Mike Klein interviewed long time Boston Blitz star, SM Denys Shmelov, but due to some audio difficulties the sound is difficult to hear so please click on the link for a written transcript of the interview.
MK: Hello we’re here with SM Denys Shmelov of the Boston Blitz. He is
the co-winner of the week four Game of the Week in the USCL. This is
FM Mike Klein reporting. Denys, how are you tonight?
DS: I am doing good, thank you Mike.
MK: Well first of all congratulations. It was the first draw to win
Game of the Week this far in the young season. Let me ask you, Conrad
(Holt) was a beast last year, scoring nine out of ten. What was your
strategy against him this week in your match?
DS: We there is no doubt that he is a very good player but one
drawback he has is that he’s a little bit inflexible in terms of his
opening choices, and so it makes it easier to prepare. Fortunately he
walked right into my preparation and I got a position that I was very
comfortable with. He played quite creatively and created quite a few
complications. My preparation was comfortable enough for me to play on
and make sure I managed to draw.
MK: I’ve looked at a few of your games. You do not seem uncomfortable
being down a pawn in positions where you have the initiative. Is that
an accurate assessment of your play?
DS: Yes, a good observation of me.
MK: And how much of the game have you looked at since it was over?
Have you found any improvements for either side?
DS: I did analyze the game in detail but I didn’t look at Alex
Yermolinsky’s annotations and he did point out new improvements, new
ideas that I didn’t even look at over the board. So that was the
extent of my post-mortem analysis.
MK: Now the game got really interesting when he played the pawn sac
…f5 on the 33rd move. Did you see this move coming?
DS: No, I did not. It was a very unpleasant surprise. I thought he was
coming unglued. I didn’t see …f5 at all, no.
MK: So did you think it was desperation when he played it?
DS: Yes, yes I thought he missed Qg3 or something. I didn’t see the
rook sac on f5 at all. That was very nice counterplay on his part.
MK: Right, that rook was en prise – I didn’t count, for maybe five or
six moves. That was pretty shocking to see so I could understand how a
player might overlook that. Is it hard when you miss a move like that
to readjust mentally?
DS: Yes. I wasn’t terribly happy to see Rxf5 with my time running down
to try to calculate the variations. Fortunately for me my pieces were
placed well enough, and I have Nd6, a very nice move that kind of ends
his attack. I realized I should be okay.
MK: Well even so a draw against the recently crowned GM, Conrad Holt,
is not a bad result. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to help the Blitz
this week. You guys are now 1-3. What will it take to turn your season
around?
DS: I feel as though we’ve been playing well enough. A couple of very
close games didn’t go our way this week. Like this week board four
missed a very simple tactic that would have won the game. The same
thing happened in week one and week three. I think we will turn our
ship around. I really do. I think the Blitz missed the playoffs only
once. So we will turn around, we will make the playoffs. We will keep
fighting and good things will happen.
MK: If your prediction is to make the playoffs – you guys are at 1-3 –
how many wins do you think it will take out of the East? We’ve seen
the East do very well against the West this year and it is turning out
to be the superior division.
DS: I think we should be aiming at six wins. So we need to go 5-1.
MK: How many of those games do you anticipate playing yourself?
DS: That is not a decision I will make. I would like to play but we
have other players. I expect to play two or three more games.
MK: Well you weren’t on the roster last year. What was the reason that
made you return this year?
DS: I was away from the Boston area, but now I’m back and I was able to play.
MK: Is there any reason you seem to think the Destiny have your
number? I know they cost (the Blitz) a few championships.
DS: Well it’s even hard to say they’ve got our number seeing as how
their 2007 team was completely different. I don’t think they have a
single player from their roster in that time now. We have changes
quite a bit also.
MK: I hear your nickname on the team is “The bee.” How did you get
that nickname?
DS: That is a translation of my last name in the Russian language.
MK: Oh okay, very simple. Well how far back does your family history
go? Are you Ukrainian or Russian?
DS: I was born in Ukraine and I came to the United States seven years
ago. For the most part I wanted to leave my heritage behind, but with
Ilya (Krasik) on the team, that’s not quite possible. He is the one
responsible.
MK: Now describe that to me – what does it mean that you wanted to
leave your heritage behind? You wanted to assimilate as an American as
soon as possible?
DS: Ilya Krasik is the one responsible for the nickname and I wouldn’t
really bring it to anyone’s attention if it were not for him!
MK: Well it is certainly not the worst animal or insect in the world
to be associated with. The Blitz have a long history. What is your
relationship with the team manager Jorge Sammour-Hasbun?
DS: We’ve maintained a very professional relationship throughout all
these years. I haven’t known him for that long – five or six years.
Seeing as he’s is from Rhode Island, he’s not really from the area. We
play in the same tournaments, we analyze our games, we work together
as chess players. For the most part we’ve come together as members of
the team, giving each other advice on what to do and how to manage the
play. I wouldn’t describe the relationship as anything special – just
a normal professional relationship between the team manager and a
member of the team.
MK: I see. Now I know Jorge and Ilya do a lot of chess teaching. Do
you teach at all and what is your day job, so to speak?
DS: I’m in the actuarial field. I work for a large insurance company.
MK: So you can tell me when I’m going to die?
DS: If you want it, sure. I do teach, but for the most part I do it as
a hobby. I have a couple of students.
MK: Now can you tell me by a study or anecdotally do chess players
live shorter or longer than the average human being?
DS: Well I can tell you chess coaches live shorter, because they have
to watch their students play all the time. So, I’ll go with that.
Chess doesn’t add any years to life, but it sure adds life to years.
MK: So for those chess players applying for life insurance we should
probably not tell our carrier that we play chess, is that right?
DS: Well I’m sure underwriters would catch that, so don’t try to
conceal anything.
MK: You were at 2200 for a long time, how did you make the leap into
the high 2400s?
DS: Yes, it is a fair thing to say. I’ve been at 2200 for about five
years. I broke 2200 when I was 18 and I stayed there until I was over
20. Eventually I needed to study and I got a bit of let’s say a
tailwind and my rating exploded. I think it is just an example of
perseverance and things happening at the right time.
MK: You’re from the Ukraine you said. Is there a national chess league
like there is in many European countries?
DS: There wasn’t one when I was there. Maybe something has changed but
I’m not aware of it.
MK: Do you think your games against IMs and GMs in the USCL have made
you a better over-the-board player and maybe helped your rating go up?
DS: Yes, definitely. When I first started playing back in 2007, I felt
that just being on the same team, in the same room as Larry
Christiansen, Jorge, Eugene Perelshteyn, being together with them
helped my chess and my understanding of chess.
MK: Now this might be just a guess on your part but do you think you’d
be a stronger player today if you were still living in the Ukraine or
do you think you’d be stronger living where you are today, in a
relatively strong chess city like Boston?
DS: I would say that if I stayed in the Ukraine I would probably not
be as strong with the reason being that here I get a chance to
participate in more strong tournaments. It is easier being a self-made
chess player in the United States than it is in Europe.
MK: And what’s the reason for that?
DS: I think it is general economic position of the players. Here you
can get a job and try to improve your chess on the side. In Europe
such opportunities are not available.
MK: And how would you describe your chess style?
DS: Very positional, very dry, very tenacious. Not really tactical,
except when the position calls for it. I’m trying to outplay my
opponent and get in a position that I understand and he doesn’t. It
works to some extent, not all the time.
MK: You played in the 2011 Berkeley International and got a GM-norm
there. You actually beat a few USCL players there like (Sergey)
Erenburg, (Davorin) Kuljasevic, the former player for the Dallas
Destiny, and you drew Hess when you were better most of the game. Do
you have any other norms to your credit?
DS: No, no I do not. In that tournament there was a very strange
thought that came to my mind. That was the tournament that (Conrad)
Holt made his final IM-norm. Incidentally that was the third GM I
played in the process. (Holt made his three GM norms within 13 months
of that tournament, and was officially granted the title about one
month ago – M.K.)
MK: Well do you have plans to play in any more top-level round robins?
DS: No not at the moment. Maybe in the future I will try to
participate in such tournaments. I haven’t play in one in almost two
years and I don’t see myself playing in one anytime soon.
MK: Do you think you play better over the board or better online?
DS: I prefer playing over the board. I guess it is just a matter of
habit. I didn’t start playing online until relatively late in life as
compared to most people my age.
MK: And tell us how old you are?
DS: I’m 26.
MK: Yes, I guess if you were 21 we would assume that you were playing
online all growing up, but 26 may be sort of a bridge year where you
may not have had internet chess when you were very young. So that
seems to be understandable. Lastly, let’s hear a little bit about
yourself. I understand you’re a fan of the Russian classics. Do you
have a favorite author?
DS: Yes, I do, but I’m pretty sure it is not very familiar to this
generation of Americans, but let’s try anyway. Ivan Goncharov.
MK: Well you have me stumped. I took a class on Gogol once and I was
lost. I was pretty sure after that that Russian classics were not for
me. A bunch of people right now are Googling that author’s name and
trying to see what they should read. So please tell us what is the
Seminole work of Goncharov that we should all read?
DS: Oblomov. He wrote only three novels and this is the most famous
one. It is a last name. It takes a look inside the psychology of
19th-century Russia.
MK: Well we will download it to our Kindles now, thanks for the tip.
Well we will see if Blitz do well this week against Philly and get
back in the playoff race. Thanks for your time, Denys.
DS: Thanks very much Mike. It has been a pleasure.