"They want to make a name for themselves." Interview with the coach of the second Uzbekistan national chess team

"They want to make a name for themselves." Interview with the coach of the second Uzbekistan national chess team

At the World Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, as the host country, fielded three teams each in the open and women's sections. The second men's national team attracts special attention: the team with the 30th starting number became one of the revelations of the tournament already in its first half.

The average rating of the second Uzbekistan national team at the start of the Olympiad was 2532 points. The team included five grandmasters (more details about them here): Jakhongir Vakhidov (2527), Abdimalik Abdisalimov (2548), Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov (2540), Humoyun Begmuratov (2514), and Ortik Nigmatov (2484).

"Gazeta" observer Georgy Shvanov spoke with the team's coach and captain, Ukrainian grandmaster and two-time Olympic champion Pavel Eljanov. The conversation took place on September 22 — the rest day after six rounds. By that moment, Uzbekistan-2 had secured five victories with one defeat, including a win over Spain, and had scored 10 team points.

Eljanov spoke about the young Uzbek grandmasters, the principles of team play, the reluctance to set overly high goals for them, the experience of the Ukrainian national team, and the role of state support for chess. Separately, the coach explained why Jakhongir Vakhidov rarely appeared at the board and why chess players need to be able to completely disconnect from the game.

— To briefly describe my successes, especially in team competitions, since this is most relevant now, I am a two-time Olympic champion and a multiple medal winner of other competitions. I have been playing for the Ukrainian national team since 2003.

Therefore, my experience of playing for the national team at the highest level is quite extensive. Now I am transferring it to my work as a coach and captain. I was the coach of, for example, the Georgian women's national team for three years. We also had medals — gold at the World Team Championship, silver at the Olympiad in Chennai. So I have already seen quite a few team competitions.

But in the role of captain, when you need to be at the playing venue, determine the lineup, and generally fully manage the mechanism of the national team, I am here for the first time. For me, this is especially interesting, it is a new challenge. Therefore, I looked forward to the start of the Olympiad with great enthusiasm and am still in high spirits now. I am very much looking forward to the decisive rounds.

The most important rounds are always at the end — as a rule, the last three rounds. Now our matches with the strongest opponents are starting. Tomorrow we play against the French national team.

— I was approached at the end of last year. I was still the coach of the Georgian national team then and decided that the time had come for a new challenge. It was interesting to work with the Georgian national team, but this team is quite experienced, has already seen everything and won a lot. I wanted to pass on my experience to young players, and this was just the case where everything aligned perfectly.

We know that our team is very young. Perhaps some of them are future members of the first national team. Therefore, I accepted this challenge with enthusiasm and do not regret it at all.

— First of all, it must be said that all of them are already grandmasters. This is a solid level in any case. Although, when I took charge of the national team at the end of last year, my group consisted of six people and only half of them were grandmasters. Now the youngest guys have managed to get this title. I am, of course, very glad that they have improved so much in the short time of our work.

I believe that our work truly began in January, when after the first team training camp we moved on to targeted individual work with the guys. In less than a year, the guys — I mean Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov and Humoyun Begmuratov — added about 100 rating points each and became grandmasters. It is very pleasant for me to see how they grow.

Jakhongir Vakhidov and other players of the second national team.

Other members of the national team are more experienced, but still young. As you correctly said, Jakhongir is a name known to the general public. He played very little, but he played his last tournament brilliantly. The strong Abu Dhabi Masters ended in his triumph.

Before that, Ortik Nigmatov played very successfully in two tournaments in Italy — adding about 30 rating points.

The most experienced and active player is Abdimalik Abdisalimov. He currently has the highest performance in our national team. He played a lot and really wanted to get into the first team. But I think that in the first six months he played too much and got tired. Almost 100 games is a heavy load, he overloaded himself a bit.

Now we see that he has rested. Before the Olympiad, he played very well in Italy.

Formally, it was he who brought us the last two victories. The victory over the Spanish national team is especially valuable. This is a very strong team with many famous names. Suffice it to say that Alexei Shirov, the illustrious player, was a reserve in our match.

The match went very confidently — at no point was there any doubt about the victory. The guys did great, everyone fulfilled the tasks for the match.

Abdimalik Abdisalimov. Photo: Evgeniy Sorochin / Gazeta

— I am a supporter of not setting any over-ambitious goals. I told our guys that everyone's task is to play each individual game at the highest level. And for everyone to raise their rating.

I think that if you set goals that are too high, it can turn out not in the best way. They are young, and some are over-ambitious. Burnout is typical for young people. Therefore, it is desirable not to create conditions under which they can burn out.

I have seen many such situations among my colleagues, in particular in the Ukrainian national team, when the guys inadequately assessed their strength and set ultra-high goals. This led to them burning out, and it all ended deplorably — both for them and for the team. It seems to me that a balance is needed. This is my task as a captain.

— An interesting question. I can say that in Uzbekistan, support for chess is at an incomparably higher level. And it cannot be said that everything is completely bad in Ukraine, although we know that there is a war going on. But in general, from the point of view of the state and the federation, the support and return were incomparable. We were always in unequal conditions with our competitors.

Uzbekistan has risen to the level of one of the leading chess countries in recent years. This literally started four to five years ago with the victory in Chennai. And before that, when the Ukrainian national team, including myself, was at its peak, we competed with other teams.

These were the national teams of the USA, China, Azerbaijan, for example, speaking of post-Soviet countries. Our direct competitors had support for chess players at a completely different level. We were always in unequal conditions. And therefore, our successes are in some ways unique.

At the same time, it must be said that we had the traditions of the Soviet chess school.

We had and still have a lot of highly qualified coaches. I think that thanks to these traditions and the support of enthusiasts, we achieved such success in Ukraine.

I see that in Uzbekistan, chess is part of the state program, the country's image. But in Ukraine, there was nothing of the sort. Chess was never in the leading positions, it was somewhere in the tenth roles even in sports.

Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov. Photo: Evgeniy Sorochin / Gazeta

— In general, first places were already expected from Ukraine at some point. But there are definitely parallels, because these guys also really want to make a name for themselves.

We tried to prove to the world that we were worth something. Our successes were a springboard for us to become known, to receive invitations to high-level tournaments. And at some point, it really worked out. In 2004, when we had a very young national team, we sensationally became champions. Then all the guys from my generation just became recognizable in the world.

Therefore, yes, the guys in the second national team are certainly in a somewhat similar position. They are a bit in the shadow, they want to make a name for themselves, and therefore they definitely have very high motivation.

— Yes, of course, there is a certain specificity. When a team lives at a tournament, it is its own mechanism that sometimes needs to be adjusted, because everyone has their own ambitions. It is necessary to take into account the mood of all the players in the team, their strengths and weaknesses, analyze this and make decisions.

For each match, completely different tasks can be set on each board. Therefore, sometimes you have to make difficult decisions — for example, who will play in the next round. And not only who, but how to play. Sometimes you need to hold someone back, sometimes, on the contrary, sharpen the game on some boards. These are the decisions that have to be made together with the team before the game.

— Yes, there were certain considerations. For some of our opponents, this may be a mystery, because he did not play against the Philippines, which is generally not a top team, but quite solid.

We try to use the fog of war to mislead our opponents a bit. In general, we have a fairly balanced team, and anyone can rest if necessary. When the lineup is constantly changing, it is harder for the opponent to prepare.

— I don't think this is any kind of secret, but I can say that one member of the national team went. I went too — to keep an eye on things a bit.

But I don't think this is a minus, because young guys get tired and they need a reset. In principle, this is a common way to diversify the chess routine, to switch off a bit.

I believe and tell all my students that after each game you need to completely forget about what happened. The brain must rest, it also requires recovery.

I know many cases when colleagues analyzed previous games, constantly replayed them in their heads, and in the end completely burned out. Chess players must rest like all ordinary people. Maybe it is not very visible to the average person what is happening, but the loads are very serious.

There are known cases when chess players lost weight after individual games or lost noticeable weight during a whole tournament. Because all this activity at the highest level is extraordinarily energy-consuming.

I believe that you can switch off, and I see nothing wrong with spending a few hours socializing with other colleagues. Balance is needed in everything.

— I first came to Uzbekistan exactly a year ago for the Grand Swiss. I lived in Savitsky Plaza then and, yes, played very poorly. But in general, there were no questions, I liked everything.

Here I must also say that the opening was probably the most vivid and memorable in my life. Many people spoke about this, not just me.

A very spectacular drone show, I think everyone is pleased. We know that there were issues with accommodation, but as far as I know, everything returned to normal.

During the few times that I came to Uzbekistan, I was received very hospitably, and I felt important. I am very grateful to the Chess Federation for providing such conditions.

The conversation with Pavel Eljanov took place on September 22 — the rest day after the sixth round. In the next three matches, the second Uzbekistan national team continued to play successfully against teams that significantly exceeded it in starting rating.

In the 7th round, Uzbekistan-2 drew with France — 2:2. All four games ended in peace. Jakhongir Vakhidov on the first board shared a point with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Abdimalik Abdisalimov with Maxime Lagarde, Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov with Marc'Andria Maurizzi, and Ortik Nigmatov with Jules Moussard.

In the 8th round, the Uzbekistani players defeated England — 2.5:1.5. Vakhidov drew with Michael Adams, Abdisalimov with Gawain Jones, and Suyarov with Luke McShane. The only victory was secured by Humoyun Begmuratov, who beat Daniel Fernandez and brought the team two match points.

Uzbekistan-2 achieved an even more resounding result in the 9th round, crushing the Netherlands — 3.5:0.5. Vakhidov defeated Anish Giri, Suyarov beat Loek van Wely, and Nigmatov defeated Erwin l'Ami. Abdisalimov drew with Jorden van Foreest.

Thus, in the three rounds after the rest day, the second national team scored five out of six possible team points. After nine rounds, Uzbekistan-2 had 15 points — only one less than the leading main national team of the country. Along with India and Armenia, the second team of Uzbekistan was part of the closest group of pursuers.

The day before, Eljanov told "Gazeta" that his players were "a bit in the shadow" and "want to make a name for themselves." The results of the next three rounds showed that the team succeeded in doing so.