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Meet Sam Sevian, America's 14-year-old chess grandmaster
The youngest ever US grandmaster - a 14-year-old from suburban Boston
- on intimidation tactics and what it will take to become America's
first world champion since Bobby Fischer
Chess prodigy Sam Sevian became the youngest American grandmaster in
history before his 14th birthday. Photograph: Nicholas Kamm/AFP Ashley
Branca
Tuesday 7 April 2015 05.00 EDT Last modified on Tuesday 7 April 2015
16.55 EDT
Hello Sam! Hello, Small Talk!
You have a big couple weeks ahead with the US Championship. How are
you feeling? Of course there is a little bit of anxiety, but I have
played many such tournaments where I am outrated by a couple hundred
points, so I don't think this should be something that is new to me.
How does this US Championship compare to the others you competed in,
especially since it is the first since you have reached the rank of
grandmaster [Sam is doing pretty well so far, last Friday he beat
world No8 Wesley So]? This is the strongest US Championship in
history, and that kind of puts a little more pressure on me. I did
play in the US Championship two years ago, and I did quite well
there. Of course, this competition is even stronger, so that makes me
excited to play.
In other sports, as folks head into big competitions, they taper, or
slow down training to reserve energy. What does your training look
like heading into big competitions, and do you have any sort of
"tapering"? In general, yes, one should preserve energy for
tournaments, and probably [Garry] Kasparov and [Bobby] Fischer are
good examples of that. For me, I try to do both; I try to stay relaxed
and at the same time stay sharp. To stay sharp, I do problems and to
stay relaxed, I watch sports and basically take my mind off the game.
You are the youngest ever US grandmaster in history. Not such a bad
thing to have on your resume. What was your first thought when you
became GM? I was really happy because that game I had to win to become
grandmaster was a really intense game! It came down to the wire, and I
was able to win it, so it was really exciting in the moment. After the
tournament, it settled down, so I understood more what it meant.
Sevian became the youngest grandmaster in American history with a
thrilling win over Andrey Gorovets of Belarus in November.
But in the moment, you were just focused on winning the game. It was
stressful just reading about it because it was a nail-biter, but that
buzzer beater won you a monumental achievement overall. How did you
stay focused in the moment? There was a lot of pressure on me, and I
tried to basically focus on just the game. But at some point, I got
really deep into the variations. I had very low time, but I made the
game very sharp, and my opponent then also kept getting lower and
lower on time.
Now we're thinking ticking time bomb ... At some point, I even had only
one second on the clock, and I had to make my move extremely fast.
And looking back, was it the right instinct? Yes, I think it was the
correct move.
Trash talk isn't really a big part of the culture of chess. What kind
of mental intimidation occurs over the board between opponents?
Sometimes people try to stare down their opponents, but ...
But you have a mind of steel, Professor X ... Well, I will just stare
right back.
I understand that you have your eyes on a world championship. What do
you need to do to get there? Anyone who plays the game has eyes on the
World Championship title, and if they say otherwise, don't believe
them. Basically, though, it comes down to work ethic, and when I say I
want to become world champion, I think that time will show. I just
became a grandmaster, and there are still so many steps to get to that
title.
Matches can span a long period of time, what's the longest match you
have ever played? I played in a big tournament a few months ago in the
Netherlands called Tata Steel Chess, and in the fourth round, I was
playing the former European Champion, Vladimir Potkin. The game went a
little more than seven hours.
How do you sustain yourself -mentally, physically and emotionally -
from exhaustion in long matches? Well basically during tournaments, a
win really adds to your confidence, and I don't really get hungry.
Because of the adrenaline? I drink water, but I don't need anything
else. But I do stay physically fit in general. I go to the gym. I run
and swim and play sports, which you should do for these long games
that can last so many hours.
With all that water over those hours, can you get up and go to the
bathroom? [Laughs.] Of course, you can do that as much as you need.
Sevian turns the screw on an opponent in November. Photograph: AP
Despite the fact that a match can last a long time, there is a time
limit for making your move. How can you stay ahead of the clock, and
when is it most challenging to have the clock in your ear? Right now I
have some problems with my time management because I can start
calculating the line and get very deep into the variation, and this is
time-consuming. I am working on it. Of course, when you are up on
time, you play a little differently.
How much of chess, then, is playing against your opponent versus
playing against yourself? When it comes to playing your opponent, you
especially want to be up on time or at least equal on time to keep the
pressure on.
What do you think separates greats, then, from my neighbor Max, who
plays in the park most days? I think it's just the work ethic and the
time. Greats spend a lot of time on chess, but I don't think that most
folks do.
You started to play chess when you were five. What's your first memory
of playing the game? I remember when I was just learning the moves, my
dad was playing against me without a queen ... he took out his queen,
and he was beating me! I couldn't imagine how one could win without a
queen.
Chess is a huge part of your life, but you have lots of other
interests. What are those, and how do you balance them. Well, I watch
sports and go to the gym. Mainly on a daily basis, though, if I study
for six or seven hours, there's not much time to do other things. I
read chess books a lot, but I love it!
Well, it's a pretty addictive, almost like golf for the brain for a
lot of people. Because chess is so popular, it's in a lot of films -
X-Men, James Bond. What actor (or who) would you want to play you in a
movie of your life? Well, I would want someone who would understand
the complexities of the Sicilian defense would be nice! [Failing that]
Will Ferrell. He could come close.
Does he play chess? I don't know. He should!
Notably, you've had the chance to train with Garry Kasparov. What's
been the best part of training with him? I like to watch and listen to
Kasparov and try to get into his mind to see how he thinks. He's one
of those unique players who is able to give many ideas at once. It's
hard to evaluate all of the ideas, but that's part of what makes him
one of the best players of all time, and it's also what I really
admire about him.
Sevian has broken a number of `youngest ever' records throughout his
meteoric rise. Image: FIDE.com
If there is one thing that Kasparov says to help improve your play,
what is it? He told me to make my game a little more practical, to
work on my time management, to think a little less, and to work on my
decision-making process.
Well, when you think about your ability in the past to make split
decisions, such as in the game you won to become grandmaster, that
shows your instinct is there. Well that was a really rare case. I had
10 seconds and thought, "That's enough time to make a move." But then
I looked up and saw I had no time, so I just immediately made a
move. It happened to be the best one.
It's certainly tradition in sport to have teams split by gender. There
are lots of reasons for this in physical competition. Many would
consider chess to be largely a mental sport. What are your thoughts on
the gender divide in chess, particularly in modern day (and in the
future)? In chess the best female players in the world play in men's
tournaments, and the best make it far. Take, for example, Judit
Polgar. She was once the best player in the world and was very close
to becoming world champion.
She rarely if ever played in women's only championships, right? Yes,
she refused to.
So what does this mean for the future of men's or women's only teams?
I think it will change more and more. There are so many great female
players, and many will continue to make it to higher rankings.
You have a little sister. Does she play chess? If so, do you two ever
play together? No, she doesn't really like it. Every time we bring up
chess, she seems like she thinks it's annoying or she doesn't like it.
You travel a lot for competition and are home-schooled, so a lot of
your friends live all over the world. I wasn't home schooled in
elementary school, but I started being home-schooled in middle school
because public schools don't allow that many absences in a month.
Which is hard when you have a lot of tournaments with adults, who are,
you know, finished with school. How often do you get to see and speak
with friends your age, and how has this changed over the years? I
either meet my friends at tournaments or talk to them on Skype. Most
of them live in the States.
Will any of them be in St Louis? No ... not yet.
How do you balance all of the hard work of your day with being a
14-year-old? Because I love the game I pretty much spend a lot of time
playing it. I don't have any other big interests yet. I do get to talk
to friends and relax, but I do love chess.
Many people get totally overwhelmed by the infinite possibilities and
combinations of moves in chess. What do you think is the most
misunderstood part of the game? I think chess helps with your life and
with your logical thinking process ... if I play this, my opponent can
reply with that. I don't think people really understand that chess can
be helpful not just as a sport but in applying the thinking to your
life.
Thanks for talking to us, and good luck! Thank you!
# Sam Sevian is among the nation's top 12 players competing at the US
Chess Championship at the Chess Club & Scholastic Center of Saint
Louis. The round-robin tournament started last week and runs through
13 April.
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/apr/07/meet-sam-sevian-americas-14-year-old-chess-grandmaster
From: Baghdasarian
The youngest ever US grandmaster - a 14-year-old from suburban Boston
- on intimidation tactics and what it will take to become America's
first world champion since Bobby Fischer
Chess prodigy Sam Sevian became the youngest American grandmaster in
history before his 14th birthday. Photograph: Nicholas Kamm/AFP Ashley
Branca
Tuesday 7 April 2015 05.00 EDT Last modified on Tuesday 7 April 2015
16.55 EDT
Hello Sam! Hello, Small Talk!
You have a big couple weeks ahead with the US Championship. How are
you feeling? Of course there is a little bit of anxiety, but I have
played many such tournaments where I am outrated by a couple hundred
points, so I don't think this should be something that is new to me.
How does this US Championship compare to the others you competed in,
especially since it is the first since you have reached the rank of
grandmaster [Sam is doing pretty well so far, last Friday he beat
world No8 Wesley So]? This is the strongest US Championship in
history, and that kind of puts a little more pressure on me. I did
play in the US Championship two years ago, and I did quite well
there. Of course, this competition is even stronger, so that makes me
excited to play.
In other sports, as folks head into big competitions, they taper, or
slow down training to reserve energy. What does your training look
like heading into big competitions, and do you have any sort of
"tapering"? In general, yes, one should preserve energy for
tournaments, and probably [Garry] Kasparov and [Bobby] Fischer are
good examples of that. For me, I try to do both; I try to stay relaxed
and at the same time stay sharp. To stay sharp, I do problems and to
stay relaxed, I watch sports and basically take my mind off the game.
You are the youngest ever US grandmaster in history. Not such a bad
thing to have on your resume. What was your first thought when you
became GM? I was really happy because that game I had to win to become
grandmaster was a really intense game! It came down to the wire, and I
was able to win it, so it was really exciting in the moment. After the
tournament, it settled down, so I understood more what it meant.
Sevian became the youngest grandmaster in American history with a
thrilling win over Andrey Gorovets of Belarus in November.
But in the moment, you were just focused on winning the game. It was
stressful just reading about it because it was a nail-biter, but that
buzzer beater won you a monumental achievement overall. How did you
stay focused in the moment? There was a lot of pressure on me, and I
tried to basically focus on just the game. But at some point, I got
really deep into the variations. I had very low time, but I made the
game very sharp, and my opponent then also kept getting lower and
lower on time.
Now we're thinking ticking time bomb ... At some point, I even had only
one second on the clock, and I had to make my move extremely fast.
And looking back, was it the right instinct? Yes, I think it was the
correct move.
Trash talk isn't really a big part of the culture of chess. What kind
of mental intimidation occurs over the board between opponents?
Sometimes people try to stare down their opponents, but ...
But you have a mind of steel, Professor X ... Well, I will just stare
right back.
I understand that you have your eyes on a world championship. What do
you need to do to get there? Anyone who plays the game has eyes on the
World Championship title, and if they say otherwise, don't believe
them. Basically, though, it comes down to work ethic, and when I say I
want to become world champion, I think that time will show. I just
became a grandmaster, and there are still so many steps to get to that
title.
Matches can span a long period of time, what's the longest match you
have ever played? I played in a big tournament a few months ago in the
Netherlands called Tata Steel Chess, and in the fourth round, I was
playing the former European Champion, Vladimir Potkin. The game went a
little more than seven hours.
How do you sustain yourself -mentally, physically and emotionally -
from exhaustion in long matches? Well basically during tournaments, a
win really adds to your confidence, and I don't really get hungry.
Because of the adrenaline? I drink water, but I don't need anything
else. But I do stay physically fit in general. I go to the gym. I run
and swim and play sports, which you should do for these long games
that can last so many hours.
With all that water over those hours, can you get up and go to the
bathroom? [Laughs.] Of course, you can do that as much as you need.
Sevian turns the screw on an opponent in November. Photograph: AP
Despite the fact that a match can last a long time, there is a time
limit for making your move. How can you stay ahead of the clock, and
when is it most challenging to have the clock in your ear? Right now I
have some problems with my time management because I can start
calculating the line and get very deep into the variation, and this is
time-consuming. I am working on it. Of course, when you are up on
time, you play a little differently.
How much of chess, then, is playing against your opponent versus
playing against yourself? When it comes to playing your opponent, you
especially want to be up on time or at least equal on time to keep the
pressure on.
What do you think separates greats, then, from my neighbor Max, who
plays in the park most days? I think it's just the work ethic and the
time. Greats spend a lot of time on chess, but I don't think that most
folks do.
You started to play chess when you were five. What's your first memory
of playing the game? I remember when I was just learning the moves, my
dad was playing against me without a queen ... he took out his queen,
and he was beating me! I couldn't imagine how one could win without a
queen.
Chess is a huge part of your life, but you have lots of other
interests. What are those, and how do you balance them. Well, I watch
sports and go to the gym. Mainly on a daily basis, though, if I study
for six or seven hours, there's not much time to do other things. I
read chess books a lot, but I love it!
Well, it's a pretty addictive, almost like golf for the brain for a
lot of people. Because chess is so popular, it's in a lot of films -
X-Men, James Bond. What actor (or who) would you want to play you in a
movie of your life? Well, I would want someone who would understand
the complexities of the Sicilian defense would be nice! [Failing that]
Will Ferrell. He could come close.
Does he play chess? I don't know. He should!
Notably, you've had the chance to train with Garry Kasparov. What's
been the best part of training with him? I like to watch and listen to
Kasparov and try to get into his mind to see how he thinks. He's one
of those unique players who is able to give many ideas at once. It's
hard to evaluate all of the ideas, but that's part of what makes him
one of the best players of all time, and it's also what I really
admire about him.
Sevian has broken a number of `youngest ever' records throughout his
meteoric rise. Image: FIDE.com
If there is one thing that Kasparov says to help improve your play,
what is it? He told me to make my game a little more practical, to
work on my time management, to think a little less, and to work on my
decision-making process.
Well, when you think about your ability in the past to make split
decisions, such as in the game you won to become grandmaster, that
shows your instinct is there. Well that was a really rare case. I had
10 seconds and thought, "That's enough time to make a move." But then
I looked up and saw I had no time, so I just immediately made a
move. It happened to be the best one.
It's certainly tradition in sport to have teams split by gender. There
are lots of reasons for this in physical competition. Many would
consider chess to be largely a mental sport. What are your thoughts on
the gender divide in chess, particularly in modern day (and in the
future)? In chess the best female players in the world play in men's
tournaments, and the best make it far. Take, for example, Judit
Polgar. She was once the best player in the world and was very close
to becoming world champion.
She rarely if ever played in women's only championships, right? Yes,
she refused to.
So what does this mean for the future of men's or women's only teams?
I think it will change more and more. There are so many great female
players, and many will continue to make it to higher rankings.
You have a little sister. Does she play chess? If so, do you two ever
play together? No, she doesn't really like it. Every time we bring up
chess, she seems like she thinks it's annoying or she doesn't like it.
You travel a lot for competition and are home-schooled, so a lot of
your friends live all over the world. I wasn't home schooled in
elementary school, but I started being home-schooled in middle school
because public schools don't allow that many absences in a month.
Which is hard when you have a lot of tournaments with adults, who are,
you know, finished with school. How often do you get to see and speak
with friends your age, and how has this changed over the years? I
either meet my friends at tournaments or talk to them on Skype. Most
of them live in the States.
Will any of them be in St Louis? No ... not yet.
How do you balance all of the hard work of your day with being a
14-year-old? Because I love the game I pretty much spend a lot of time
playing it. I don't have any other big interests yet. I do get to talk
to friends and relax, but I do love chess.
Many people get totally overwhelmed by the infinite possibilities and
combinations of moves in chess. What do you think is the most
misunderstood part of the game? I think chess helps with your life and
with your logical thinking process ... if I play this, my opponent can
reply with that. I don't think people really understand that chess can
be helpful not just as a sport but in applying the thinking to your
life.
Thanks for talking to us, and good luck! Thank you!
# Sam Sevian is among the nation's top 12 players competing at the US
Chess Championship at the Chess Club & Scholastic Center of Saint
Louis. The round-robin tournament started last week and runs through
13 April.
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/apr/07/meet-sam-sevian-americas-14-year-old-chess-grandmaster
From: Baghdasarian