— Vladimir, at the beginning of the conversation I want to clarify: you are no longer the coach of Ian Nepomniachtchi, are you?
— We have been cooperating since 2007 and have achieved many victories. It was an interesting, long journey. I'm proud of the result we achieved together
achieve: Ian became one of the strongest grandmasters in the world, took part in world championship matches and continues to fight for the chess crown. We don't really work together anymore - by mutual consent. Ian has a strong team, excellent assistants, and I would like to help other athletes achieve equally high results. We maintain good relations and can exchange
different
debut ideas, after all, experience of joint analytical work
very big.
- What are you doing now?
— I am now one of the coaches of the Russian men’s team, I work with talented
chess players individually. I have many strong students, I already have results both at the national championship and at the international level. I will not reveal the names of the wards until they themselves want to. The guys are interesting, and I want them to grow and progress.
— It so happened that chess has become a sport where there has recently been a very large outflow to other teams. How significant losses have we suffered and how will this affect development prospects?
— Yes, circumstances developed in such a way that many, including strong chess players, changed the flag. But I am not prone to pessimism and am confident that in five or six years we will be able to grow a fairly strong galaxy of players. I work not only with chess players who are at the peak of their form, but also with young guys. Some of them are only ten years old. And this is a very promising generation. So I try to do my job - to contribute to the development of students, to give them the pace of development that is necessary to become one of the best chess players in the world. I make every effort to ensure that my young charges develop and do not lose their love for chess and motivation.
— They have a good guideline: Nepomniachtchi will take part in his third Candidates Tournament. Do you think the two previous victories will add confidence or, on the contrary, put extra pressure?
— All tournaments are different. The first one, in Yekaterinburg, was new to Ian; he approached it as if it were something unknown. He passed the qualifications, became stronger with every step, and it was clear that he was able to compete for victory. Two years later in Madrid he won by a clear advantage, and it was very nice to see it. This was largely the result of his extensive preparation for the match with Magnus Carlsen in Dubai.
Then he grew a lot in chess, and the result was not long in coming. The current tournament will be different primarily due to the composition of the participants, who can be divided into two categories. The first group includes those whom Ian knows very well. Let's say, they have been playing with Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura for many years and have played hundreds of games. He also knows Alireza Firouzja quite well.
At the same time, there will be many new names in Toronto, among which the most attention-grabbing players are from India, especially Rameshbabu Pragnanandha - a great talent and star. Also Gukesh Dommaraju and the more experienced Vidit Gujrati. Each of them has their own style and it is clear that they are now on the rise. In many ways, it will be decisive for Ian whether he can pick up the keys to these chess players with their distinctive style and creative approach to the game.
— Could there be some kind of team tactics from the trio from India?
— An incident from 1962 in Curacao immediately comes to mind, when Bobby Fischer accused Soviet chess players of saving their strength and deliberately playing each other in a draw. But I don’t think Indian players will agree on anything. Of course, they are from the same country, but from different parts of it - and each is a hero for their own region. In addition, they are full of ambition, for all three of them this is the first Candidates Tournament, so I think they will fight with full dedication.
And in general, such tactical tricks should be expected from more experienced chess players, and all Indians are quite young. In addition, when you undergo serious preparation for a major competition, willy-nilly, a feeling of responsibility arises for the work done and a desire to show it on the board.
— Here I remember what happened in December at the World Rapid and Blitz Championship, when Nepomniachtchi played such a somewhat strange game with Daniil Dubov. Didn’t you discuss that situation with your former ward? Why did he decide to do this?
— I wouldn’t judge strictly, after all, it was rapid and blitz, where chess players do not tune in to a separate game, as in the classics. I personally wasn’t in Samarkand, so it’s hard for me to say what really happened, but from the video it seemed that
Yang had no intention of making a draw this way. And when Daniil proposed, he agreed to such a, in a sense, comic game. Although, in my opinion, such actions should be avoided, especially since Nepomniachtchi is an ambitious and strong chess player. I have no doubt that
in Toronto we will see interesting chess, and this episode will remain in the past.
— Let me return a little to the Indians: in Toronto, Yan will have to play with them back-to-back in both the first and second rounds. Could this somehow affect the result?
— If everything goes well for Ian, then the order of meetings will not matter much. Perhaps more important will be the issue of acclimatization. I want Ian to adapt as well as possible and pass all the tests calmly. But, it seems to me, many participants, due to the time difference, different climate and nutrition at the beginning of the tournament, will make more mistakes and blunders, which will need to be taken advantage of wisely.
— On chess forums they argue whether this tournament is inferior in level to the previous ones. What is your opinion?
— Of course, it’s a pity that Magnus Carlsen refused to play, because with his participation any competition becomes special. But even if we leave this point out of the equation, I think the roster in Toronto is very strong. This is a Candidates Tournament, there are no random people here. It’s just that each selection has its own characteristics. For the current one, they are that a whole generation of Indian chess players has come up. And it will be very interesting to see how they will manifest themselves.
— Not everyone liked the way Firouzja won a ticket to Canada, who, instead of the World Rapid and Blitz Championship, played in a tournament with a prize fund of €700, just to get the required number of victories and get ahead of Wesley So in the rankings. Do you think the end justifies the means?
“Although Alireza certainly belongs to this eight in terms of strength and talent, the method of selection, nevertheless, raises doubts. In such a short period of time I played a lot of games, boosted the rating... A bit of a strange situation. I think it would be nice if Wesley challenged Firouzja to a chess duel and they had a head-to-head argument to decide who should go to Toronto.
— In January of this year, FIDE
changed the qualification rules for the Candidates Tournament: now a chess player who loses in the match for the crown does not automatically receive a place in the eight. Is this fair, in your opinion?
— I have extensive experience in preparing chess players for world championship matches. He helped Sergei Karyakin in 2016, and Nepomniachtchi in 2021 and 2023. I can say that in this process the player always does a great job and after the match he automatically becomes stronger as a chess player
.
But at the same time, he loses a lot of energy. After this marathon, it is almost impossible to show any more or less good level over the next three to four months. However, the internal chess strength of the participants still increases.
It is not for nothing that Vishy Anand, when he lost the first match to Magnus Carlsen, rested for quite a long time and began to come to his senses only shortly before the Candidates Tournament in Khanty-Mansiysk. And then he took first place. If you look into history, it is often the vice world champion who is the main favorite in the new selection of candidates. This is no accident. Therefore, it seems to me that it would be fair to leave the rule in the form in which it was. But FIDE has made a decision, we just have to see how it will manifest itself in practice. Probably the logic is that the chess world wants to see participants in the world championship match at the board more often
.
Perhaps this is also due to Ding Liren’s less activity in this cycle.
© Personal archive of Vladimir Potkin
— The current world champion really didn’t play much in 2023, and Nepomniachtchi didn’t show any great results after the match. Is this the price of a title fight?
— The match format has become more entertaining for spectators, but also more energy-consuming for players - there are more games, fewer days off. The match between Ian and Dean was very exciting: the chess players responded blow for blow, took revenge literally the next day, and won their games. Players
We spent a lot of effort and nerves and energy. I would not judge either one or the other that the results have decreased somewhat.
I especially disagree with the talk that maybe Dean is some kind of wrong champion. In fact, he is a very worthy chess player. He’s just far from peak form right now, which is understandable. But he has a lot of time to prepare for the next match. It turns out that the world champion is not necessarily the strongest chess player at the moment. This is the one who has the upper hand in the match, and this is what all the players prepare for. I look forward to Ding Liren's defense, and I wish for Yang that he will show his best chess in Toronto.
— Sergey Karjakin called Nepomniachtchi one of the favorites of the upcoming tournament, but criticized him for his game in Wijk aan Zee. Is it worth assessing the form of our chess player based on this performance?
— Sergei is, of course, a colossal player, and his opinion is worth listening to. I hope he will also have the opportunity to show his best qualities at the board and play more in his
Candidates Tournament As for Jan’s performance in the Netherlands, it really wasn’t too bright. But, if you believe Ian’s words, it was important for him to “experience” the big tournament and get a feel for the pieces
.
In general, as practice shows, performance on the eve of the Candidates Tournament is not so indicative. Let's say Caruana played at the America's Cup two weeks ago and lost there in the semifinals to Levon Aronian. The result is not bad, but not exactly successful either. Nakamura does not take part in tournaments at all now. Everyone wants to show their best chess in Toronto, so in some places they save their energy, in others they don’t want to reveal their ideas.
— Speaking about the Candidates Tournament, one cannot help but recall Carlsen and his disregard for the fight for the championship. Various options are being actively discussed on how to change the format in order to return the Norwegian to the game. What is your view on this?
— This question is one of the main ones; after all, without Magnus’s participation, the competition for the title of world champion looks less bright. It seems to me that some steps need to be taken towards entertainment, but at the same time it is important to take into account the opinions of both the leading players and their assistants, the organizers of the matches for the crown, and the judges.
This should be a creative consultation, and not an imposed forced decision. And I would like to choose a format that would preserve the emphasis on the classics. It is possible to add rapid chess games on some days and think about the number of points: it would be fair to give more for a victory in the classics. I think a combination of different types of chess will show the true strength of the contenders.
The only thing is that I would not go down the path of reducing the number of days off. When they were reduced - and this began with the match between Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi - the quality of the games began to suffer, but we should be observing the creative component of chess. Because this is the legacy that we will leave for future generations, this is living history for study.