Rokhus Shokh: «There are a lot of similarities between chess and football»

— It only seems that chess and football are completely different sports. In fact, there are very many similarities. Football is a highly intellectual sport, requiring huge physical expenditure, of course. But in football, first of all, you have to think, you have to think. 

 

In chess, like football, there are tactics, there is strategy, there is coaching, and the players have individual skills - there are a lot of similarities. Football is similar first of all to chess and theatre, because it is also a spectacle. 

 

Of course, I'm not a great expert in chess, but I understand perfectly well that in chess the main thing is to keep the centre, just as in football. Of course, attacking on the flanks is also important - just like in football: the midfield leads the whole game.

 

It is also important for chess players to keep physically fit, because the game is exhausting. It just seems like you're just sitting there, but spending so many hours on a game is not only an intellectual but also a physical strain, you have to keep yourself in top shape for that. Magnus Carlsen is also a big football fan, he probably supports the Norwegian national team, but as far as I know he's also a Borussia Dortmund fan. There are many things that football and chess have in common.

 

I would also like to wish a good and successful game to the participants of the World Team Chess Championship and may the strongest win!