45th Chess Olympiad Day 5: Photos that tell the tale
I recently came across a nice story shared by GM Magesh Panchanathan. He shared his thoughts on the concepts of ‘Experiencing self’ and ‘remembering self’, which were explained by Daniel Kahneman. The Experiencing Self is the one who ‘enjoys’ the present moment and the Remembering Self is the one who ‘remembers’ the important parts of the experiencing self. If you observe, we generally focus on the ‘remembering self’ in our life. We remember the blunder made during the game and ignore the beautiful tactics played earlier. It’s a bit unfortunate, isn’t it? At the Olympiad, players will likely remember the event based on the good or bad outcome of their games. But we will share some pictures which will show the ‘experiencing self’ moments of our players. Let’s remind them that these might be their memorable moments from the event.
1) A Pat-tastic moment!
This picture perfectly captures the team spirit of the Norwegian squad! Magnus was in serious trouble in his game but he managed to hold it to a draw. On the other hand, Aryan Tari came out victorious in a highly complex battle against his opponent. It’s natural that they would be proud after a 3-1 win over Turkey. You can see it on Magnus and Odin Blikra Vea’s faces as they give Aryan a well-deserved pat on the back. This is one of the most heartwarming moments of the Olympiad!
2) Just imagine...
Imagine yourself at the Olympiad venue. There are thousands of chess players from different countries around you. While it would be impossible for you to play chess with them, you can connect with them in a special way - by collecting their autographs! Imagine how many autographs you could gather! Imagine how rich that booklet would be - filled with the names of top players from every corner of the world! Just imagine…
3) I thought so...
Who is thinking about what is in this picture? Magnus is looking at Vantika’s game. What if he was calculating the distance he covered on bike the day before from his hotel to the tournament hall? Divya is looking at Magnus but she might be dreaming about becoming a World Champion one day. Abhijeet Kunte’s eyes are on Vantika’s game but he might be thinking about the potential opponents India might face in the future. As for Vantika, let’s hope she was focused on finding the winning move. Meanwhile, Shrinath is looking at our photographer thinking – Aa gaye wapas photo nikalne!
4) Let's break it down!
Do you ever analyze your games after they are over? Or should I ask do you even look at your games after they are over? Well, serious chess players do analyze it afterward. But there is something that separates great players from super great players. Great players analyze their games and try for improvement whereas super great players analyze their games, laugh about their blunders, and then try for improvement. We see two super great players in this picture- Gawain Jones from England and Zhao Zong Yuan from Australia. They show us that maybe game analysis is not really that boring…
5) Azer-Bhaijaan
India won against Azerbaijan with a score of 3-1. This picture looks like the captain of the Azerbaijan team, Teimour Radjabov is seriously scolding Vidit after their loss. But it’s quite the opposite. Teimour is actually excitedly pointing out a winning move that Vidit missed, a move after which Vidit could have won the game. How funny is that – A captain is coaching his team’s opponent! Now that's what you call next-level friendship!
6) Icons off the board
Can you guess who these two people are with the FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich? On the left is Boris Postovsky, a very senior arbiter from Russia. He has been an International Arbiter since 1987. He was the coach of the Russian National Team in the early 1990s. Under his guidance, the team won four Olympiads from 1994 to 2000 and World Championship in 1997. On the back is Leontxo Garcia, a very senior chess journalist. He has covered all the Olympiads since 1982. He is a FIDE Master but pursued his career in journalism. These two personalities have contributed a lot to the Olympiad!
7) Nostalgia
In my school, before every exam, my teacher used to urge everyone to sit silently and try to remember what we had studied. This would help us to recollect all the important topics and we used to revise them in our minds. But there were many students who never followed this and used to chit-chat with others. Then the teacher used to shout…
“Heads Down”
This is basically us in school.
Bonus picture:
Of course, this is not from the 45th Olympiad. This is Bobby Fischer at the 17th Chess Olympiad in Havana in 1966. He scored 15/17 on the top board.
Stay tuned for some fun pictures from Day 6!
