double round, and we played in the afternoon. He was quite small and might have been tired. I played extremely well, and even now I am proud of that game. Then we played at the World Rapid Championship in Samarkand 2023 - I was sort of winning there too, but the position remained complicated; I couldn't maintain my advantage, and Gukesh managed to outcalculate me very well.
Against Sindarov, I have played much more in classical chess, and honestly, looking at the positions we got, I should have had a plus score against him - but I kept losing completely winning or just dead-drawn positions. I was not able to make even a single draw against him. Once I was completely winning; another time I had more time and a nearly decisive advantage. So from my own experience of facing both of them, psychologically I believe Sindarov is a bit stronger, and that is the main reason I consider him the favorite. But I don't want to say I am rooting for anybody - I just want to see a very good match between two very strong players. Sindarov was never happy to just make a draw from a losing position against me; in drawn positions he was always trying to beat me, and to beat anyone, given the chance. He is a real fighter, I believe.
Devansh: You have played almost all the top players - Carlsen, Praggnanandhaa, Sindarov, Gukesh.
Alisher: Gukesh, Sindarov, Pragg, Abdusattorov I have played them- not all of them, but most of them.
Devansh: You are seeded 21st here by rating. What is your target: to win the tournament, or just to play well?
Alisher: For everybody, when you go to a tournament, you should always aim for the best. The ambitious aim would be to win the tournament, but I understand it is extremely strong, so I just want to play well and see how it goes.
Devansh: Doesn't aiming to win put extra pressure on you during the games or in preparation?
Alisher: You have such great questions. I have a 17-year career already. When you are less experienced and play close to ten tournaments a year, always aiming for the best, it creates extra expectations, and it backfired for me many times. With experience, you understand that these days everybody plays chess very well; you respect your opponents but still try for the best. I am happy that I managed to have no stress despite high aims. This year, apart from Chola Chess, I won two international tournaments, and I went there with high aims as usual. The psychological part in chess is extremely important.
Devansh: Take an ambitious player around 2200-2300 going for their first title or norm. Ambition creates pressure, but just playing without it can kill motivation. How do you manage that balance?
Alisher: I believe it depends a lot on concentration, and you should have a balance of both attitudes, because each can have drawbacks. It usually comes with experience. But if you have to pick one and you are not experienced enough yet, I would still go with ambition - long-term, it is much better. I can compare two youngsters I have in mind - I won't say who. One is chess-wise just better; the other is psychologically better. Recently I saw that the first one performed worse because he was not psychologically ready, while the other guy thinks he is super strong - and that really helps him, although it wastes too much energy sometimes. It is very individual. And it is not enough to have very good chess understanding - you have to play well, and you cannot keep working on the same things in the same manner. You have to work on everything for long-term improvement.
Devansh: Thanks for your time, Alisher! It's been nice talking to you.
Alisher: Thank you so much!
Check out the full video interview here:
