Meet Teimour Radjabov: the prodigious legend-slayer who almost walked away from chess Premium

Teimour Radjabov, former World No. 4, reflects on his career, victory at the 2019 World Cup, and India's emergence as a major power in international chess.

There was a time when Teimour Radjabov considered quitting chess and starting a new career, in oil and gas trading or even cryptocurrency. But victory at the 2019 World Cup convinced him that there was still a lot of chess left in him. One of the game’s great prodigies, he stunned Garry Kasparov — they both belong to the same city in Azerbaijan — as a 15-year-old. The former World No. 4 remains a leading player. Excerpts from an interview Radjabov granted The Hindu:

As a young boy growing up in Baku, and thought of as the successor to the city’s most famous son, was it difficult handling the huge expectations?

No, I was not really thinking much about it. I had a really tough schedule and a lot of tournaments, a lot of training. Also, I had to combine it with school. And altogether, it was just taking a lot of time. I was mostly working with my father, who was a good chess player. He had left his job so that he could spend more time in my training. I didn’t feel pressure, but I was motivated to come to the top of the chess world. And it was hard, of course, with my generation boasting so many strong players like Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Vassily Ivanchuk, Peter Svidler, Peter Leko, Nigel Short...

You caused a sensation when you beat Kasparov at the 2003 Linares tournament – the Wimbledon of chess, as it was described — with a stunning knight sacrifice. The World No. 1 had been unbeaten at Linares for several years…

He was beating everyone and winning all the tournaments in a row. He was probably trying to set new records. In that game, I had to do something, as there was no chance for me to win, and I found that knight sacrifice. I was a youngster and always seeking blood; I was just trying to win against the best players in the world. Those days, if I saw an opportunity for a sacrifice, I would usually go for it.

Garry was very surprised, he had liked his position before I made the sacrifice. I think he took some time before he made his move. Twenty years later, it remains one of my most memorable games, for sure. All my life I had studied Kasparov’s games with Anatoly Karpov, then to play and win against him was great. 

We were all used to Linares while it was there; now that it’s absent, it’s unpleasant.