At four, I watched Kosteniuk become World champion; I felt I needed that crown: Assaubayeva

As a little girl learning chess from her grandfather, Bibisara Assaubayeva would always cry whenever her opponent captured her queen on the board. It is not easy to take her queen easily these days. And she is now the queen of the fastest format in chess. In Doha last month, she won her third World Blitz Championship in five years. In 2021, when she won her first World blitz title, she was also the runner-up in the World Rapid Championship. She was just 17 then. Last year, Assaubayeva became a Grandmaster, only the 43rd woman in history to earn the most coveted title in chess. Excerpts from an interview she gave The Hindu in Mumbai, where she played for American Gambits in the Global Chess League:

This was your second GCL.

I like this tournament. It is a league you can enjoy playing. And it is really nice to play before so many chess fans. I like this format. It is very interesting. Every opponent is very strong and the team is mixed; apart from the world’s top male players, we have strong female and junior players. Last year’s league was in London. It is great that this edition came to India. I like to play in India. Here a lot of people like chess, and it is amazing. I think across the world, chess is most popular in India. You see a lot of children playing chess here. And you can feel the excitement.

When did you first play in India?

My first tournament in India was the World Junior Championship in New Delhi. It was in 2019, I was 15 then. Then I played the Chess Olympiad in Chennai, in 2022. My last tournament in India was the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix in 2023.

How do you look back at finishing second in the women’s event in the last Olympiad at Budapest? Not many expected to see Kazakhstan in the runner-up position.

We actually had a chance to be the champion. In the final round, I won on the first board in our match against the United States. And if we had some draws, we could have finished first. Unfortunately, at some important moments, one of the girls lost a game, but we also had a good match against India. But, okay, India [which went on to win the gold] is a strong team and I am happy that finally we took some medals from the Olympiad.

Kazakhstan had started as the 10th seed.

Our team is still young and very strong. And we have a good future. In our team, I am now the oldest one, but I am only 21. We will try to win the gold at the next Olympiad. But it could be tough, though we don’t know for sure if Russia will play in it. And we don’t know if China will be fielding their best team. If China comes with their strongest players, it will be impossible to take the gold. But somehow China doesn’t send their best teams for the Olympiad, maybe because they have won so many medals from the previous events.

How much did completing the Grandmaster title mean to you?

I completed my GM title at the Sharjah Masters in May. I felt really good because now there was no pressure of having to score that final norm. I got my first norm when I was 17 and the second when I was 19. I was missing the final norm, getting close to it on several occasions. Finally I got my norm and also crossed the other requirement of crossing the 2500 Elo rating during the Sharjah Masters. The GM title means a lot to me, I was getting a bit tired being just an IM [International Master]. Even now, we have only two women in Kazakhstan with GM titles.

You still hold the record of being the youngest women’s World blitz champion. That year, 2021, you were runner-up to Alexandra Kosteniuk, who won the World rapid title. You have spoken of how watching Kosteniuk becoming World champion in 2008, when you were little, inspired you.

I had watched on television Kosteniuk being crowned the World champion by the then FIDE president [Kirsan Ilyumzhinov]. I felt I also needed that crown. I was four years old then. And that was how I became a chess player. I have played with Kosteniuk several times. I haven’t told her directly how her winning the World Championship inspired me, but I think she maybe knows it. Winning my first World Blitz Championship was really special. I had won age-group events before, but it felt really, really good, because it was my first big achievement at the senior level. Then I met our President for the first time, so it was amazing. And I felt happy when I defended my title in my home country.

Now the classical World Championship must be a goal?

Yes, and I also want to increase my rating.

How competitive is women’s chess at the moment, with World No. 1 Hou Yifan playing very rarely?

It is always tough at the top level. We have a lot of strong players. In men’s chess, yes it may be tougher, but in the women’s game, too, there are a lot of strong players. Even older players, like Koneru Humpy and Kosteniuk, are still strong.

India has a bunch of strong young male players.

I don’t know D. Gukesh well, but we talked a little bit in Mumbai during the GCL, and he is a very nice person. I think it is important to be good, even if your achievements are something big, and his achievements are amazing; he is the youngest World champion ever. I think he is very disciplined, and he doesn’t show a lot of emotions, and that is very important in chess. I don’t know R. Praggnanandhaa well, but I know his sister Vaishali and she is nice. Arjun Erigaisi and I are friends. And he is a nice guy. I like playing with him in Bughouse chess [a variant, played by two two-member teams on two boards], and he is an amazing partner.

What are your earliest memories of chess?

I remember how I went to my grandfather and told him, ‘Please teach me chess’. I would always cry when my opponents captured my queen.