My Most Memorable Interviews – 35 Conversations with Chess Stars

Teaser GERT DEVREESE   The interviews in this book span over twenty years, over two decades. For years I went with my recording device to tournaments like Wijk aan Zee, Frankfurt Chess Classic, Hoogeveen… often to interview the interesting player of the moment in some hotel bar or quiet interview room. 31 out of the 35 interviews came about this way. That is… until March 2020, when out of nowhere, covid broke out. Suddenly chess tournaments were no longer held and a live interview with chess players was no longer possible. At first I was very skeptical about doing an online interview – how on earth could it delve as deep as a live interview with a chess player at a tournament? But soon I discovered the great possibilities of the Zoom interview. Sound and facial expressions are as good on a Zoom interview as they are in real life. And while such an interview may not take place in the same room, it totally feels like it does. Anna-Maja Kazarian was in the Netherlands on her screen, David Navara was in Prague for his Zoom, and the American Jennifer Shahade was even on the other side of the Atlantic – and in the middle of the interview she even put her son Fabi (almost 4) on her lap to say “hello” to the interviewer. It always felt like they were sitting in my living room. In terms of intensity, these Zoom interviews can easily stand alongside tournament interviews. And coincidentally or not, at the time of full covid, my 20-year-old recording device suddenly gave up the ghost. I wish you all a lot of reading pleasure and many new discoveries while reading my interviews – Gert Devreese