Parimarjan Negi has always surprised people with his moves — both on the chessboard and in life. He became a grandmaster at 13, an Asian champion at 19 and now, at 21, he has become India’s youngest chess author. His book titled 1.e4 vs The French, Caro-Kann and Philidor — first of a five-part series — was released in India on Friday. After a simple function, Stanford-bound Negi spoke to Amit Chaudhary about the book, chess career, decision to pursue studies in the US and much more. Excerpts
What inspired you to write this bookIJ
There was this big shift in my life. I was going into academic side and an attempt to adjust my chess style accordingly to be able to manage both chess and studies led to this drastic shift — opening kind of shift. I wanted to make use of what I have been doing all my life. This was one way through which I could make the biggest difference and reach the widest audience.
Why did you choose this particular subject — chess openings — for your first bookIJ
Because that’s my expertise. My area of expertise in the last few years has been openings. I have been working hard on that area. Of course there are people who are better than me but I have worked at a pretty high level and this is where I could deliver the most.
At the age of 21 most people are not even sure of what they want to do and you have come up with a book of your own. It’s a big achievement. How does it feelIJ
I think there are always people who have achieved more than you. There are people in this chess world who have done better than me. It’s easy to say in perspective when you look at other people like (Fabiano luigi) Caruana. We have grown up together in the chess world and he is the second best player in the world. So, there are people better than me. I wouldn’t be too confident about whatever I have achieved.
Now that you are going to pursue studies, what will happen to your chess careerIJ Will you still be participating in competitionsIJ
I think I will still be playing pretty often. You will keep seeing me in tournaments but I am not sure how well I will play. I will try to do my best. I think I have adjusted well to the things and hopefully it will work out well.
I will be very selective in my tournaments. I will have to be very careful and I’ll have to maintain my energy levels. I’ll have a lot of focus on my physical fitness. I am going to play the kind of chess that is less based on home preparation and more based on going there and trying to fight it out.
When did you decide to focus on studies and put chess on the backburnerIJ
After 12th I decided to completely cancel out studies for two years. I didn’t decide what I would do after two years. I wouldn’t say studies at the front yet. It might be in the future. I haven’t even decided what I am going to study. It’s more about exploring. After four years I probably would decide whether to put chess in the front or studies because then I would have a direction what I am studying, whether I want to take it really seriously and do my further studies. So, a lot of it depends on the next few years. Right now I am not sure what I will be doing but I will definitely be exploring that area as well. So, the time will be divided between the two.
So, there is no particular subject that you are going to studyIJ
The under-graduate course doesn’t require me to declare a subject right away. I can experiment with various subjects until I choose the final thing after two years.
Do you have any subject in mindIJ
There are a lot of subjects in mind, basically. That’s what I like about the American college system that it’s very inter-disciplinary. There is nothing like that I have to be in psychology department or economics department. I can take classes in every department.
What interests you the mostIJ
To be honest, I am not sure about it. That’s why I wanted the inter-disciplinary thing. After I got admission into Stanford, I have had no time to actually think about what I will be studying. I have interest in psychology, economics, computer science by these are very varied fields. I don’t know yet what I will be good at. The key thing actually is what interests me and what I am good at. I will try to combine that.
Four-year break is huge. Have you thought about the risk that you are putting your chess career inIJ
I think without the break — without the studies at least — the way I was playing chess the whole year, it wasn’t working out that well for me. It didn’t really satisfy me. I had some good results but I also wanted to have a sustainable way. This way I will be able to play whenever I want to play — at least in the first year that will be pretty often. I will have to check how tough the studies go later on because the first year courses aren’t that tough. But I will be able play these periods with lot more intensity because there is sort of satisfaction that you get by doing different things.
So, the decision to pursue studies was influenced by unfavourable results in chess and your attempt to secure your futureIJ
Yes, something like that. After 12th I decided to give two years to chess. For me to break into the world elite, I have to get, let’s say, about 2700 points, that’s about top-50 in the world. It’s hard to say how close or how far I was. It could be one more good tournament and I could breakthrough but instead I was just there. I think I still can break into the top-50 but I don’t want to be purely dependent on that. Even at the very elite level in chess there is no back-up. And, it’s good to have a back-up. When you don’t have other option but to depend on just one thing, there is more pressure and much greater risk of burn out. When I am 25, I am not too old to continue playing chess. 25 and World No. 70, there are people who would still play very ambitiously at that stage but I would definitely be too old to continue studying — it’s already been a three-year break since school. It was already too hard to get admission and in another two years it would have become impossible.
Would you be participating in the national championshipsIJ
I could play but I probably wouldn’t play because the prize money at the national championships would be much lesser than what it would cost me to come back to India to play the event. So, it makes no sense to me to play that unless there is a drastic revision of the rules. I might still be in the Indian team. The rules are pretty complicated but I hope they will revise the rules to actually not benefit the players who are playing the nationals because I would very much like to play the international events for India. They are some of the toughest events and are really useful for the chess career. I would have time to play the tournaments but I would have to balance. Finances won’t be as easy as I have left the security of what we have in India — the job set up, sponsors — so I can’t just travel from US to Asia, to Europe to just play one event.
Viswanathan Anand is going to play Magnus Carlsen for the World Championship title. You think Anand has a chance to win it backIJ
Carlsen has been struggling recently so it’s way closer match than last time when Carlsen had been just crushing everything on his way. Anand had been in a dodgy form but this year his performance has gone up. I will say Carlsen is the favourite in this match and Anand is the underdog. However, it’s going to be a very close match compared to the last time.
Though there have been good results for Anand recently, Carlsen is still going to be the favourite. When Carlsen is there, he is always the favourite irrespective of the opponent. Despite his shaky form this year, you still expect him to win. He is really good. But as I said he is in a shaky form and he has shown lot more vulnerability, he no longer has that unbeatable aura around him.
What do you make out of his reservations about playing in Sochi, the venue for the World Championship matchIJ
I don’t know what’s happening there. I hope the match would take place. It’s a complicated issue. I am sure he has some valid argument about how the tournament was awarded and other things that I actually know about. But hopefully the matter will be resolved because any World Championship match with Carlsen would not be a World Championship match.
From your experience, does the place really matterIJ
May be it matters for him. I mean I haven’t really played a million-dollar match! Stakes are very different. He has got his reputation and the prize money is much lower which is something you can’t be very happy about. The stakes are very different, especially for him since he is the face of chess right now. He wants to promote it more in the west. The issues are very different so it’s hard to comment on that.