Blast from the Past - Shahade 2006 Interview

GAMES
March 12, 2006
The queen speaks!

Provocative U.S. women's chess champion Jennifer Shahade on why the thinking person's game isn't just for geeks -- or guys.
By Gary M. Stern

On the cover of her book last year about women in chess, top-ranked competitor Jennifer Shahade wears a strappy pink tank top, a pink wig and a come-hither look. Make no mistake: At 25, the New York City resident is a two-time national women's champion. Although men may get more attention, Shahade wants to encourage greater respect for and involvement by women. Next up: Her students will compete in the All-Girls National Chess Championship, for ages 5 to 18, March 18 and 19 in Chicago. We spoke to her:

Can you make a living at chess?

There isn't enough money from winning. You earn $12,500 from winning the U.S. Women's Championship.

Only 7.5% of competitive chess players are female. Why?

Role models. ... Since there are so few girls involved, it can be alienating.
Why choose chess? Chess can boost a woman's confidence in her intellectual endeavors and raise her self-esteem. You also can gain a Zen type of concentration.

What does chess teach you about life?

You have to submit to failure and keep going. I lost many times before I won the women's championship, and sometimes it was difficult to pick up the pieces and play again.

To earn extra money, you play many exhibitions. How do those work?

I've played up to 45 people at a time in "simuls," as in simultaneous. They're not as difficult for the professional, because chess is more a game of skill than of thinking. A great player sees the correct move instantaneously. It's about experience and intuition.

Any pre-game rituals?

I usually go for a 30-minute walk to clear my head. Chess is physically grueling. Many chess players lose 10 pounds during a tournament.

When did you start playing chess?

I knew the rules at 6, played a tournament around 9, but didn't get serious until 13. My dad is a chess master, so once I started to show motivation, he took me to tournaments.

What has been a major change in chess?

Chess players use computers to prepare for the game. The computers tell us where we went wrong and help us prepare defenses.

What's your favorite piece?

The queen!

Why are we not surprised?

The queen is the most powerful piece.

What do you see in the game's future?

We're going to see chess on TV. TV will help popularize it, like poker.

Best thing about chess?

Its fairness. It has nothing to do with what somebody else thinks about you or how much money you have. It's based on what you bring to the board.

Why Do I Play Chess?

Why do I play chess? I have no idea why that question occurred to me today while I was sitting here at the office desperately trying to find some commentary on Judit Polgar's win against Bareev at the Candidates' Matches. The question gave me pause because - no answer came to mind! Gee - am I dead??? So then I thought "oh for goddess' sake, Jan, you have to come up with some answer. Preferably something profound and thought-provoking, something that will give any readers who stumble upon this blog a sit-up-and-take-notice moment - aha - I feel exactly like that myself. I shall become famous, I might even win a Pulitizer prize...the first for a blog..." I am still waiting for inspiration to strike my fingers, which are patiently poised over the keyboard; it seems the Chess Goddess' mojo went out to lunch after seeing to it that Judit won her "must win" game today. Will She see to it that Judit win's her second "must win" game tomorrow? (Note to self: email Isis and see what the current line is, maybe it's worth a $5 bet). And will She get Judit safely through the tie-break so that she moves into Candidates' Matches, Part Deux? Does the Goddess' mojo have mojo, or will she need to boost some extra caffeine tomorrow??? Thank Goddess that I'll be able to watch the game online - oh and Chess Goddess - can you also make sure there are no technical or transmission difficulties tomorrow while I'm watching the game? Back to my question - why do I play chess? I'm thinking about it but I'm coming up blank. I don't play well, I have no deep (well, to be honest, none at all) understanding of positional play or tactics, I'm lucky if I can think three moves ahead on a good day and usually I'm busted by my imagined second move anyway because the other guy NEVER does what I thought he might do, I don't know a Ruy Lopez from a Queen's Indian, I'm not interested in improving my game by doing any kind of studying (yech) and I hate to lose. Doesn't sound very promising, does it. I could say it's because I love the game, but it sure doesn't sound like I love the game very much, does it! So I guess I'll just have to settle for "I play because I'm an eternal optimist." That line of reasoning goes perhaps some day I'll wake up and I'll be a chess genius, and I'll blow away anyone who plays chess with me, showing no mercy and without regard to race, color, creed, age or gender. I shall zoom up to the top of the ratings charts faster than I can lose 20 pounds, enter all the big name Opens and win them all, make a kajillion dollars from endorsements (wow, that middle-aged woman sure can play chess. And do you know why - it's because she uses [insert name of product]), and win the world championship - not only being the first woman to do so, but the oldest player ever even when I knock 10 years off my age. Then I'll move to Seattle, become a recluse, ask Robert J. Fischer to marry me and we'll clone a chess genius together who lives happily ever after spending all the money we made while we were great chessplayers. Ah, to sleep perchance to dream - well, I know it's something like that, that line from Romeo and Juliet? Well, from one of (as Candi Kane calls him) Spearshaker's plays. Okay - time to get a large glass of wine and settle down with Chess Bitch out on the deck.

Typical Research Project Part 2 - Goddess Synchronicity

Ohmygoddess! I didn't think this would happen HERE - I mean, whoever is going to read this blog - but I guess I should know by now that one can always expect the unexpected when dealing with the Goddess of Chess. Synchronicity has been the sounding bell in my relationship with chess and my research since I and my chessly cohorts first embarked upon this path way back in December, 1998. Why should I be surprised when it shows up here? I shouldn't be - but I was! I must be getting old, sigh. After I wrote my prior post "Typical Research Project" this afternoon, I visited David Shenk's blog and wrote a post about a few examples of chessplayers that I thought fit the profile of his research. I'd been meaning to do that for some time but did not get around to it until earlier this afternoon. Mind, I've not yet finished David's book "A History of Chess" - I'm not quite to the half-way point. I then settled down to a couple of hours of reading on my deck, and then a 2 hour nap on my recliner. Ahhhh, I love my weekends! This evening, I visited Chessville and made a few posts there under my favorite topic, about women in chess/women and chess. Some people at Chessville evidently don't think much of me, comparing me to Sam Sloan (seriously!) But that's been done in private email - the people who (so I've been told) don't like me don't post such stuff at the Chessville forum, where folks could then debate the merits of whether I am, actually, a female Sam Sloan. Like the title of Jen Shahade's first book (that I didn't like at first because I thought it was denigrating to women, but after past and recent experiences, I have a better understanding about why Ms. Shahade titled her book that way), once a chess bitch, always a chess bitch. And proud of it. I just wish I could play chess as well as I think I can write... (Har!) Anyway, one of the posts awaiting me at Chessville was about the performance of the Kosintseva sisters in the recently concluded 2007 European Individual Chess Championships. I'd done a few posts there on the progress of that event, including the high drama of the sister versus sister game (it ended in a draw). Tatiana Kosintseva took first place with an impressive 10/11 score and had an even more impressive performance rating of 2774 - which puts her right up there with the elite chessplayers of the world. Her ELO is 2459 so her performance rating is STAGGERING. TN is 21 years old. Her older sister (by a year), Nadezhda Kosintseva, finished in 3rd place with 8/11; NK also had a fine performance rating of 2568, almost 100 points above her current ELO rating of 2475, but not staggering. GM Antoaneta Stefanova, no slouch when it comes to bringing the goods, finished in second place after a strong second-half performance, with 8/11 and a performance rating of 2572, also nearly 100 points above her current ELO of 2496. You can read more about all of this stuff here at my Chess Femme News report. All in all, it was a really impressive event. Lo and behold, while I was perusing through GM Susan Polgar's chess blog tonight, I discovered this article posted there, from that new chess guy over at the New York Times (McClain) - all about the Kosintseva sisters! Knock me over with a feather! The article also mentioned David Shenk's book "A History of Chess" - I haven't yet got to the part in his book where he talks about the Polgar sisters - and now I feel rather silly for having done that post at his blog - of course David Shenk would have known about the Polgars and their training, duh. What was I thinking??? I will keep following the Kosintseva sisters' chess careers with interest. Will they continue to improve and work their way up the ELO ladder? Or will they, like so many chess femmes before them and around them, seem to plateau and, eventually, drop out of the game altogether? It's a tough way of life, professional chess. There are so many other easier ways to make a living.