Interview with Anna Hahn
U.S. Championship, January 2003

Interview by Jim Perry

JFP: In the background material which you supplied to the Foundation [America's Foundation for Chess], you listed a couple of hobbies of yours, namely tennis and kickboxing. How did you get involved in kickboxing?

Anna Hahn: It's a great sport for general wellbeing. It's a lot of fun to do. It's a great workout -- nothing too serious, just a workout. Here in New York, a lot of women do that. Part of it is self-defense. But also it's just a workout.

JFP: What about chess -- is chess a sport?

Anna Hahn: Sure, yeah, it's definitely a sport. Chess is also definitely a game, but it is a very serious game with a lot of emotions that requires a lot of training. For the most part extraneous training to assure good results and they devote a lot of time to that. So it's hard to consider it just a game. In my mind, it is never just that. It is so much more.

JFP: If you think chess is a sport, do you think it should be in the Olympics?

Anna Hahn: Not necessarily. It's a difficult question. It's hard to compare chess to other games, for example with checkers or some other board games, none of which are in the Olympics. It's hard to justify chess alone being in the Olympics. And I don't think it has to be. I don't think it is a question of comparison to other things in any case. It's about what does the Olympics signify?

JFP: If chess were in the Olympics, do you think it would benefit significantly?

Anna Hahn: Absolutely! Definitely! I remember when I was watching the Olympic Games and it was an amazing event and even now with the chess Olympiad which we have right now -- I participated myself in two of them -- I thought it was the most amazing and the most interesting tournament in the world. It was great.

JFP: Precisely how do you think chess would benefit were it to be included in the Olympics?

Anna Hahn: The Olympics has always been such a prestigious event that, by its very nature, people will probably be more attracted to that. Then chess will definitely become more popular among people all over the world.

JFP: You played a considerable amount of chess in your native country of Latvia -- you were Latvian women's champion in 1992. How would you compare chess in Latvia with chess here in America?

Anna Hahn: One of the biggest differences is that my coaching [in Latvia] was very accessible. I didn't have to pay for it, my parents didn't have to pay for it. You really don't have to think about it because you know it's free. I think that is a huge part of the difference because here you always think about what kind of investment you put into this. You know, you pay $50 an hour for a coach and then you think how much coaching you can afford and you always consider whether it will be of benefit. It is just such an expensive hobby to have, even just to play in any tournament. It is expensive and you have to justify it to some degree.

JFP: How did your coaching in Latvia work? How did you qualify for coaching support?

Anna Hahn: We had a system of coaches just for children. There are a lot of chess clubs in Riga. It was pretty easy to apply. My parents just expressed a desire for me to be involved in this and I had to pass an initial test. It was more like some logical exercises just to see where I would stand. I had no idea about chess to begin with. I passed the initial test and then I was enrolled in the coaching which was a group coaching for about 50 kids. And then a couple of years later there were just 25 and then 10. So you would get more and more personal attention. Eventually I had my own personal coach with whom I would study one-on-one.

JFP: Who was that?

Anna Hahn: Initially, it was Arshansky. He was just a children's coach. None of my coaches were active players, but they were very, very devoted to coaching. It was all they did and the level of their openings' knowledge was just amazing. It definitely helped me a lot.

JFP: Do you think that chess will ever achieve the popularity in America that it enjoys in the former Soviet Union -- Russia, and I presume Latvia as well?

Anna Hahn: It's quite possible even in the United States. People are well familiar with the game and if some big event were to happen, such as occurred during Bobby Fischer's time when chess definitely was much more popular in the United States -- if such a prominent person would ever present himself in the United States -- chess would probably become more popular. Say if somebody would win the World Championship, I think that would definitely benefit the popularity of chess.

But it's also based on sponsorship. The people here in Seattle are doing an incredible job with sponsorship and it takes people of that nature to make chess more attractive.

JFP: What is the one thing about chess in America that you would like to see changed?

Anna Hahn: It's hard to say. I would definitely want to see it become more popular, to have more sponsorship. Just to look at it, there are a lot of kids who play and there are a lot of school systems in which chess is well developed. I think it's on a pretty good level. It is just a matter of retaining the interest after high school and after college. But then again it has to be more attractive financially in order for that to change.

JFP: Is there any danger that the game will get "played out" or solved, the way Capablanca feared?

Anna Hahn: I don't think so. Even now I never play with computers. I hate it. A lovely aspect of chess is that you play against one person one-on-one. I need the human interaction. Each game is such a personal experience. You go through so many emotions, it's an amazing, exhilarating event. Every game is so different.

JFP: Bobby Fischer has proposed some changes along the lines of what is called Fischer random chess. Have you tried this form of chess?

Anna Hahn: I have tried it, but just briefly and I can't say that I'm too interested.

JFP: Have you played other board games, such as Go or Shogi?

Anna Hahn: Again, not too actively. I loved a lot of board games when I was a kid. I just liked any logical game, even cards.

JFP: What is the role of chess in your life. How important is it?

Anna Hahn: It's a huge part of my life. It's definitely not the whole of my life, because I've chosen a different path in my career. But it was a huge part of my childhood. It's almost like I can't deny it and it's still very attractive to me. But now I have very little time I can devote to chess. Still, I can't see myself completely quitting the game.

JFP: Where do you expect to be in 5 years? Both in chess and in your life?

Anna Hahn: Hmmmm. Five years? I'll probably be married in five years. I don't know what my chess is going to be. It depends how much time I can devote to it. Even now I have three weeks of vacation and I spend more than half of it on chess. It's quite difficult to make this arrangement. I work full time. I go to school part time. It's just very difficult to fit chess actively in my life.

JFP: This is your second year in the women's championship since they went to the mixed-gender format. What is your opinion of this new format?

Anna Hahn: I think it's a great idea, but I find it very difficult to play in this tournament because almost everyone I play is higher rated than me. It's probably more stressful now for me personally to play in this tournament, but I think it's a great idea and I think it will definitely increase the standard of play of women chessplayers.

JFP: Do you think it will increase the standard of play to the point where the girls will one day beat the boys? For example, could they win this event?

Anna Hahn: I don't see it happening anytime in the nearest future.

JFP: But do you think it might happen someday?

Anna Hahn: Yes, of course. No question about it. But it's the same as the World Championship. Will it ever happen? Again, not in the nearest future.

JFP: Some people have expressed concern that the women in an event like this will find themselves overmatched and that the experience will actually impede their development. Do you agree?

Anna Hahn: It is true that game after game you keep playing against people who are much stronger at least by rating and I find it quite stressful personally. But it depends on the level of competitiveness and the effect losing has on you. For me, I want to win the next game, that's my attitude towards losing, not the quitting part. I want to improve, I want to get better at it; I don't want to be in losing situations. From that perspective, it shouldn't impede women, but again it depends on one's character, it depends on personal attitude.

JFP: Why do you think that at present, the vast majority of top players (say, rated over 2500) are men? And related to that, why is the game so predominantly male at all levels?

Anna Hahn: I think chess in general, on a high level, is a combination of talent, plus hard work, plus competitiveness. There are probably some more factors involved as well, such as stamina, but these are not so important. I think men in general are more competitive by nature. And the question is -- why? Chess is just more attractive to men on a competitive level. It's like a fight.

A lot of men are more involved in technical types of activities like math or computer science and other such fields. They are all male dominated.

JFP: You're a computer science student or programmer yourself, correct?

Anna Hahn: Yes, I was, right. It's all guys, even now.

JFP: You are engaged in quite a number of activities which are strongly male dominated -- computers, chess, maybe kickboxing -- do you feel isolated sometimes being the only woman in the crowd?

Anna Hahn: Not at all. No, I enjoy it. But I choose these fields, not because they are male dominated, but because I'm interested in them. Even now, I go to school, I started my degree program in May and it's all guys. Just every single one of them -- out of 30 people. And in a way, it's very strange, right. But I'm used to it. And after a while, it doesn't matter so much.