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Over the past few days, Ian Nepomniachtchi has swapped his trademark pink shirts and dark blazers that he religiously wore for his World Chess Championship battles against Ding Liren for a lemon green jersey of the Balan Alaskan Knights. Gone too, is the strained expression on his visage that the World Chess Championship had forced upon him. Currently in Dubai competing in the inaugural edition of the Global Chess League, Nepo is at ease.
After 14 exhausting classical games, the fate of the World Championship was sealed by a tie-breaker. Once again, Nepo experienced heartbreak against Ding in what was a cruel deja vu from two years ago, when he had lost to Magnus Carlsen.
After the contest had ended, Nepo admitted he needed pills to help him fall asleep in Astana. Considering how much stress both contenders were under, did the end come as a relief, even if it was a defeat?
“Of course, there’s always relief after it’s over, but it’s not the sort of relief you really want,” Nepomniachtchi told The Indian Express. “In my case, (what the defeat did) was sort of made me lose my right to have some rest, finally. Some 10 years ago I wasn’t really focussed on my chess career. I was just enjoying myself. But as soon as I started knowing the taste of a World Championship, it’s sort of difficult to stop until you get it. I should keep on doing things.”
But in the immediate aftermath of the bruising defeat, Nepo confesses he temporarily lost the taste for chess.
“After the World Championship, I had back-to-back tournaments in Bucharest. I wanted to skip it, but unfortunately, the organisers did not agree. It was a sort of torture, which was unnecessary, both for Ding and me. But after that, I just didn’t touch any chess for a month,” reveals the Russian GM.
“Here (at the GCL) as well, I’m trying not to pay too much attention to preparation. Just come and play. Be remotely fresh-minded. It’s not working perfectly so far, but I guess it’ll help during the World Cup (in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 30 July to 24 August). Maybe by then, I’ll get back to my normal routine or preparation. But before that, I needed some time to recharge and rest from chess.”
A chess player’s ‘normal routine’ preparing for the World Championship is an all-consuming, obsessive grind. Carlsen chose to abdicate his shot at defending his throne citing the fatigue this sort of preparation brings about. Nepo reveals he spent six months working for the clash against Ding.
“You have to build your schedule for at least half a year (before the World Championship). For half a year, you’re choosing your tournaments, planning camps, building your team (of trainers or seconds), and working on chess and the physical part. That’s quite a busy time. It could be said that for half a year you are not living your normal life. Everything is sort of depending on your special schedule.
“The physical bit shouldn’t be too much. Your body should be prepared to sustain some prolonged pressure for several hours. That’s the point! I did a lot of cardio,” he says.
While no Indian has been a part of World Championship battles since Viswanathan Anand in 2014, the country has seen the emergence of a young bunch of GMs, particularly 17-year-old Gukesh D, who is looking likely to make the cut for the Candidates Tournament for the next World Championship cycle.
Asked if he had any advice to give to young Indian prodigies from his own World Championship experience, the super GM says: “It’s hard to give advice because the scene has changed drastically from the situation 15 years ago when I was a teenager myself. Compared to me, these young Indians are stronger already. They work way more professionally than I did. As for me, I was always trying to find some balance between chess and normal, routine life, you know hobbies and education and so on. But times are different now and (players are) pushing barriers at a younger stage by skipping school and other things which bring really fast results.”
While talking about the Indian conveyor belt of teenage GMs, he has a note of caution. “Producing so many GMs yearly is nice, but we should also understand that not everyone will become elite players. Having said that, if this momentum doesn’t stop, it will get more and more promising. There’s still time before chess will be completely destroyed by computers. So there is still time for the next generation to shine.”
At the GCL, Nepo has played six rapid chess games over the past four days. That’s more chess games than he has played over the course of the entire month before he landed in Dubai. But the 32-year-old, who says he is a ‘big fan’ of team competitions, thinks the GCL has an “unexpectedly light schedule” for a rapid tournament. He points out that at the World Rapid Championship, they play five games a day while most rapid invitational events have them playing at least three games a day.
“I would say playing one or two rapid games in a day is something I am not used to. But on the contrary, when you play five games a day you have some sort of warm-up. If the first game is not going well, or you’re not focused, you can pick yourself up for the rest of the games. This is not something I’m really used to,” he says.
Another thing he’s not used to? Feeling happy after a personal defeat. On Monday, while he lost his battle against five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen, his team Balan Alaskan Knights edged past Carlsen’s SG Alpine Warriors.
“I was quite delighted that our team won,” the ‘icon player’ for the Knights says with a disarming smile.
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