Reflections of a Top Ten GM [VIDEO]
By Macauley Peterson and Colin McGourty   
March 9, 2014
SvidlerslideCLO.jpgThis material was provided by Macauley Peterson, content director at the new site, chess24.com.

In the FIDE Candidates tournament which starts next week in Khanty-Mansiysk, Levon Aronian and Vladimir Kramnik are widely considered the favorites. But one potential "dark horse" is the amiable Russian Champion, Peter Svidler, currently number 10 in the world.

Peter Svidler is a World Cup winner, and seven-time Russian Champion, but the suspicion remains he could have achieved even more. In the following video interview Rustam Kasimdzhanov turns psychologist to pose awkward questions of a kind rarely voiced in chess interviews. Svidler doesn't shy away from the challenge, which makes for compelling viewing.

The interview took place last summer after Svidler had finished filming his ground-breaking series of videos on the Grünfeld Defence for chess24, but before he won his seventh Russian Championship.

Complete transcripts can be found here:

Svidler: "I don't see myself working 12 hours a day"
Svidler: "Chess is a virus of sorts"

In Part 1, Svidler talks about his standing in world chess, his dedication to the game, his past career and his ambitions for the future.



Part 2 deals with his views on the value of chess in life away from the board, and whether his life as a chess professional is ultimately satisfying.



After the main part of the interview was over Peter also talked briefly to Rustam about the chess24 project and then - as befits chess players currently rated 2758 and 2693 - the interrogation switched to the chessboard!



The Candidates can be seen live starting on Thursday, March 13th, and featuring commentary by IM Lawrence Trent and GM Jan Gustafsson.