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The Aronian Interview
November 9, 2015
On October 29, 2015 Levon Aronian gave an interview/question and answer session with chess-news.ru.
The text in English is at:
http://chess-news.ru/en/node/20416
It should be noted that the session was recorded about one week before Levon’s inclusion in the Candidates was announced (Nov. 5)
Some excerpts:
E.SUROV: You still live in Berlin, don't you?
L.ARONIAN: In fact it's hard to say where I've been living. I spend most of my time in Armenia, but, as my parents and my sister with her family live in Berlin, I often stay here as well.
_______
E.SUROV: A little more than one and a half year ago, Garry Kasparov, while being interviewed by Chess-News on air, had told us the following: "Only two players are capable of challenging Carlsen - they are Kramnik and Aronian". Some time have passed since then, and I'm already not so sure that Garry Kimovich would have repeated it today. What do you think has happened to you during this period of time?
L.ARONIAN: With all due respect to Garry Kimovich as a chess player and a chess theorist, one could note that his opinions change very often. He is a politician, he thinks like a politician, that's why his opinions are very often the ones he considers right just for the time being.
What happened to me? Frankly speaking, I don't know it myself.
______
E.SUROV: Do you regret not having taken part in the FIDE Grand Prix? Through it, you could have qualified.
L.ARONIAN: The thing is that three years ago, as well as four years ago, I did wish to participate in the Grand Prix. There were two of us, quite strong players, who weren't obliged to take part but wanted to do it, just for good sportsmanship. However, if one takes into consideration that the last Grand Prix conditions were, to put it mildly... Well, I would have agreed to play if it were of vital importance for me. By the way, now I might have agreed.
But back then... I found the conditions unacceptable, as the prize fund was miserable and the only reason for the participation was to advance to the Candidates. I might have been wrong though. Frankly speaking, I found it quite insulting to compete in a tournament with the first prize half as large as my participation fee at almost any other tournament that time.
(WK Note – The Grand Prix 2012 had a first prize in each event of 25,000 euro)
______
E.SUROV: Lately, a chess spectator would nearly always refer to chess engines while watching a tournament game. What do you think about it? You say that you see chess as a human competition, art, creativity. The computer evaluations make it difficult to perceive a game of chess this way, don't they?
L.ARONIAN: This is a philosophical question... Our epoch is characterized by the fact that people don't try to use their own brains when thinking about anything. People don't strive to comprehend anything ourselves - nowadays, they got too used to having guidelines.
_______
E.SUROV: One of our listeners wants you to name three best chess books.
L.ARONIAN: It's hard to name "the best books". I'd rather name my favourite ones. First of all, there is a book I enjoy, let me recall its title... perhaps it's Secrets of a Chess Composer by Kasparian, in which he tells the readers how he composed his studies. This is the book I love, please excuse me for not remembering its title. (Secrets of a Study Composer, published in Russian in 1981 - Ed.) This is a tremendous book about the process of composing studies.
Another book I love is Into the Fire of Attack by Tal and Damsky (it seems to have been translated into English under the title Attack with Mikhail Tal - Ed.). It's also magnificent.
Besides, I enjoy Seven Deadly Chess Sins by Jonathan Rowson. It's a very atypical book, which raises extremely important topics. I think that if a world-class GM studies it well, he/she could get a kind of a manual on psychological struggle at the top level.
________
He also answers questions about women’s chess, Magnus Carlsen and time controls.
His comments about women in chess and cheating in chess have elicited some discussion on the EC Forum, especially, “I don't see any point in giving way to total panic, since around 90% of the cheaters get caught anyway.”
http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic....168392#p168392
Anyway, well worth the read.
November 9, 2015
On October 29, 2015 Levon Aronian gave an interview/question and answer session with chess-news.ru.
The text in English is at:
http://chess-news.ru/en/node/20416
It should be noted that the session was recorded about one week before Levon’s inclusion in the Candidates was announced (Nov. 5)
Some excerpts:
E.SUROV: You still live in Berlin, don't you?
L.ARONIAN: In fact it's hard to say where I've been living. I spend most of my time in Armenia, but, as my parents and my sister with her family live in Berlin, I often stay here as well.
_______
E.SUROV: A little more than one and a half year ago, Garry Kasparov, while being interviewed by Chess-News on air, had told us the following: "Only two players are capable of challenging Carlsen - they are Kramnik and Aronian". Some time have passed since then, and I'm already not so sure that Garry Kimovich would have repeated it today. What do you think has happened to you during this period of time?
L.ARONIAN: With all due respect to Garry Kimovich as a chess player and a chess theorist, one could note that his opinions change very often. He is a politician, he thinks like a politician, that's why his opinions are very often the ones he considers right just for the time being.
What happened to me? Frankly speaking, I don't know it myself.
______
E.SUROV: Do you regret not having taken part in the FIDE Grand Prix? Through it, you could have qualified.
L.ARONIAN: The thing is that three years ago, as well as four years ago, I did wish to participate in the Grand Prix. There were two of us, quite strong players, who weren't obliged to take part but wanted to do it, just for good sportsmanship. However, if one takes into consideration that the last Grand Prix conditions were, to put it mildly... Well, I would have agreed to play if it were of vital importance for me. By the way, now I might have agreed.
But back then... I found the conditions unacceptable, as the prize fund was miserable and the only reason for the participation was to advance to the Candidates. I might have been wrong though. Frankly speaking, I found it quite insulting to compete in a tournament with the first prize half as large as my participation fee at almost any other tournament that time.
(WK Note – The Grand Prix 2012 had a first prize in each event of 25,000 euro)
______
E.SUROV: Lately, a chess spectator would nearly always refer to chess engines while watching a tournament game. What do you think about it? You say that you see chess as a human competition, art, creativity. The computer evaluations make it difficult to perceive a game of chess this way, don't they?
L.ARONIAN: This is a philosophical question... Our epoch is characterized by the fact that people don't try to use their own brains when thinking about anything. People don't strive to comprehend anything ourselves - nowadays, they got too used to having guidelines.
_______
E.SUROV: One of our listeners wants you to name three best chess books.
L.ARONIAN: It's hard to name "the best books". I'd rather name my favourite ones. First of all, there is a book I enjoy, let me recall its title... perhaps it's Secrets of a Chess Composer by Kasparian, in which he tells the readers how he composed his studies. This is the book I love, please excuse me for not remembering its title. (Secrets of a Study Composer, published in Russian in 1981 - Ed.) This is a tremendous book about the process of composing studies.
Another book I love is Into the Fire of Attack by Tal and Damsky (it seems to have been translated into English under the title Attack with Mikhail Tal - Ed.). It's also magnificent.
Besides, I enjoy Seven Deadly Chess Sins by Jonathan Rowson. It's a very atypical book, which raises extremely important topics. I think that if a world-class GM studies it well, he/she could get a kind of a manual on psychological struggle at the top level.
________
He also answers questions about women’s chess, Magnus Carlsen and time controls.
His comments about women in chess and cheating in chess have elicited some discussion on the EC Forum, especially, “I don't see any point in giving way to total panic, since around 90% of the cheaters get caught anyway.”
http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic....168392#p168392
Anyway, well worth the read.
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