interview with GM Khachiyan
so my round was done, my day was over, and i was hanging out watching how the real chessplayers do it, when one of them finished their game.
GM Melik Khachiyan had just won his game and was standing around talking, so i asked him if i could do an interview with him, he agreed, and here it is.
chessloser: ok, this is a chess interview, so first things first. coke or pepsi?
GM Khachiyan: pepsi.
cl: if there was no chess, what would you do?
GM Khachiyan: no chess at all? mathematics. or maybe poker, i like to play poker for fun.
cl: how do you handle losing?
GM Khachiyan: now, not so bad. ten years ago i took it personal, i would get angry, i couldn’t sleep, it was bad. but now, it’s a loss, i have to see what i did wrong and learn.
cl: who are your favorite chess players?
GM Khachiyan: petrosian is top of the list. i studied under him, he was a good man, he died too early. fischer was one of the greatest. kasparov is a good man.
cl: if you could have dinner with a chessplayer, not play chess, who would it be?
GM Khachiyan: fischer, spassky, petrosian, alekhine. i had a chance to talk with spassky for five hours once, he knows so much about life and chess, a very interesting man.
cl: how long can you hold your breath?
GM Khachiyan: now, not so much, i smoke, i drink….maybe 20 seconds.
and i thanked him and that was that. what a super cool guy, very personable, very open, very approachable. there was so much more i wanted to ask him, but it was evening, he just finished a game, i didn’t’ want to keep him or waste his time. i’m glad i had the opportunity to speak with him, even for just a brief moment, you could see the joy and happiness in his eyes. just like GM Petrosian, his coach, GM Khachiyan is a good man.
Soapstone said,
March 26, 2008 at 8:36 am
I wanted to point out that Melikset Khachiyan won the Open section with a phenomenal score of 5.5/6 a full point ahead of the rest of the field which included at least 2 other GMs and 3 IMs. That’s “slaughter” in chess terms.
chessed said,
March 26, 2008 at 4:16 pm
You didn’t ask him about the chess groupies.
Oh wait, there aren’t any.
I shouldn’t try posting a comment at the end of the work day when I’m tired and overly cynical. Questions like: “What are you going to do for a living when you get tired of starving at chess? probably wouldn’t have gone over very well.
Largest positives and negatives from being a chess professional? That might have taken a little thought, but would have made for an interesting answer.
Then again, I never even thought about interviewing any GM’s or IM’s when I was a chess journalist, and wouldn’t have done any better. I did do a couple of articles (of a planned series that could have lasted years) where I spotlighted a player, answered a lot of questions about them, and gave some of their favorite games (with annotations by them, of course). That was fun, and I have no idea why I quit when I did…
Edwin said,
March 26, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Always enjoy your interviews with the chess greats. Thank’s.
Liquid Egg Product said,
March 30, 2008 at 8:46 am
Just to have the stones to ask a GM for an interview is more than what most of us can handle.
Next time you interview a GM, ask his/her opinion on Wahrheit’s pre-game preparation.