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When I asked Rustam Kamsky for an interview with his son Gata Kamsky
during the Triveni GM tournament at Delhi during December 1990 he was emphatic
and clear:yes, but only after the tournament was over.
At the interview we had hardly sat down before the father burst
out with a speech without waiting for any questions. The father speaks
only Russian but speaks a few words of English.
As the father speaks the son does a remarkable simultaneous translation
in excellent English. It is as if he knows what his father is going
to speak. It is difficult to say which was said by the father and which
by the son. But it does not seem to matter. The reader can
easily guess who said what. So here we begin.
Congratulations on your winning the tournament jointly with Anand.
Thank you. The conditions in this tournament are
very good. Everybody was good. Mr. Swhney was good. The arbiters were good.
The participants were not talking to each other during the game.
The tournament was played by all the players very fairly. It is unfortunate
that nobody got any Grandmaster norm. All the players are real sportsmen.
(perhaps this is a compliment to the Indians and Hungarians who could have
thrown points to their compatriots to help gain norms and cash prizes.)
Everything was done with justice and it is this that is very important
(And perhaps this referred to Anand and Kamsky sharing the title equally
as no tie-break procedure was announced at the commencement of the tournament
and all tie-beaks pointed to Anand winning over Kamsky. And there
were some who wanted Anand to be declared winner of the tournament.)
Q.Are these your views or your fathers?
A.These are our views. I am only 16, so I cant have my own views. He is my son, my work my love. He has given 8 years of his life to me. He doesn't have a life for himself. Not everybody can do this you know.
Q. How did you lose to Anand?
A. I outplayed him in the opening. But I didn't play well after that. He was playing very fast and I didn't know what was happening. Next time, I will be prepared for that. Rustam: Anand very nice man. He no smoke, no drink, no run after woman. Dreev is opposite of him. Anand clean. He very nice boy. If other Indian players play in Europe as much as Anand, they will also be playing much stronger. But it would be expensive. You have to get your city chess club to support your players in Europe. They should also encourage chess in schools. The Soviet Union is not a richer country than India. But in school they take a lot of interest in developing the children's interest in whichever field they show interest and talent. They organise a lot of school and class chess tournaments. School and cities have a big role to play in chess development.
Q. In which respect is the Soviet Union not richer than
India?
A. In everything! In India there are more people! you also have
many gradations in society-many castes of people. I have read
a lot about India from books and through the artist Roerich. We are also
intersted in Yoga. We don't have good teachers for yoga in America.
I would like you to invite me to a monastery or temple where I could
study yoga like a monk for one or two months in summer. I will pay
money for that. I would like to know what exactly yoga could do.
Your civilisation is 10,000 years old. Culture came from India.
So also yoga and chess.
Q.What about your schooling?
A. I finished High School in the Soviet Union. What
other boys finish at 17, my boy finished at 14, three years ahead. When
we came to America my father was eating only one meal in three days for
nearly 6 months. We had no money. Gradually we improved and my son
could earn money through chess.
We are four people. My wife and my daughter joined us
later in New york. We defected from the Soviet Union when my son
was playing in the New York open in March 1989. It has been a long
struggle. When we defected the soviets gave out in the press that
we are Muslim. We are Muslim, but we are not very strict about
observing the rituals. The fact that we are Muslim has alienated
us from possible financial support in New York which is predominantly Jewish.
Q. Do you have your own house in New York?
A. No. We pay a monthly rent of $ 700. We have to be very very rich to be able to own an apartment.
Q. Why did you defect from the USSR?
A. I became Junior champion of USSR when I was 12. After that all opportunities for me to play against stronger players in good tournaments were denied to me. We think that it was because of kasparov. He is afraid of anyone who may become a threat to him in the future. It is just not a case of Gate. No junior is given a chance. After Gata became junior champion of USSR he was not allowed to play in the qualifying tournmant to choose the soviet representative for the world Under-20 Championship. He was also prevented from playing in the European Junior Championship. He won the USSR championship second time next year, yet still the ban on Gata continued. And we could do nothing.
Q. Is it different in America?
A. In some ways it is very good. But the US Chess Federation has not been just to us. As the highest rated U.S. Player and as the highest rated junior in the world, my son deserved a stipend that is given to promising young players. But they did not include his name in its rating list because he is the higest in America. When we asked, they said that we did not pay some membership fee of $20. And this was already taken by them from money due to us. They also have some bad propaganda going against my son all the time. In this tournament my son defeated Judit polgar. But my wife telephoned me from New york and said that press reports in New York have appeared stating that he lost to Judit.
Q. Do you have a trainer?
A. My father is my trainer. Most of the time I study by myself. He helps me with my physical training and psychological preparation.
Q. How do you prepare yourself and how do you concentrate?
A. Because the flash bulbs hurt my eyes. I wear minus eight glasses. After the camera light flashes into my eyes it takes me another 15 minutes to reach normalcy. And it is painful. I have no objections if pictures are taken without flash bulbs.
Q. Can't you do something for your eyes?
A. Maybe, yoga can set it right!
Extract from Chessmate March 1991