?What really is this thing called talent and can you succeed at any sporting enterprise without it? The question is an old yet still fascinating one, and Double Rooks can think of no better qualified person to answer it than the man widely regarded as the greatest chess player ever, former world champion Garry Kasparov. A great friend of the media, Kasparov spoke engagingly and candidly to reporter Edwin Lam in a wide-ranging interview during his recent visit to Malaysia. One of the questions Lam put to him was: In your opinion, can a less talented individual still succeed in chess, if he or she has the utmost passion in the game and a detailed plan to get there?
Big gap
Kasparov's answer: I had written in my book, How Life Imitates Chess, that working hard is also part of an individual's talent. Sometimes, I find it hard to understand what is meant when someone says, 'Oh he or she is talented, but lazy'. To me this simply shows that there is a big gap in the person's character. Working hard is a form of talent - it is, in fact, an important element of the person's talent. By not working hard how can your natural gift become real diamonds? So that is why I think working hard is sometimes just as important as having talent. Of course, I must admit that it would be difficult for someone without a huge talent to be a world champion. But you can still go very high up and achieve a lot, even with limited talent. However, when I say limited talent, please do not get confused with the term. People can get really confused as talent can mean anything, you know.
Being number one in your school also requires talent. Being number one in the world also requires talent, but these are very different forms of talent. That said, I am a great proponent of the concept that the ability to work hard is a unique talent and if you can work hard and if you can spend the long hours and if you can concentrate on the goal and if you make detailed plans, you could still be ahead of your competitor even if you are less talented or less gifted in chess or anything else simply because he or she is not as good in organising their work.
Question: Looking back on your own experience, and we see how kids these days start chess at a very young age, some as young as four and five, do you think this is a little too young, given that you started chess at the age of seven?
Kasparov: I don't think that it is too young or too late to start learning the game. Instead, it is a question of the goal or the objective of learning the game. I believe chess can play a very important role in a child's education as it can help to improve their vision of things around them. Most of them, in fact 99.9 percent of them, will not play chess in later life. But it is still very helpful for chess to be included in their general education curriculum. If the child shows interest in chess at four or five, then fine. I believe that you have to help kids - you have to guide them - but you cannot force them to do something they do not like. For instance, my son does not want to play chess. He has no interest and there is nothing that I can do about it. While we play an important role in trying to guide kids not to be under the influence of modern, mindless games, we must also understand the limitations of our interference. It's about finding the golden balance of how to influence them without being too nasty and causing a counter reaction. This is true in any form of human relations, be it in a working team or in a father and son relationship.
Speaking about his well-known collaboration with 19-year-old chess wonder Magnus Carlsen, now the highest rated player in the world, Kasparov said there was still a lot of work to be done to prepare the young Norwegian for a world championship bid. Kasparov added: He is really quite good in beating the average GMs and even the strong GMs. But to become number one you need more than just talent and I was quite interested. I mean he has shown tremendous progress and resistance recently. He was very sick in Moscow and even considered withdrawing after round two. We discussed it seriously with his father and his doctor. He had a very high temperature and throughout rounds three and four he played on while feeling really sick. He only gradually recovered before round six, after the game with Anand. But he was still far from good. Even in the last round he still had some complications.
I was proud that he had a +2 in the tournament even under such horrible conditions. This showed that he is getting stronger. It is a demonstration of your character to do well not only in tournaments like Nanjing, but also when you are down and out. I think he is getting tougher and I have high hopes for the future of our cooperation. Asked about a possible comeback to tournament chess, Kasparov said such a prospect was not feasible. He explained: I have a different life. I have already passed the point of no return, because I cannot stop what I am doing in Russia and I cannot stop giving my lectures. It was my conscious choice and I am very happy with it as you can't do the same thing for the whole of your life. Technically, if you create the vacuum for me and put me into a three or four month period of just playing chess, I can definitely make a comeback. It's just that at the same time there are so many other things on my mind. �lthough you might say that I am making some form of return by working with Magnus and following the games and feeling nervous and all.
On the future of his efforts as a trainer, Kasparov said he had never stopped working on chess and education projects in several countries. He observed: The most successful attempt has been in the United States. The Kasparov Chess Foundation was founded in 2002 and we had a very generous donor who kept supporting us all these years. We built up a blueprint curriculum that is used in all 50 states, of course mainly in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut as well as �hicago and Texas. Technically we are in all 50 states, in more than 3,000 schools and we are teaching teachers how to teach chess. We believe that teachers who are already in schools need some simple lessons to teach the game of chess. �nd again, our concept is that chess is an inexpensive but very efficient way to improve their education.
Most talented
Besides that, the Kasparov �hess Foundation has been actively helping �merican talents in the past few years. We have been sponsoring semi-professional youth events such as the �ll-Girls US �hampionship whereby Texas University provides scholarships for the winners. Twice a year we run special chess sessions with kids, the most talented ones. We started with many, up to 30, and now we have about 10 to 12 kids. We go through their games. It's all very Soviet tradition that we have now installed in the United States.