When and how did you learn how to play chess?

My father taught me at a young age – maybe six or seven.

Did the game captivate you right away? If not, how did the “love affair” happen?

For a long time I tagged along to tournaments with my brother and father, who were both master players. I was more interested in staying at nice hotels than in the actual chess. But then, when I was about 13, at the U.S Open in Chicago things started to click and I began to see more tactics, and beat experts and masters in blitz games. I gained a lot of confidence from that tournament, and had increased motivation to study and play.

Many beginning players get depressed when they are outgunned. How did you deal with early losses as you learned your stuff?

It’s tricky, because sometimes losing can motivate you, as long as it doesn’t crush your confidence too much. I remember sometimes coming back from a disappointing tournament thinking of how rich chess was, and how many areas there were that I needed to work on.

When did you seriously decide to be a professional player?

I never did. I graduated from NYU in January, and since then I’ve been playing and writing and teaching chess to support myself. This was not a conscious decision, but just an easy and enjoyable way to make money without working 9-5.

At what point in your career (perhaps that point hasn’t come yet!) did you accept that you would never be world champion?

Since I started blossoming as a player relatively late, I never had any dreams of becoming World Champion.

Many young male and female players dream of devoting their lives to the game. At what point (strength and age) should a player make a real run at chess professionalism?

I think it depends on what you want from life. If you want a steady career with benefits and to support a family, it is difficult to make a living from chess, unless you want to teach many hours. A lot of people do this, especially in New York, where chess in the schools is very popular. But just by playing, you need to have enormous talent and training to make a comfortable living. Plus, it’s extremely stressful, so you have to have the disposition that would allow you to enjoy that.

Women’s chess has made enormous strides. Any comments on the future of women’s chess?

Women’s chess in China and Europe is improving at a rapid rate. In America, it is a little slower, but I hope this will change in the coming years. Susan Polgar is currently heading up an effort to support and train the U.S Women’s team for the Olympiad in 2004. I think that if the team performs well, this will bode well for American chess.

There are many great women players, notably the Polgars, who disagree with the concept of women’s tournaments. Personally, I am not against women’s only tournaments, because I think to play in such events from time to time is not necessarily an admission of inferiority. When I see an all women’s tournament or training squad, it makes me happy because I see women competing and cooperating in a positive way.

I like to promote women’s chess in America by coaching all girls’ teams whenever I can, working to be a good example in representing the United States. I hope that my book on women in chess, which will be published next year by Siles Press, will also serve to promote women’s chess in America.

What is the difference in understanding between a USCF senior master and a solid International Master? What is the difference between an IM and GM?

Obviously, stronger players have greater understanding of the game. They know more about endgames, have greater insights into a wider variety of middlegame positions, calculate variations better, have greater pattern recognitions and have a sense when critical opportunities arise. Stronger players are more opportunistic and adjust better to sudden swings in the game.

What is your greatest chess achievement(s)?

Winning my two IM norms in the U.S. Championships of 2002 and 2003.

What was your worst moment as a chess professional?

In the U.S. Championship of 2000, I dropped some awful half points.

What are your other (non-chess) interests?

Reading and writing, photography, public art, performance art, women in rock, basketball, cultural theory, traveling.

What are your top five movies of all time? Are there any specific genres that attract you?

Magnolia, Dr. Strangelove, Black Orpheus, Rocky II, Muholland Drive.

What are your favorite pieces of literature?

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK by Doris Lessing, INTERCOURSE by Andrea Dworkin, ADA OR ARDOR by Vladimir Nabakov, BROTHERS KARAMAZOV by Dostoevsky, THE RULES OF ATTRACTION by Bret Easton Ellis, GEEK LOVE by Katherine Dunn.

All these movies and books moved me, and most of them made me laugh as well. My aesthetic ideal is that which is both hilarious and profound.

What are your favorite places you’ve ever visited during your chess travels?

The most interesting places I have visited are India and China, which are different worlds. In India, it is quite sad because of the enormous poverty. But sensually the country is amazing. The colors and foods and sites are truly gorgeous.

The people have an admirable disposition in China; they are so curious and fun. The people have a sincerity that is rare to find in the post-modern and ironic cultural climate of the West.

I loved Barcelona for the Gaudi architecture, the history, the beach, and the wide, wide streets.

Maybe my favorite place of all was Istanbul, where there is just as much energy as in New York. The prayers to call wake you up at an ungodly hour, but I never even minded cause they sounded so beautiful. The meat and bread were the best I ever tasted. You can go to a bathhouse and hang out in a steam room and get a massage for about ten dollars! And the nightlife was amazing. The city was completely awake at 4 am.

What is your most interesting chess adventure?

When I was in Moscow for the World Championship in 2001, I went to the airport to find out that I had misplaced my visa. The agents wouldn’t let me leave the country so I had to go back to Moscow in a cab! I ended up spending four extra days there, going from police station to travel agent to embassies in order to get a new visa. To navigate the Russian bureaucracy in the dead of winter was a real learning experience. It also taught me that my four days of annoyance is the life of some people who yearn to move to the United States.

Do you feel that being a chess professional has been a rewarding experience?

Yes. First of all, on a practical level it has given me the chance to travel and to write. It has allowed me to work very few hours a week and make enough money to pay the rent.

Chess teaches you a lot about passion. There are moments in chess analysis and play in which you feel tingles from the beauty of a certain move. This is the real thing, and sometimes I feel this in reading or looking at art or in conversation. Without chess, I don’t know if I would be able to recognize and appreciate this feeling as well.

Who are your chess heroes? Have your chess gods changed as you’ve grown older?

The Polgar sisters were a great inspiration for me growing up. I still root for Judit Polgar in all the tournaments she plays. I was very excited when I read Jonathan Rowson’s book SEVEN DEADLY CHESS SINS (click to see Watson’s or Silman’s review of this book), because he used his philosophical and psychological ideas to say many new and fascinating things about chess psychology.

What are a professional players peak years?

Late 20’s and early 30’s is my guess. On one hand it is essential to be in good physical shape, but I think in the early 20’s a player might lack experience.

Capablanca said that one should study endgames first. Others insist that tactics are all that matters. Positional concepts for beginners are more or less ignored. And most seem to be addicted to memorizing opening moves. What do you think a beginning player should study? A class “C” (1400-1599)? An expert (2000-2199)?

Definitely I’m big in favor of tactics because you can see a quick increase in playing strength. Learning positional concepts is hard, and probably one of the best ways for a beginning player to do this is to watch stronger players analyze and see what types of moves they consider.

How important is the study of chess history?

Last year I had a meeting with the editor of the art magazine CABINET, in which he asked me a lot of questions about chess history. I was ashamed at how little I knew. Since then, I have read up on it and now I am fascinated by it. You don’t need to know much about chess history to become a good player, but it might motivate some people to choose chess as a hobby. What separates chess from so many other games is its long and rich history.

What do you feel are the five greatest instructive chess books of all time? The five greatest game collections? The five greatest endgame books? The five greatest opening books? The top three chess books ever?

My favorite chess books are the Dvoretsky books, M.V Blokh’s ART OF COMBINATION, THINK LIKE A GRANDMASTER by Kotov, PRACTICAL CHESS by John Nunn and MY 60 MEMORABLE GAMES by Bobby Fischer. The truth is that to read a chess book properly takes a very long time and there are still many classics I have yet to read. A HISTORY OF CHESS is also a great book.

What is your view of the concept of drug testing in chess?

I don’t like it much.

Do you like the trend towards faster time controls, or do you long for the good old days when 40 in 2 _ was the norm?

I’m torn. I think that the fast controls are fun, but really destroy the chances to play good endgames. I hope that both continue to exist.

How would the best players of the 50s and 60s done against the finest players of the present (everyone from both time periods being in their prime)? For fun, the old-timers “team” would consist of: Fischer, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Petrosian, Spassky, Tal, Keres, Korchnoi, and Larsen. The team from the present would be: Kasparov, Karpov, Kramnik, Anand, Shirov, Topalov, Adams, Kamsky, Leko (everyone from one team playing four games against everyone from the other would be an ideal fantasy format).

I think that the new guys would win. The great players just blunder less often now. Training tools are more advanced and tournaments are more frequent.

Who are the most colorful people in chess – your favorite chess personalities?

I like Antoeneta Stefanova because she is currently the second rated woman in the world, and a grandmaster among men. But she’s really friendly and is always the last to leave the discos! Jan Gustafsson from Germany is the most hilarious GM I know. In American chess, all the American guys are pretty funny – Fed, Joel, Larry. Of course, Emory Tate is a legendary character but, just like Eminem, I can’t really accept misogyny, even when it’s funny!

What are your present chess and non-chess goals?

I’m learning Spanish and yoga. I’m always trying to improve my prose style. I am steadily increasing my collections of wigs and ironic high heels.

In chess, I have two international master norms, so I’d like to get my final one. I hope to qualify for the 2004 Women’s Olympic team, and bring back some hardware from Spain! I intend to learn more about d4 openings – not necessarily to play, but just for the hell of it. I’m always embarrassed when I have a student who wants to know about the Slav and I don’t know the third move.

I’m working hard writing my book on women in chess. At this point, I’d do anything for the book. It’s the closest thing I have to a boyfriend right now!

I really admire a lot of different women in chess, and I intend to have my book showcase their talents. I also critically examine the ways in which our culture discourages women from focusing on activities like chess and discuss some of the possible advantages and disadvantages that women have as chessplayers. I’ll talk about relationships within the chessworld, and the intimacy of the chess battle. I will discuss the phenomenal performances of the Polgar sisters and the Chinese women’s chess team. There will be a focus on American women in chess. There have been a lot of recent books coming out in America about how mean and catty young women are. I want my book to present some positive examples of women being competitive and strong.

The book will be published by Siles Press and is due to come out in 2004.

If there is an important question(s) I have failed to ask but you would like to answer, please fill in the blank!

Favorite music – Sleater-Kinney, Liz Phair, Pulp, Björk, Interpol.

Thanks for taking part!