Don’t think you can ignore anyone at the Candidates

During the early days of the Global Chess League in Mumbai, Pravin Thipsay confessed: “Ours is a great team, but the results are not just there.”

His concern was understandable. Alpine SG Pipers didn’t have the greatest of starts, despite the team boasting superstars like Fabiano Caruana, Hou Yifan, R. Praggnanandhaa and Anish Giri.

But, Thipsay had faith in them, in the team he had picked at the auction after meticulous research. And the players didn’t let him down. They staged a big turnaround, qualified for the final by the slenderest of margins – one game-point – and scored a convincing victory against Triveni Continental Kings, the champion in both previous editions of the league.

Thipsay spoke to The Hindu on that December night that he will never forget. Excerpts:

How do you feel, Pravin?

I think this is probably the happiest moment in my life.

Really? This is a bigger moment than becoming India’s third Grandmaster?

Yes, because it was an individual achievement, but here at the GCL, we have had the best players in the world playing. Yes, 14 of the world’s top 15 were here. That is just in men’s chess. Plus we have two of the all-time greats in women’s chess, Hou Yifan and Koneru Humpy…

And Hou deservedly won the award for the best woman player in the tournament award.

The way she bounced back after a poor first half was remarkable. Yes, for someone who plays only probably once or twice a year, it was a really great performance.

When you took over as the coach of Alpine SG Pipers what were your expectations?

The first step was the bidding because you cannot get all the great players. So if you have two players of your choice, normally in other positions, you are outbid by others. It is not a dream team. Almost all the teams had similar ratings.

The last day of the league was a dismal one for us, and we barely made it to the final. Before the final, we had one last meeting, and we discussed several strategies. The top players always see each other’s strength. Actually, they feel, Oh, he is very strong. I said, If you are looking at your opponent’s strength, yes, they have enormous strength. Try to look at their weaknesses. Even the team which has won twice before can have weaknesses.

In the tournament, we specifically made a target, like who must win their games. And it worked, we even had an absolute score on some boards. But, on the first board we generally said that 50% would also be fine.

Thipsay with Fabiano Caruana.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Talking of boards, you made Giri play on the second and Praggnanandhaa on the third.

I think Anish is very solid, and it is not easy to beat him, generally. As soon as the bidding was done, and we got the players list, I consulted these two players. I wanted to know if they were okay with my idea. They were. Anish said he didn’t mind playing any opposition. And I wanted Pragg to score heavily on the third board.

But your most inspired signing was probably Nino Batsiashvili, who was brilliant as the second female player. She was your silent killer.

I have found that Georgians are very good team players and very loyal, too. When I looked at the list of available players, I thought Nino would be a good option though she wasn’t one of the youngest. She played exceptionally well for us. I also wanted Leon Mendonca in the team.

Winning the GCL in your hometown must have felt really special.

Yes, it was nice to see so many people wanted our team to win. And I was happy to see good crowds coming to watch the matches, especially for the weekends. Our foreign players like Fabiano and Hou were pleasantly surprised by the kind of response from the chess fans here. And I noticed the fans were not disturbing the players before the game, which I think was nice.

Thipsay.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

So you feel the organiser Tech Mahindra got it right by bringing the GCL to Mumbai after the first two editions were held in Dubai and London?

Yes, Mumbai was an excellent choice. Chennai would have been interesting, too. Remember the huge crowds that turned up to watch the Olympiad in 2022.

I was talking to the GCL’s chairperson Peeyush Dubey, who said the league broke even. How important do you think a professional, glamorous league is for chess to grow in India, and globally?

I think it is great that the league has broken even in just the third season. The chess fraternity needs to learn something from this. I feel alongside the GCL a side event featuring Grandmasters could have been organised at a nearby venue. So they could have got even more players for the GCL.

Your team had three players who will be competing at the next Candidates tournament – Caruana, Praggnanandhaa and Giri. No other team had as many, of course.

At the auction, the choice for the Icons was between the World champion (Magnus Carslen), the reigning World champion (D. Gukesh) and someone who played the World title match and is now the World No. 3 (Caruana). So it was very difficult to choose.

Do you think Caruana will be one of the favourites at the Candidates this year? He has been playing in every Candidates since 2016.

Yes, Fabi will be a favourite, certainly. And Pragg, too. And if Anish continues to be as prepared as he was here for the GCL, he too could do well. At this moment, I feel Anish is better prepared than Pragg, who, I think, has to be better prepared in the opening.

Hikaru Nakamura says he has already started preparing for the Candidates, even before he came for the GCL.

I have my reservations about the way he played the players with ratings of 1800, but you cannot ignore him, because he is the highest rated player at the Candidates (he is World No.2, behind Carlsen).

What about the lesser-rated players, like Jovakhir Sindarov and Andrey Esipenko?

Sindarov is really good. I remember him playing well at the Chennai Olympiad, where he won the individual gold medal on the third board. Esipenko is very talented, but he needs to train more strategically. I don’t think you can ignore anyone at the Candidates. I feel it will be a very close tournament.