Ukrainian chess champion Ana Muzychuk: “I decided not to watch the news before a tournament”

-Can you concentrate?

-It is not easy when the people of the country are dying. At the Chess Olympics in Chennai, India in July, I decided not to listen to the news before a tournament.

–He was away from Lviv for nine months.

-We set out with a bag and a computer in February, hoping to return as soon as possible. For the first few weeks we did the laundry and put it back in the suitcase, but as the months passed, the situation got worse. It was difficult to hide it in the closet.

-What do you know about your family?

-We talk on the screen every day. They are far from Kyiv and Donbass but suffer from power outages that have crashed the internet. Even though they don’t pass it on to us – our grandparents tell us “Everything will be better tomorrow” – we know they have problems. We are worried.

-Geopolitics in the board, how to check putin?

-I understand chess, not politics.

– refuse to play withscarf‘ It was a political act in Saudi Arabia.

I didn’t want to be in a place where women were treated as second-class citizens. Some said I should go, but most praised my decision. I did the right thing. Years later, when people hear my name, they still say, “He’s the one who doesn’t want to go to Saudi Arabia!” they say.

– Bobby Fischer, whom you admire, said that women were not made for chess.

You have to put this view into context 50 years ago. He was a world champion and could easily beat any player. The gaps shrunk drastically, although the best players played better than the best players.

-Why?

-People believe chess is a matter of intelligence, but it is much more. Power is important. Men have greater physical stamina and can work productively for long hours. Women get tired faster.

-You are not. Do they acknowledge or despise your mastery?

-Men have an innate fighting spirit. They don’t like to lose anything, and if that happens they’ll make you feel superior and make you notice. Losing to a man or woman pisses me off but I try to be kind. My temper is calm.

-Does she look like Beth Harmon from Queen’s Gambit?

-Number. The series served to popularize women’s chess. It had a large audience in the first two weeks of the broadcast, and many parents enrolled their daughters in a club. But it tells the life of the chess player like a fairy tale and I didn’t like the image it projected. Adolescents may conclude that if you play chess, do whatever you want, get drunk, and within a few years you are world champions. This is not real.

-Is the road too self-sacrificing?

– Since I got up, I have been training in different computer programs. We have engineers analyzing positions. And I add physical exercise in the afternoon. We discovered rowing tennis in Valencia and I liked it.

Do you have a life beyond?

-My sister and I travel a lot and meet a lot of interesting people. When we were girls, our life was very different from that of other kids. Tournaments prevented us from going to school regularly.

-His grandfather brought a horse to his crib, he has been training since he was 3 years old. Have you ever wanted another life?

The chess world is my world. And if you play, you have to dedicate yourself. But I also did other things. In Leópolis, I studied at university with medical courses to become a sports ‘coach’. I think I can be a good programmer thanks to my ability to analyze, develop and create something new.

-There are chess champions who leave early.

There is an age when they are interested in starting a family.

– It’s not for business…

-The tournament regime makes it difficult.

How would you like to go down in history?

-As an active chess player. And like a good person.