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On that wintry evening of 2000 in New Delhi’s Hyatt Regency, the talking point of the World chess championship was the defeat of Vassily Ivanchuk to Jaan Ehlvest of Estonia. The sixth-seeded Ukrainian was the biggest name to fall that day. But that wasn’t the only reason why their encounter made news. After his defeat, Ivanchuk banged his chair.
Things have changed a bit for both the men since. Ehlvest now plays for the United States. Ivanchuk has changed his first name from Vasyl (the Ukraine spelling) from Vassily.
There is one constant though: Ivanchuk remains as emotional. He also continues to be regarded as one of the greatest chess players in history never to win the World championship. He was the World No. 2 on multiple occasions and has been the World champion in rapid and blitz formats. He has also won some of the most prestigious tournaments in international chess like Linares and Wijk aan Zee.
His most recent visit to India proved as disappointing as the one 25 years ago in Delhi. He was knocked by the American Sam Shankland in the second round, but this time around he was kinder to the furniture.
Despite his early exit from the competition, Ivanchuk was game enough to take questions from reporters at the World Cup. And he answered questions on a variety of topics.
On how he prepared for the World Cup
I prepared some lines, but my preparation wasn’t so good, unfortunately, probably, especially from the psychological side. In openings, I was more or less prepared, but psychologically it is more difficult. I made my conclusions and I have very big hope to play in the World Cup again.
On the conditions of the World Cup, about which Ian Nepomniachtchi wasn’t too pleased
Excellent, excellent! I just want to say thank you to the organisers, to the players, the correct atmosphere, to the arbiters of course. I have no complaints. I can only say thank you to everybody, especially those who supported me.
On what keeps him going at 56, while Viswanathan Anand, to whom he finished runner-up at the World junior championship in 1987, was in Goa as FIDE’s deputy president
I am not so strong in organising like Vishy. So probably because of this, I have no big choice. And because of this, I am still playing chess. I like to play chess, of course, and I don’t see any serious alternative to it: what to do if I don’t play chess.
On streaming his analyses of chess games from the bunker during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
I would be happy to continue it, but in that period, some people helped me in the technical part and now there is nobody to help me with it. I cannot do it technically myself.
If somebody would help me, I would be happy to do it again, analyse many matches, many games, and express my opinion. But I am not strong in technology, I need somebody to help me.
On life in Ukraine following the Russian invasion and the continuing war
I don’t want to speak about this because it is not so easy for me. It is a very difficult period for Ukraine, and also for me.
On playing the World rapid championship in Doha, where he had won the same event in 2016
Because of many reasons, I am not playing as strong now as I was in 2016. But I will try to prepare myself for this championship.
On the story about him carrying a chessboard and playing and analysing games with random people at the hotel lobby
That is very likely true because I like to analyse. Almost anybody I can analyse with; it is quite usual for me.
On the emergence of new generation of players from countries like India and Uzbekistan
All the Indian players are different, as are those from Uzbekistan. So I don’t think there is any special Indian school or Uzbekistan school of chess. Arjun Erigaisi and Vidit Gujrathi, for instance, are very different players. And R. Praggnananandhaa is another, different type of player. They are really fighters on the board and I like to follow their games and of course, I can discover many interesting things for myself from looking at their games. And of course, Gukesh, the current World champion, is quite an interesting player, though not so stable. But he has had big successes.
On the tragic death of Daniel Narotidsky, with whom he had played at the World blitz championship in New York.
It is an incredible tragedy for the chess world, and of course for his parents and his family, his relatives. I am not a person who knows him quite well. I played that game in New York (at the World blitz championship), and before that I played against him only one game online. I don’t remember that the time control was, maybe three plus one, something like that.
I don’t remember the game, but I remember that I had a much better position. I played with white, I had much better, probably even winning position, but finally I lost by time or by blunder. But I never really spoke with him.
Well, after the World championship in New York, I had a chess lecture. Maxim Dlugy had organised it in his club. After I finished this lecture I saw Daniel Naroditsky; I just said hello to him. The last time I met him was in Samarkand, where he was the second of Alireza Firouzja for the Grand Swiss tournament. I saw him during dinner, and I was with my second Almas Rakhmatullaev.
I didn’t speak with Daniel as his table was far from mine. I could not have imagined that I was seeing him for the last time
As for our game, it was an interesting one. He had surprised me in the opening and it was a very complicated game. I tried to analyse the game, even with Garry Kasparov on Skype, about the opening. There were many mistakes, as it was a blitz game. At some moment, I was totally winning, but I lost at the end by time or by mistake. Well, of course, I was too stressed after this. I am very sorry for my behaviour at that time, and I hope I never repeat such things.
As for Daniel, I think the best present for him now is just to see his games, just analyse them, find interesting ideas and admire his talent and creativity.
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I like to play chess, of course, and I don’t see any serious alternative: Ivanchuk
