Chess Olympiad far more competitive now: Gelfand

NEW DELHI: Chess than 180 Olympiad countries When involving begins the more 44th in Mahabalipuram later this month, Grandmaster (GM) Boris Gelfand will be following Indian performances keenly. The Soviet-born Israeli chess ace spent ten days with the top 10 Indian players (the hosts are fielding five squads of five players each, across the open and women categories) at a camp in Chennai in May, imparting vital lessons he learned in a three-decade-long professional career. Few are as familiar with the Olympiad as Gelfand. The 54-year-old took part in 11 iterations from 1990 to 2014, representing Soviet Union in 1990, Belarus in 1994 and 1996 and Israel in eight editions. The decision then to have Gelfand as mentor was unanimously taken by the players and the All India Chess Federation (AICF).

With five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand also playing the role of mentor, Indian players couldn’t have had a better build-up to an event they have never won (they were joint winners with Russia in the first online edition in 2020).

“It is very good that the Indian players have been preparing in advance. It is a really important tournament,” Gelfand said on Sunday. While Gelfand didn’t want to divulge the finer details of the inputs he provided, the players’ keenness to learn was a big takeaway for the 2012 world championship challenger.

“I have a very positive feeling because everyone who attended the camp showed determination and desire to learn. I saw how each player is motivated to do well. We worked on different aspects of the game as a group and I also had individual sessions with most of the members.

We worked on weaknesses and tried to overcome them. We also focused on end games and middle games and tried to enhance their ideas about chess,” said Gelfand, who was ranked among the top 30 players in the world from January 1990 to October 2017.

Gelfand said the Olympiad has become “much more competitive” from when he first took part more than three decades ago. “The first time I played in 1990, the number of teams with strong players was limited. One or two teams had professional players and the rest were amateurs. Now, almost 50 countries have professional players. They are constantly preparing. Even in the first round you can expect some surprises now. It means the number of teams that will fight for medals is high,” added Gelfand.

During the camp, Gelfand and Anand, 52, worked in tandem briefly to prepare the Indian players. They go back a long way, their most notable duel being the 2012 world championship match that Anand won 8.5-7.5 to successfully retain the title. “I have an excellent relationship with Anand. We are constantly in touch. Our world championship match was a game between two friends who tried to show supremacy over the board but also had respect off it. His longevity is not a surprise. His level of chess understanding and enthusiasm is extremely high. Of course, with age it is hard to sustain energy but there is no doubt he can beat anyone on his good day and is still one of the best players in the world.”

Gelfand is equally confident of the rising Indian players. “The young generation of Indian players is incredible. Never in history have we seen such a big concentration of talent.”