Chess without the Trojan Horse

“I am hungry”, “thank you; it is delicious” and other important phrases help Arianna Kaoyli from the Philippines, chess master Levon Aronyan’s girlfriend, communicate in different situations in Armenia. However, Arianna says that the most targeted and influential expression that works in Armenia is one that literally translated into English sounds like “dude, look at the counter”, which she uses to make taxi drivers understand that they cannot cheat her. Those people ask for three times more money when they see that the passenger is not Armenian. Can you imagine their face when they see that the girl speaks Armenian? I met Arianna and the representatives of Armenia’s chess team in a private event (only Vladimir Hakobyan and Tigran Petrosyan were missing there). The host had not told the guests that there was a journalist among the guests. I had a short conversation with the trainer Arshak Petrosyan, the second strongest chess master Levon Aronyan and international grand master Gabriel Sargsyan.

 – Mr. Petrosyan, you often say that in a team one is for all and all for one. Do you take into consideration the human qualities of candidates in addition to their ratings when making a team?

– From that point of view our team is excellent as all of them are brilliant people. In our team we have a specific method of selection, which means that the first four places are being given according to their ratings, and the fifth participant is the champion of Armenia for that year. By doing so we also support the development of chess in Armenia. This guarantees a good play.

– Do you take into consideration the fortune?

– Rating is a rating but the play itself is different. It is clear that if one has a stabile high rating, it means he is going to play well. However, it does not necessarily mean than in a specific tour they may generate the best results. It is impossible to calculate randomness but it is possible to minimize.

– One of the best qualities of our team is also the fact that we don’t lose our heads when we have success.

– Certainly. We have no problem with that because our guys are humble. When time for the next competition comes, the guys will work as hard as now and again will prepare for the competition.

– Politics is in sports already. This time we had victory and again we have to emphasize that it happened in Turkey and we won over Hungary.

– Yes, this time a number of political processes coincided and that is the reason why the play with the Hungarian team was also discussed in the moral context. However, it is worth celebrating the fact that the victory was reached in Istanbul, Turkey, and the flag of Armenia was raised there and the Armenian hymn was played. Politics is politics, but the priority for us is the purpose of our team, the play and victory; wherever we are. There is a lot of tension; one chess play is a complex of average 40-45 steps, which are tough decisions. Imagine that during several hours you have to make that many tough decisions. It is very hard. There is a lot of responsibility.

– When the chess game was created in the sixth century, the logic of the board with 64 fields was the battlefield with competition of white and black forces. The gaming now the chess pieces are old as tools for war.

-Yes. There is no chess piece symbolizing an atomic bomb. However, the message and logic of chess has not changed. What makes chess interesting is that millions of people have played this game so far, but the plays have not repeated as the logic and thinking of players are different and cannot be repeated.

– Levon, in an interview you said that you are lazy. But your success in chess shows that you must not be lazy.

– I have that quality but I am working on it, and even though I have not overcome it for 100 per cent, I have overcome half of it. When there is a need for working and training I am not a fanatic, thus I cannot work all day around.

– Is chess like a job for you?

– No; it’s pleasure for me. Chess is my favorite thing. I express myself through chess.

– Everywhere in the world sports turns into business. Do you see how much money is invested in football? What is the situation with chess?

– If you know that nothing will help your financial situation whatever you do, it doesn’t make you feel good. It is important for people that are successful in one sector can feel that they have financial background as well. Sometimes you cannot earn as much as you want. But that is not the important thing for me. I remember myself being small, when we had limited budget and we could not afford participation in all competitions that I wanted.

– You are almost a world champion; you are in the second place. Let God let you be the champion. If it happens, what’s next?

– What next? I don’t think that people are born into this world for themselves only. If I succeed in giving to other people as well and filling their day, I will consider my job done. We have been born in Armenia. This is a small country, and it is really important for me to be able to tell other people about your country and make them remember about your small country.

– Are you serious? Usually the chess champions like not saying “we” but “I”. Also, there is an opinion that chess players are cosmopolitan.

– For me the support of people really matters. There are people who are not interested in chess, but when they become interested in it due to me and learn about our country, it makes me happy.

– What about your personal happiness?

– I think the personal happiness comes when the man finds himself in the others. Every single day that I live, even if those are troubled day, those are happy days. I don’t think about the future because I don’t feel that there is a need to think about it.

– Do you have time to read books?

-There are authors that I read much such as Samuel Beckett, Andrey Platonof, Kafka… These people are discoveries for me because you may open their books and understand how deep their world is and you can open their books and read every day.

– Do you believe in God?

– I don’t believe in anything specific? Personally I escape from the word “saint”. I don’t like it when people say this is saint and that is not saint. I don’t understand it. If you accept something to be saint, you should have the same attitude to other things as well. I know that at some point all this was created, but I don’t know by who and how. Only the fact that the world and nature have been created is a miracle itself. It is a miracle that the human being that is a small creature has the opportunity to be and live here.

– After every victory in chess Olympics Armenia organizes a concert and festival in the vicinity of the Opera House. But I think that it would feel better if they would free you from the obligation to listen to that music.

– I like classic music and jazz. I like the Armenian folk music very much. For example, Hayrik Muradyan’s voice makes me relax; I like his songs.

– Gabriel, the sports is again mixed with politics. A decision has been taken to move the chess Olympics of 2016 to Baku. Thus, our team will have to refuse participation in that competition.

– I think that it is wrong to mix sports with politics and organize competition in countries that have conflicts. I believe that official competitions that represent different countries must be held in neutral countries. I don’t mean Azerbaijan and Armenia only. I think it is wrong to face sportsmen with that dilemma because this challenge can change their destiny. I think that Azerbaijan will not participate in the team competition (in 2014 the European individual chess competition will be held in Yerevan, and most possibly the world team competition 2015 will be held in Yerevan as well). Can you imagine that because of conflicts all the time people refuse to participate in competitions? I think that this is the mistake of the chess international organization.

– Even the chess committee understands that in case of conflicting countries any of them may refuse to participate in events in the other country. Don’t you think that it is also a political decision to give a privilege to one of conflicting countries so that the other one refuses to participate?

– It is not a secret for anyone that such big issues are decided with big resources and small issues with small resources.

 – In sports, like in other sectors as well, there is a lot of corruption. If in case of football and other sports there are many subjective factors, in chess it seems that everything is simple and two people are sitting and making steps.

– In chess there are fewer corruption and subjective factors. In case of Aronyan when they see that this guy as really strong, they organize competitions in such places where he cannot go. There can be arranged decisions during drawing lots, but when the game starts, they cannot interfere. All chess players first of all concentrate on the play.

– You said that it is wrong when politics is connected with sports. But as you see it is impossible to escape from that. Even in Istanbul the Azeris were giving interview concerning their murderer’s release from cells and they were acting aggressive.

– Yes, there is political pressure. And in case of the team of Azerbaijan I think it was the result of such pressure that they were trying to act and show to be patriotic. There has been no such pressure on us. Even though our chess players are in good relations with the government of Armenia, there is no political or psychological pressure on us and we are free to do our job.

 – When I was talking to Levon Aronyan, he spoke about his understanding of life and happiness. Have you thought about those things?

– I have not gone deep into details because I think there are no answers to such questions. What is life and why were we born? Those are philosophic questions and through the centuries people have been trying to find answers to those questions. It is impossible to find the answers.