Scorecard Q&A Extras: Gary Kasparov

SI's Richard Deitsch recently interviewed the 41-year-old chess grandmaster upon the release of the fourth volume (Kasparov on Fischer! My Great Predecessors) of his planned six-volume series on the game's great players. Here is the rest of their interview:

SI: You turn 42 next April. Do you see a time where age will be too great a factor for you to play at the level you want?

Kasparov: I don't have many illusions. The age is already a factor. It requires more energy for me to keep myself at the same level. Every game requires a lot of energy. The amount of information available for any player is virtually the same. It's unlimited. I don't have any extra advantages but working really hard and trying to come up with new ideas for virtually every game. At a certain point I have to admit that it will be very difficult to keep up with pace of changes. But I feel good that I have enough fire and energy to continue the quest. At the end of the day, it's not only about winning or losing but it's about making a difference. I still think I'm a leading force in the world of chess and that makes me run.

SI: Why has chess never experienced commercial sponsorship on the level of other sports in States?

Kasparov: There is always high moments in each game and Fischer's success could have been such a moment that would change the nature of the game of chess forever. Because its not only about the game but it's also about the personality behind the game. You need Boris Becker in Germany to make tennis big in that country. There are certain games that moved on their own but in the 1950s and 1960s professional sports were in their cradle. Fischer was able to move chess from this amateur forest into the professional valley. What we experienced was when he quit, the big momentum was lost. If Fischer continued playing and chess was reorganized the way it was required by a professional sport, I don't think chess would have experienced any financially difficulty from Fischer's success. But with Fischer's departure and demise, chess stayed as before under strict Soviet control. It was a game dictated by the power of the Eastern bloc and communist bloc. The nature of the communist bloc was very alien to the concept of professionalism. Chess missed great moments in the late 1960s early 70s and then we had another chance in the late 80s when I played Anatoly Karpov because it was still difficult. I was fighting the darling of the communist system--Anatoly Karpov -- but I was not an American citizen. It was also more difficult for chess to create a momentum for chess to raise commercial sponsorship, and still we had a chance but the tradition in the world of chess of staying at this amateurish environment preventing us from succeeding. And then we were left behind.

SI: Has chess been left behind for good?

Kasparov: I think chess suffered terrible losses when Bobby Fischer left the stage, and now I think the story of Fischer is doing even more disservice for the game because I don't think its an encouraging example for any parents to send their kids to play chess. Then in the 1980s and 90s there were some chances that were missed but chess has to do it anyway because there is no sport that can progress without commercial sponsorship. The glimpse of hope now is the Internet. That is the only advantage chess has over sports. Basketball, soccer, and tennis are better viewed on the big screen but on Internet, chess has a decidable advantage. You can play chess, teach chess and follow the games. The Internet gives chess another chance, another opportunity to change its nature. We have to find our niche or a space in this big room of professional sports and that will predicated by the development of the Internet. The popularity of chess in schools, especially in the U.S, gives us hope. More and more parents are encouraging kids to study chess (www.kasparovchessfoundation.org) because chess has an excellent educational impact on the skills of kids.

SI: Why was Fischer such a compelling figure in this country?

Kasparov: In this country, very simple: The man who singlehandedly defeated the Soviet chess machine. No doubt at the time of the Cold War the man created a huge impulse that was sent across this country and across the Free World. The man was a big hero because he was a really genius chess player and he was conducting a major breakthrough in the perception of the game of chess. It was a combination of the political and chess factors that created such a powerful force. And of course in America, it was a matter of national pride.

SI: Have you spent any time with Fischer?

Kasparov: No. When he won the title I was nine years old. He never played a real chess game since that and then he went in a totally opposite direction from where I was heading.

SI: How can chess help me in my day to day life?

Kasparov: Chess offers comfort in decision making. By using chess as an impartial, non-ideological tool to analyze performance, chess helps analyze performance because it looks at the result. It teaches you how to split a very complicated decision process, like a big picture, into small pixels Ð and then to micro-manage this big picture with many elements.

SI: Have you gotten more satisfaction out of beating man or machine?

Kasparov: Playing the machine is not about winning or losing. I want to win but for me it was always an experiment. I felt as a chess player, as a man who represents the great game of chess, I'm involved in something that will help the human race in general to understand better the relationship between man and machine.

SI: Is there one accomplishment that stands out among all your accomplishments?

Kasparov: The best moment is winning the title - Nov. 9, 1985. I don't think anything can be compared to that. But I think my entire career is more of an accomplishment. To be 20 years on top of the sport, to have the highest rating, that is an accomplishment of its own. I am proud I represented the game of chess as No. 1 player for so long.

SI: How physically taxing is chess when played at the highest level?

Kasparov: For the last Russian championship I played 10 rounds and always under constant pressure, working 12 hours a day preparing, and than five or six hours for the session. I lost 4 kilos. It's not only about weight loss but loss of energy.

SI: Many boxers including Lennox Lewis have said that chess helps them in sport. Do you see the correlation?

Kasparov: I think chess could help you everywhere. It helps you to analyze the information which is very useful no matter whether you are in sport or business. Through chess you can understand better how you approach certain decisions. It tells you about the fabric that dictates your decision-making process.

SI: What do you make of sportsman who take steroids or drugs to improve performance?

Kasparov: That's a very interesting question. I'm afraid that any answer will not be sufficient because it will be short and this is a subject of serious discussion. I'm not comfortable with the conflict of the drug control in the sport. Chess is absolutely out of this contest. We are not part of this equation and that is why I can speak freely of it. What bothered me in last Olympics is that it's not only about the best result but it's about best technique to cover up the use of steroids. We understand players are using them one way or another but it's about more sophisticated technologies and more sophisticated medicine that is being supported in certain countries. It's about state support like it was in old Soviet Union and probably now in China. I don't want to throw accusations but it seems to be there should be a need for ultimate solution. Either it should be much more stricter than now or it should be free. There is no middle way. I think now it's just all about whether you are being caught or not. The problem is far more serious. Here is something to say very loud: The public should remember they want athletes to get better and better and better. There is a public force that brings a lot of money in the game and when you have too much money in the game and all the public anxiety, drugs are a part of the game.

SI: You played against Vishy Anand in New York City in 1995 on the 106th Floor of the World Trade Center. The first move of the match came on Sept. 11. This must burn inside of you because of what happened exactly six years later.

Kasparov: Absolutely. People don't believe that. On Sept. 11 [New York Mayor rudy] Giuliani made the first move for Vishy Anand. I am proud I am part of something that is part of our civilization that stands against the barbarians.

SI: You've said for you "chess is a process of self-discovery. Where do you think you are along this process?

Kasparov: I think anything we do seriously is a process of self-discovery because we are a constant search of achieving our potential. Sometimes, even if you make a success, it's not really achieving your potential, and I think many people stop prematurely. It's what I call the gravity of past success. We achieve success and then success turns to be a deadly enemy of our future improvement. For me, not chess as a concept, but a chess competition is a process of a self-discovery because I have to improve on a regular basis. I have a very difficult task, not learning for defeats, which is obvious, but learning from my victories. I lose from time to time but still the number of victories is overwhelming and it's quite complicated to force yourself to learn from your victories. Because every game even if you win is not necessicarily a result of your genius. It could be a number of mistakes exchanged by you and your opponent and you were lucky not to make the last one.

SI: You list swimming and rowing and most sports as your hobbies. Do you regularly watch sporting events?

Kasparov: For me, it's more important to see a good game. In food, sport, music, reading, I differentiate between high quality and bad quality. For me, it is more important than the show. For instance, in soccer, my favorite game, I have watched every World Cup since 1970. I remembered by heart most of the games. It gives you a great sense of involvement because you see not only great players and high quality, but also fighting spirit that is behind these matches. In 1970 Brazil beat Italy 4-1 in final. That was first final I saw. I don't have a team. To have a team would contradict my general mentality. I am for high quality. I try to be objective. I want to see good soccer. I like great games. To stick with one team mars your judgment.

SI: Are there American athletes that you admire for this high standard.? Karaspov: The person that carries the legendary image is Muhammad Ali. He was a legend in early 70s when I grew up in Soviet Union and then I saw matches on tapes. The story of Ali-Foreman match is a story for all time.

SI: Could you have imagined that chess would have afforded you this life?

Kasparov: I thought chess would be an interesting game and bring me around the world when I was a kid. Let's not forget I grew up in the Soviet Union and the free travel was a dream. I didn't have any illusions about the potential of the game and that it could change my life and bring me around. But now of course after playing professional chess for more than 25 years I feel quite good about the places the game of chess brought me and the acquaintances and even the difficult situations I had to resolve by playing chess because it's how your character is determined. No matter what I do in my future life, I am grateful to the game of chess.