Don’t regret not winning the World title; amazed I’m still in the top-100: Michael Adams

Michael Adams is 53 — astir 54, helium stresses — but continues to beryllium a formidable beingness successful beforehand of a chessboard. He is ranked 90 successful the satellite successful what is simply a precise competitive, planetary athletics that is getting progressively younger. In 2023, the English Grandmaster won a beardown London Chess Classic, which featured existent World champion D. Gukesh. That year, helium besides won the World elder (above 50) title, which should, of course, travel arsenic nary surprise.

When Adams, the erstwhile World No. 4 who came adjacent to winning the FIDE World Championship successful 2004, got an accidental to play astatine the ongoing World Cup successful Goa, helium gladly took it. He sat down for an exclusive interrogation with The Hindu astatine Resort Rio successful the North Goan colony of Arpora aft scoring a comfy first-round victory. Excerpts:

What keeps you going?

Well, I don’t know. This is simply a bully question. I americium not wholly sure, actually. I deliberation it was partially [due to] the pandemic erstwhile everything unopen down. And I was benignant of adjacent the extremity of my playing career, but not wholly there. So it was a spot frustrating to person this benignant of clip retired then. To the grade that I decided I wanted to play a batch and bash a fewer much years.

It was partially I wanted to beryllium acceptable for the European Team Championship, which really didn’t spell that good for maine personally, anyway. So I thought it was amended to effort and play a batch of games. Also, present determination is simply a spot much chess enactment successful England. So I similar precise overmuch that I tin play events successful England. I often play successful Cambridge, the English Championship, British Championship, London Chess Classic. I person a fewer events successful England and possibly a fewer elsewhere.

Sometimes I play the elder events arsenic well, due to the fact that I similar the feline organising it, oregon I americium rather affable with immoderate of the different guys connected the team. So it is simply a spot of a societal happening and it adds up to a batch of games. But it is not going to spell connected forever.

One of your contemporaries is present arsenic FIDE’s lawman president, portion you are present arsenic a competitor. Did you person a chat with Viswanathan Anand?

I lone chatted with him briefly. Of course, Vishy tin inactive play anytime helium wants to. The feline is amazing. I deliberation radical volition lone recognize however unthinkable his spot is possibly successful years to come. His level was amazing. But adjacent much recently, erstwhile helium was playing with the implicit apical guys, helium conscionable plays and it is conscionable similar mean for him. There are immoderate older guys here, similar Vasyl Ivanchuk. He is inactive playing a lot. He is simply a truly large player. I don’t truly see myself successful the aforesaid benignant of league. Also, determination is Boris Gelfand, who continues to play. The feline challenged for the World Championship, an astonishing subordinate and helium was conscionable playing successful the Grand Swiss recently. There is besides Alexei Shirov, who excessively played precise good astatine Grand Swiss.

I don’t deliberation the guys who are present similar 30 oregon so, I don’t deliberation they volition needfully spell to 40 and play. Chess is simply a batch much intensive, with machine preparation. It is simply a batch much difficult. It is simply a batch much work. And the strength of the enactment is precise precocious present for the beardown young players. They enactment truthful hard, and from specified a young age, whereas it is simply a spot much antithetic for guys successful their 50s, due to the fact that we didn’t truly person that machine mentation for a agelong time.

What made you play this World Cup?

I conjecture it volition astir surely beryllium my past World Cup. But, ne'er accidental never. It was truly conscionable a question of if I wanted to effort 1 much time. There were a mates of guys who would usually beryllium selected for England — David Howell and Gawain Jones. And they chose not to play. And past I was asked, and I thought, wherefore not? I thought Delhi would beryllium the venue, and it was 1 nonstop flight. And past aboriginal on, it was Goa, and I was not truthful happy.

You played the World Championship successful Delhi successful 2000, it was besides a knockout format similar this. You had a good tourney until you ran into Anand successful the semifinals.

I person immoderate bully memories from Delhi, nevertheless. I won galore matches; I bushed immoderate precise beardown players. It was disappointing to extremity the tourney similar that aft playing truthful well, but I had a batch of respect for Vishy; helium was ever a precise hard hostile for maine arsenic well. Well, astatine the start, I had an atrocious score; successful the archetypal 10 games, I was scoring hardly astatine all. It got amended aboriginal and stabilised the score. And I deliberation Vishy’s power connected the young Indian players is remarkable: not lone the astonishing mode they play, but besides the cognition and the benignant of modesty, the politeness, conscionable the mode they behave is just, really, you tin spot that it is the standards helium has set. They truly travel his standards.

How bash you look backmost astatine the 2004 World Championship last lucifer with Rustam Kasimdzhanov, astir apt your champion accidental to triumph the title?

[After the classical matches were tied], I had immoderate chances successful the archetypal accelerated game. The triumph I missed successful the sixth game, I conscionable simply didn’t person overmuch time. And I was checking that I was making a draw. It conscionable didn’t hap to maine to truly look to play for a win. But I don’t regret that I didn’t triumph the World title. I achieved truthful overmuch much than I expected. I americium inactive ranked successful the apical 100 players astatine the property of 54. To me, this is amazing, due to the fact that erstwhile I was possibly 37, I was thinking, well, I’m not definite I person that galore years left, really. I was reasoning possibly 5 years, possibly a small spot more.

Your thoughts connected Daniel Naroditsky’s tragic death?

I don’t adjacent cognize what adjacent happened, actually, but this was precise bittersweet and conscionable wholly shocking and horrible. We person to person strict rules that you can’t marque accusations against radical publicly. There has to beryllium immoderate punishment each clip this happens.

I don’t deliberation it is mean successful cheating that immoderate radical were cheating online and their identities are not revealed. There is truthful overmuch publicity for this cheating. And I deliberation it is precise atrocious for chess due to the fact that the communicative should beryllium that 99.99% of players are precise honorable successful a crippled wherever everyone has the capableness to cheat. And yet determination is specified a large fuss. We don’t interest capable astir the rights of radical who play honestly.