up next we examine our russian chess traditions under the spotlight that's next. the welcome to the party. and today my guest in the studio is a. feed a world chess championship just about to start in moscow credible last fulfill that and. some may call chess the most unspoiled these points are nothing but the stakes are still high and thousands are expected here in moscow to come and see the chanting chess has always been a very special in russia and the u.s.s.r. it was as symbolic as the bolshoi is to put many of the world's best grandmothers to russians and one of them is here today. how does it feel to be one of them.

had a person in the world how does the art of chess look from me and son were asking to fourteen champions and one of the most talented chess players of all tractors. back in the eighty's and ninety's was a true prodigy on the chess players he's breakthrough was a b. age of sixteen and won a gold medal at the chess olympiad in manila that game is seen as the springboard into his successful career among. the best chess players of all times including the celebrated mikhail between their. won the world champion title in two thousand and securing a landslide victory. meet. latimer welcome to the show thank you very much for being with us well first of all this i

think one of the eternal questions not only of chess but journalists about talking to people. chest and spoil sport chance well i've been a sports journalist for a long time i've asked this question and three answers but it is to interesting to see your answer. cheers. is a sport right but sport isn't about being the best sport it is about winning is chess is best or winning while i think in this in this sense i don't see a very big difference between chairs and any other sport like tennis or for bo i mean it's it's about winning call being the best whatever you call it but i think it goes to girls and you know this to sing so i go into that always you know look pretty much like well like take football yeah one of the most popular sports in the world well the. team that is better sometimes loses i mean one goal one mistake and they're all the same goes for chairs but i mean all

all in all i mean it's about well i'm for because the main goal for the for a chess player as a. tennis player to be number one to be winning tottenham and ideally every game you play you know which is of course not possible to realize but still you're aiming for it so in this not sure of the different of the so big but i personally are actually going to be really can see the chairs of the sport i mean for me it's something but it is strange you know we used to have this form all of which i think is. spirit to. logical next and i do agree with the choices one sort art one sort science and one sort sport so i think you know it's it's kind of troops because sport from your sport this is something physical it's a physical competition choice is not a physical competition although of course. physical aspect sometimes strangely enough is quite important i have talked for example to my needs which used to as we

were said to be the chess champion among women and she said that the i think is something about women's lives. why women don't play may she said no it's about physical conditions is because when you play and that it took was so much strength so much physical health that a woman can't stand it only men could hear that yeah that's true actually you can simply everybody can make an experiment on the his own is just ok just the right tool solve even even quite simple mathematical tasks for five dollars an hour or i can assure you that you will be completely finished you know more than than maybe make in five hours of fitness it's a fairly potent good starting physically there for for instance all. make in what they're trying to keep keep them so feet. but it ignores more course nobody beings non-body of course i mean everybody is making sport and everybody is trying to be very fit so that's also true i mean if you actually. about this.

sort of woman chess it's also actually bold simplest artistic because i would say the statistically it's like for over ten boys we start to study chess as it is one girl or girl sort of less and finally ok it's mathematically you know it's about numbers so that's why we actually to her for a few let's say one who was a very famous hungered and very famous judit polgar sure actually is a top chess player top shoes shoes fight in equilibrium and she used to be good it was part of. the menu of all champions and she used to be a kid burst i think like number seven in the vault in the men that i'm going on here so it's possible it's not impossible but but but of course it's easier for men because of many reasons also if you don't change it completely not just one game but imagine you would go on for a month you know but it went on like so many actually it's very tiring it's it's as

as as much energy consuming as any other sport so in this sense i think it's pretty physical but still i would have. coming back to your first question i would not fully can see the church as a sport. although it's come to that as a sport and most of the country is but i said to me at least i'm just talking about my personal perception to me it's an art it's a way of life it's something very important for me but it is a very big artistic and scientific part of it so but finally of course i think if i would be enjoying artistic part of it but losing every game i'm not sure i would stay for too long playing chess is it true that chess is much more predictable that it's much easier to win playing by the rules then to win in real life. or well i would just say no i mean just different you know in this and that chess just has a very strict rules and so basically the element of chance is pretty small it's

a really small i mean compared to all it's games like cards or even for career i mean of course. if you're better chess users much bigger chance you're going to win so from one side everything depends on you in a way from other point of view if you're because in your on and then it's really bad luck i mean if you are very good in chess does it give you a privilege in real life situations now. i think that is there is a sort of connection i mean not as strong as people might think because you know there is a world where you can you know real rules in life you not know but i mean in general you know for people things that if you're a great just play it means you're absolute genius that you have some kind of incredible brain which nobody can the can compete with it's not it's not completely true that in atlanta i mean of course. actually to be a good use definitely definitely requires some intelligence to put it mildly and maybe just biased i.q.

is in general would be higher than evidence but i mean what i want to say is that if you play chess better than your neighbor. it doesn't mean that you're more clever than your neighbor another it's not that simple but definitely it requires certain to listen and also what i want to say that it develops and eligible and this is a very important the reason why i'm asking this question is that in one of the interviews you said i quote i have played chess since i was five and it shapes my thinking i am always very logical sometimes even too logical and quote in which situations in life be who are vehicle is not helpful. well you know we just well yeah so not only but you know we just bursts of it just have it it's become in the aftermath that afflicts you not to start sinking even when it's simply not needed you can just do things on autopilot you know just on your reflections but you anywhere you think it over and sometimes it's not useful but i still ok it was half

a joke because still i believe that it's it's quite a useful in general it's a very good to get. to think you know i think it's so witty hopeful and so i'm actually very hip is a place that it was helpful to think but life a life is not live this is not logical you know and i mean it's see every person is allergic i mean so so so does it really opium in i mean nothing magical logics in life that i'm sure of that at home so everyone i mean i least i think that i can predict certain things certain situation i had the general feeling that they can do it pretty well i would say but the but also drawbacks here i mean them but i think that it's pretty cold for at least what i want to say that i would definitely try to teach my my daughter she's now just three years old but maybe in one or two years i will start teaching futures because i think it's where you useful to develop your mental abilities for future years so for which you go to

school or well of course i will stop myself because it's not on the it's not only just for her it's also for me it's a pleasure for me about at some point it depends you know i think that you're sure the necessarily become a chessplayer i mean i'm not even sure that i would like my daughter to become a professional chess player only if she would be exceptionally talented may some people say it's impossible to teach your own children i mean you send them to well of course at some point yes i will send her first pool if she will be a really talented enough if i would see that she has a bright future in chess but anyway even if she wouldn't become a professional chessplayer i would be i would love. the chip place shares some she learns shares and because chess is a more though. i think of right thought the jackal think and i would like to get the goods to get the no hope of thinking their way of lattimer kramnik the fourteen world chess champion spotlight will be back our political grade so stay with us we'll continue this interview in less than

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we want to present. something else. welcome back to spotlight an amalgam not even just a reminder that my guest on the show today is latimer kramnik the fourteenth world chess champion. in russia chess always have been a very important in in the russian nineteenth century in soviet russia in the soviet union also. why why was it so important in the country and why was it so dominant i mean the russian school in the twentieth century well the. few reasons first of all of course that is a part of actually accident in it because in first of all linen hue used to lectures this is quite a well known fact and i think that's why after the revolution nineteen seventeen

years became quite popular and there was of it is important member of the soviet government under lin time his name was clearly and then he was under stalin time where she was a big fan of cheers he became a president of the church for your version and he spent a lot of efforts to develop this game saw i think this is the first part of it and the second part before that at some point after a few years quite a few years like twenty years of developing chess i should also mention the church just as a cheap game you know i mean maybe that was also important because after the revolution soviet state was not included to be reached you know i mean the and and maybe it was a good way to entertain people. by saying cheap you mean it doesn't require lots of expensive work you know and you know i mean the journey of your son if you're very good you can even play chess blindfolded want to want to be professionals also you don't even need a chess board so you don't need to clear for it to get any money to develop it ok

of course you knew at the end of books that that's all that if you start to try to become a professional just boy this is interesting what you said about lenin because it immediately immediately occurred to me that in the in the posts of each i was one of the one of the big fans of sponsors of chess was mr gadhafi said no no it's a there's they seemed to like yeah no that's not on there you can also tell that for example i can tell with my polo on here he was a friend of chess on the even over quite a few games of hume which he played on the show to call him nazi and also not know not the most democratic figure in the mirror but you know get out of the market about about other figures i can tell you that in a block of of fields. big fun of chester and his little insurance is actually may is one of the one of the best probably books written about chess is a true speaking about the bark of an about allusion is that all great grand masters are a little bit crazy no i don't think so i mean i mean it's a legend after the strike first novel of twine you know for the solution difference of not i would say that such such characters like allusion might exist and from

time to time you have such a spoiler but it's not it's not like a that everyone is like this of course not so but unfortunately it also has great books also made us and of course fishery having already well they're always start talking about this leads a coward let's take a look at the russian chester version it reported by spotlight neither. one of the oldest chess playing nations russia has alone an honorable list of the greatest chessplayers ever the fourth world champion alexander lost in the one almost every tournament he played throughout the one nine hundred twenty s. and contributed greatly to chess theory even though he fled the us assign one nine hundred twenty one he was considered the founder of the soviet chess school after world war two the year off so he dominance in chess began with me while between the group in the chess world for fifteen years between the creative became one of the

pioneers in developing computer chess throughout the post-war history of the us is so he was just once that the country's chess predominance was challenged it was by twenty nine year old american bobby fischer who managed to break his soviet chess monopoly win in the so-called match of the same shereen one nine hundred seventy two however the u.s. is trying was short last thing another twenty years of the u.s. is sussed she has dominance followed in the one nine hundred eighty s. the main chess intrigue was who of the soviets was to get the next title or kasparov chess was the u.s. a sauce prior. joy you could find a chess set in almost any household if you want to make something popular put it on t.v. so we have sports news books very often covered chairs and it wasn't just announced in the winner of the match news presenters to buy a large magnetic words they showed the moves made by the players and explained that

these day boards have become an extraordinary chess has almost completely disappeared from both the russian households and sport news it now takes a huge event like a world champion playing against a computer to make chess hit the headlines once again russian mastery of the sport came to an end in two thousand and seven when kramnik was beaten by an indian chess grandmaster we then and with most russians still believe in the supremacies of the country's chess school and think it's just a matter of time before russia guess the world champion title back. now today in modern days russia there's this russian chess school there's a still exist is a still financial in the world i think now this was internet and is this free information and all these floats here and all that i did you cannot stop but i think the national chair school so dearly not exist and then you know what i would say you know because in that time no internet very few. very futuristic in

a really high level threadless very few just publication so of course russians were dominating because because first of all it was a very prestigious to become a chess player which was not the case in the worst i would say and this is a very important point i believe and also because because the kind of call sort of call off the tennis of information of which which was not go in abroad since you are you know whatever we heard the soviet regime and actually border spoke last actually even the best turn of the deal have a chance to get brought in the soviet leadership all. it was investing money like it was investing into ballet you know into chess into space exploration as they were the fields that not all the countries want to divest integrate i have to admit i'm not a very big fan of the soviet the discipline of the time but the have to be created for you and me and all other chess players also because of course it created the very famous overture school. i would say that mikko but we knew because of all chen

very famous world champion of phil small sample of soviet union he was the phone data in the way of this chair school and we still have a very powerful chair school here but of course now the borders are open actually that is north soviet union then you more and in let's say in the team competitions now this is our main opponents of the russian art of the possible conflicts it isn't i mean it's out of mania ukraine azerbaijan and so on so it's becoming much more difficult to the minute now that your wife is french and you live a you live in europe. most of the time. can you say where in the world today chess is mostly popular also not in india though and here no no no it's growing so dearly grow in india in china it's going enormously actually the. woman world champion is now a cheney's girl and she's incredibly talented she is just icing sixteen or seventeen and she's already been in or got to go to so. india world

countries and mendoza budge on ukraine is still very powerful and in europe actually is getting better and better because there is a. that is not a bridge in the home of the all the false starts the nor who his name is among most girls and he is number one on the waiting list now in the men's chairs he is just twenty years old and he is probably a future all just champion i'm pretty sure about that and you know actually it's because i'm in there is a very very big american star for that reason now and he's already in top then his name is he. i don't know come out of his japanese or region but but here he is playing under american flags so it's actually becoming much more multicultural and this is what i like because also the problem why chess was not popular in the worst because all the major chess tournaments let's say twenty years ago were played on russians it was basically russians playing against russians and of course ok people

there like to see some new faces and now now for example in top down in top ten by a by a rating you can see as our city russians and all other people of different nationalities there is one indian the one that original one bold and one there are many in the one ukraine so basically one american so basically all over the wall chinese are common becomes stronger stronger so now is are going to be really everywhere another quote from yourself when you begin to understand the game of chess in this full depth you find that certain rules become blurred and quote this mean the chess is not actually only about calculating but the poor about about intuition or something well you switch or so actually it's funny enough funnily enough chess is too complicated to be on the ball calculate and i would say that you know that's why even few years ago we were still able to compete on equal terms of his computers with the most powerful computer going out of these now over the years slowly slowly as they start to take over and so those in the rows that it is

about to calculate all it's pretty much about calculation but not only about it because still there is no computer or even incredibly the most powerful computer in the world cannot play a perfect game of chess because there's just far to come to calculate it i would tell you that mathematically. very very general amount of possibilities all all possible moves on the chess board is a number was twenty zero so i feel a number of the show actually doesn't exist in the reality so that's why it's just far too complex to look at the complicated to calculate it out even for a computer not even mention in a human being so. for a human chair that is a lot of general intuition sort of strategy your feeling for the game i mean the you it's a it's also it's a kind of for me that all best just players they they start to make the first move and they'll do you know what will happen if until the end of the game it's not if you seem to ition is so important then i would think that it should be easy to feel

for a human if you play with a computer to play to play the quick chess with them to place them to play a liar a long match while of the solution is more intuition more reaction for you or for it for a human being years but the but for a computer and i used to play two big marches with the most powerful machines of the time it was in two thousand and two and two thousand and six and i can tell you that in two thousand and two the my opponent computer was called call it in a something like five million with a second and in two thousand and six it was already calls to ten million or so seconds so i would say that even in the creek chair so you know it's quite difficult. out i mean i would say the computer of the doesn't really have a intuition but he doesn't need to hope it is he has such a powerful calculation tool that he now it's become in order to do a little bit difficult to fight with you said one third mathematics one third sports and one third are right in chess so another quote for me the greatest threat

is he simply comes to you in a serious situation does that mean that that this sort of inspiration like an actor who goes out in stage and suddenly here it comes in a definitely so so this is going to mean in fact on the highest highest level actually well that everybody is very powerful very strong very professional works a lot so it's pretty much about your inspiration your more so it's very very delicate matter you know once you lose a little bit of this inspiration you cannot then you more perform at your very best so this is this part is very. orton and also actually cheers again also because it's so complicated you can play in many different ways actually every top player has a slightly different style which is he is nor whole which is exactly the way he plays chess and no one else and this is a very vivid interest and i think it's pretty much connected to his your character we see a human being and that is what percentage in the bowl cheers for instance if you

take this very famous period of much as between us part of and part of the horse fighting for the world cup on for many years. totally different type of chess absolutely different very different as human beings but but stills or model less on equal level you're sold and this is this is what this was and they did the ball chose it you can you can the nearly put yourself into it and. visa moves you make you can express your individuality. was there ever a situation when you plates of body and you were fascinated by the way your opponent plays and it was it was more fun for you to see how he plays than to win or when they are winning is number one i mean like no no no both of them both both things are important but actually i like very much to play was a greatest possible players actually i only compete in the best ornaments i mean because because this is not only about the result after all i'm

a chess veteran already i'm there for twenty years on the top of chess i'm in top ten so it's also i like to enjoy the game and of course when you play a great opponent it's much more interesting because i really enjoy it because some moves i so i see it's so deep so great that i which i didn't really predict then but here he went on a little bit deeper than me and i see and i look at least me and so as a loss is maybe maybe maybe more fun than the reality you know where you're i mean i mean in a way you know we are two we are two players of course we are pawns but we are i also consider that we are like two musicians like a duet of musicians who are creating a piece of art in a way and savoy just of his own the different that somebody has to be in somebody has to lose but this part of it is also very important for me at least you're a lucky man and the you thank you thank you very much for being with us and just a reminder that my guest today was of lattimer family the fourteenth the world chess jam and that's it for now from all of us here at spotlight we'll do that and then stay on our team and take your eyes.

dozens of killed and hundreds injured in the syrian capital by a pair of. the deadliest attack since the conflict in the country began more than. just a few hundred metres now separated rescue teams from the crash site of a russian. authorities say it's unlikely that any survivors will be found. just too busy. join the g eight party next week hosted by the u.s. so all of this is demanding workload. a very warm welcome to you from all of us here with. two massive bomb blasts have ripped through the.