By Luke Tyson
August 28 – Last November, in the eight rounds of the Arabian Women’s Chess Championship, Abu Dhabi -touched chess player Rauda Alsarkel had a feeling. If she wins the match, she earns enough points to name a female Grandmaster – the first and entire Gulf region from her country. Spoiler Alert: He did. At the age of only 15, ulcerkel opened his name in the history of chess, which became a symbol of the possibility for young Imirti women in a long -standing game by men.
Talking with Reuters to his home chess club in Abu Dhabi, fresh for the performance of international tournaments in Norway and Romania, ulcerurkal becomes real about the pressure to represent a gender on a country, a culture and international game. “I have traveled to more than 35 countries to play chess,” she says that a young girl before contacting to request a selfie – and showing ulcerals to show the ulceral that she had chosen her image for her phone background.
The following interaction is edited for length and clarity.
You first started playing chess at the age of four, and you originally got away from a chess club to be too young. How did that moment shape you?
I used to play with my mother, my father, my sisters all the time. I was begging my mother: “Mother, please take me to a chess club, please take me to a chess club.” I just wanted to play chess, do you know?
Two weeks later, because I was very annoying, he found this chess club. He signed me there, and as they were, sorry, we cannot accept it, because the minimum age was six years old then. We talked to the coaches there, for management, and they liked, so forgive, she is too young.
Then my first coach, Hishham al-Argha, a Syrian player, he liked, well, I am going to give him a chance. I started playing with her, and when I moved the night, she immediately accepted me. Children usually, when they first join the chess club, takes some time to know how to move the piece because it has a very complex movement. And I’m really happy that my first coach Hishham decided to give me that opportunity.
How long did you take to start playing seriously?
I joined the Chess Club in December 2013. And my coach was like, okay, then Rowda, to play with this girl. And the girl was like: “What are you doing? You can’t move two pieces at a time!”
But later, I was playing, I was beating the girls of our chess club. The club decided to give me a chance to play in the Asian Championship when I was four years old. And fortunately, I was able to take a bronze medal at the Asian Championship. Then, a few months later, I played at the Asian School Championship, and I finished first there.
To become a serious chess competitor at such a young age, what did you have to do the biggest sacrifice? Was they worth it?
I had to sacrifice a part of childhood, because I was not always in school. I did not have time to have fun, go out with my friends. I was remembering a lot of family programs, friends’ belongings, because I was always traveling, training, playing chess.
Of course, it seems funny that I am always traveling, but it is not as easy as it seems. There is a lot of pressure. I was five years old, pressurizing the chess club, family, federation. They were expecting very much from me. But I do not regret it. Not a bit. I am very happy that I chose this path.
It is like a teenager, in high school, and then on the other hand, as a female grandmaster to balance your different identities?
I am two different people. I am a separate person in school; I am a different person in chess. I know when to have fun; I know when training is serious. I just keep things very balanced. And when I go to the tournament and win and come back to school, I just pretend that nothing happened. Even my teachers, they are like: “Good job, Rowda! I need you to present this assignment.”
What is your style as a player?
I think I am a very attacker player. I like the strategy. I like to calculate. But chess is about all balance. You should know when to attack, when to protect. Personally, I think I am great in defending a bad situation. But I like the strategy. I don’t think I am a very location player. I like to play inauguration that is going to take me to some very crazy, complex positions where everything is hanging.
What is your training these days?
During school days, I take training like three and a half hours, perhaps four hours. During the holiday, I would say that my whole day is chess. I take some breaks, but I am always playing the tournament, always with my coach training at the Chess Club, always with my friends. Even when I am at home, I always play on chess.com. I find some strategies. At some point I am going to start dreaming about chess.
During training, we mainly focus on our weaknesses. For example, I just came back from a tournament and my coach noticed that I was having some trouble with a situation with a situation. Therefore, he can give me a very located game, let’s say, Magnus Carlsen, and we analyze the game.
Do you think you are more of a theory player or a spontaneous player?
I am a simple player. I think I have a very good memory when it comes to chess, but I like to use my intuition more because I trust myself. I have now played for 11 years. When I know that my opponent has done something wrong in the situation, when I know I have a good step in the situation, I just have a feeling about it. This is the reason that sometimes my coaches say that I am better in playing rapid chess. I just trust my intuition more and just go with the flow.
You became a female grandmaster at the age of fifteen. You were the first in the UAE and the entire Gulf region. What does that title mean to you – not only as a chess player, but as a young Emirati woman?
Obviously, there is a lot of responsibility with the title. This means that I have to provide 10 times hard training, I have to maintain the piece. To achieve more goals, to win more tournaments, to achieve more ratings. Of course, it is very stressful. Especially when I go to a big tournament like the World Championship. Recently, I was playing the World Cup, and I was the only Amirati who was playing there.
How do you handle that pressure? I just try to remind myself that I am playing chess for myself because I love chess. I am not playing chess for anyone.
What is so traditionally in men’s dominated game as a young woman?
People are always going to say something. I remember this post about me, congratulated me for being the first female grandmaster of UAE. And I was looking at the comments and everyone was talking about everything about me, not about chess. I am doing my best in this game and people cannot see it and they are just focusing on everything else: my look, the fact that I don’t wear hijab.
This is not what I am trying to show the media. I am trying to show them that I am a rich woman; I am a 16 year old, and I have completed a lot. I have made a name for myself. People are just focusing on wrong goods, and it is never going to stop, obviously. I just have to ignore it completely and focus on what is important, which is playing me chess.
Through all that noise, it is clear that you are breaking the boundaries in the game. Talking to the children around the club, they feel that you walk on the water. What is like being able to inspire other children in the United Arab Emirates, and other young women to play chess?
When I first joined the Chess Club, there were not many people. But later, I think when I started winning for the first time, many children started joining. And I remember, I am walking around and people were like this: Oh, you are a rage. Oh, I have heard a lot about you. We joined the Chess Club because we wanted to see you.
It matters a lot to me, it really makes me proud. I really hope that we can see more UAE players, women of UAE, more talents, more tournaments. This is such an honor. I am really happy that many children see me, many girls see me. But as I said, it can be very stressful sometimes, just trying to give the right picture. Because no one is complete; Everyone has their own flaws.
What does you come next?
I plan to win more world championships. The World Youth Championship is soon coming to Albania in October, and I am going to work really hard to take at least three.
I have to ask: I know you have seen
The Queen’s Gambit
What did they do? What did they go wrong?
You know, some parts were such that were unrealistic, but the parts I liked were that they were showing the dark side of Beth. No one really shows the dark side. I really like that he only showed behind the curtain, how dark his life was. And although she was passing a lot, she was doing well in chess.
This really liked me the show. I continued to watch the show because of this. And the fact that she started playing chess and it was just a tournament of all men, and she was the only woman playing. I really liked it. This was very proud of me as a woman.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without amending the text.
