OFF DA ROO Interview with Simone Sobel

How long have you been playing chess?

For about 15 years. I became inspired after seeing the movie “Searching for Bobby Fischer”.

What is your highest rating?

My highest USCF rating occurred recently in November 2013 after winning the U2100 section in Southern California Cross Championship, it was bumped up to 2060 USCF, after that it has taken a dive again unfortunately, but going back up slowly. My highest FIDE rating was 2020.

Is your goal to make Master?

This has always been goal #1 in my book, and it has been incredibly frustrating to me that I haven't reached it yet. I would also like to get my women's titles, first WFM which is 2100 FIDE rating, and then I would like WIM and maybe WGM eventually.

Have you ever had a chess coach? Why or why not?

I've always had a coach since I began, I was lucky enough for my parents to pay for coaching for a long time. It's very difficult to figure out chess 100% on your own, receiving guidance from an experienced player to help figure out your strengths/weaknesses/ playing style/what your opening repertoire should be, how you should be studying chess, and going over your games to see the mistakes and level of understanding positions that you lack.

Do you think men and women play chess differently?

I honestly do not feel that we play differently! Men and women are chess players with their own unique styles/strengths/ and weaknesses. The truly fascinating thing about chess is that no game is exactly the same, the possibilities are endless, and therefore we all to a certain extent play and similar and differently because some ideas, themes, tactics, and openings repeat but at some point it veers off course and this is because of our choices.
 

I've heard men make the opposite argument, but I don't believe in it. They tend to characterize women as "weaker players who play calmly and positional with no real attacking instincts, and there we are making moves that are clearly different from how men would naturally think". While my own personal style has always lent to more of a positional player, there are many positions where I suddenly create an attack, or look for crazy tactical continuations, or sometimes I completely change my repertoire for certain opponents and play completely different openings which are not my typical style. You have to be strong in all aspects of chess, because you will handle all situations eventually. I study women's games who have a completely differently style them myself, they would not be interested in my openings at all, and I would find it difficult to play theirs, just the same as men. There are many men who play calm and positional, and many men who are just crazy attacking tactical players.

For those men who say women are weak players because there are very few in the top, I would say pay attention to the ratios of male to female. I always look to see how many women typically playing in the big tournaments, and then see how many of them did well. It's amazing that sometimes out of 10 women, 7 of them will get prizes and the other three will get good scores.

I once participated in an women's promotional tournament, women were to get free entry fee, and being paid money towards travel and hotel. It was a truly amazing tournament, because for the first time I was in a room where it was 50-50 men and women ratio. Among the womens players included Irina Krush, WGM Baginskaite , and about 3 titled women masters, and 5 women experts. Women were dominating this tournament, even beating the men's titled players on the top board.

Do you like playing in a male dominated sport?

At the beginning I felt truly unique and loved being one of the girls, and just wanted to crush all my male opponents every chance I got. But over time the social aspect of chess started to come into play. I am naturally shy with guys, I was never really a tomboy, and the majority of my close friends have been girls, so sometimes I feel awkward and a little lonely, not to mention that I've learned to keep my distance because if I pursue a friendship with a guy in chess they will look at it as a potential dating opportunity and I’m not interested in most. If there were more women, it would be nice to have more friends and people to talk to with ease. I do have some guy friends in chess though, tons of acquaintances, and have made friends with some female chess players and chessmoms.

Experience at Millionaire Chess →

After many years of experiencing tournament chess; the scenery, players, rules, and standards become very routine. The players are dressed in casual attire,  usually sweatpants, tee-shirts, and jeans. The rooms are mostly small and crowded, or at times a little more spacious and decent looking at best. You must bring your own clocks and chess sets and set them up before your game begins. The prizes are usually never more then 5000 dollars in the open section for first place, and usually about 1000 or less in lower divisions, and that is depending on turnout of the tournament so it is not guaranteed. 

   But a few weeks ago in Las Vegas at Planet Hollywood, there was a tournament that attempted to change chess history.There was  glamour, excitement, and worldwide media attention to the ancient game of chess.

      It started off with a opening breakfast where all the players were instructed to look sharp, as this would be the start of the dress-code for the tournament. There were speeches by the organizers, and a performance by a comedian. Then they rolled out the red carpet to take photos of the participants with the organizers, I stood with Grandmaster Maurice Ashley as the cameras flashed their lights.

         Finally we we were ready to enter the tournament hall, but not without going through security first! You had to empty your purse to show there were no electronic devices, there was also a cell phone check in station because they were not allowed inside. This is because big money prizes were at stakes, therefore anti cheating policies were in place.

            After security we entered the playing hall; and what a beautiful room it was. Lovely chess sets were set up at every board with standard FIDE (international)clocks, and purple satin lining that said millionaire chess separating one board from the other. There was a stage for the top 8 boards, and surrounding the stage were flags representing the 45 countries that were in the room. On the other side of the room were inspiring posters of all the world champions in chess history. 

        There were cameras all over the room crews from the BBC, crews filming documentaries, and other media broadcasting the tournament all over the internet and the world. There was also three main commentators in the main media room where they were broadcasting live, talking about the top games and interesting positions going on. There was also Hawaiian dancer in round 5 to announce the Hawaii 5-0 prize of a player getting a chance to win a free trip to the Hawaii chess festival, for winning their first five games. There was a VIP lounge, with a bar and masseurs to relax after the stressful games!

    The grandmasters and titled players were fighting every round for the 100.000K top prize, as well as many other lower prizes that ranged between 40000 and 1000 being last place for the lower divisions. In round 1 a surprise! A Brooklyn boy Justus Williams managed to beat the  experienced Belarusian GM, Sergei Azarov in an incredible game.

      Many of the young university aged Grandmasters were proving to be at the top of their game. The top seeds were from the Philippines, China,Vietnam, Russia, and young 21 year old Ray Robson ended up playing  Wesley So in the very exciting playoff match to determine first and second place. Can you imagine two young men who use to be roommates in college, friends, and who prepared together for the event ended playing each-other in a death match for big money. After many exciting games between them, Wesley came up with a brilliant idea and was won by move 13! What an exciting finish to this amazing tournament!  I”m glad I was a part of such a fantastic event, that was completely out of the norm, and raised chess standards forever! Bravo for the organizers vision that they implemented to perfection.My intention is to be part of Millionaire chess again next year, and earn my place on the podium.

PUBLISHED GAMES

Arcadia Chess Club: http://arcadiachessclub.com/chess_game.asp?142

The Chess Games of Simone Sobel: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=53381

French Defence: http://www.chess.com/blog/bangalos/french-defense---delayed-exchange-variation---against-simone-sobel