One week in the life of a chess professional

Saturday, 26 January 2002

I get up at 10-00. This is very late for me. I used to get up around 6-00, but now 7-30 is more like my time. Most chess players go to bed after midnight and get up late, particularly during tournaments. I know some who like to get up around 13-00! :-) Well, if you are not a top GM and have kids, this is not an option. Not sure whether I would like that either... Anyway, 10-00 is late for me, but I stayed up till almost 3-00 last night. I feel tired, so I read for a while and generally take life easy this morning. There is no Chess Today in my inbox this morning and I discover that Ralph indeed had a problem with his Net provider. Fortunately, I quickly find Graham at www.interchess.com, where we will have a chat later today. Graham does the editing job and CT comes in half an hour. Great!

At about 13-00 my friend Mark Heidenfeld comes to visit. Mark is IM, but we don’t play chess — instead we play backgammon! Alas, my beginner’s luck is long time gone... :-( However, today somebody is watching me up there and gives me a helping hand despite all those mistakes, which I make! I win in the game, but lose some beer. :-)

At 16-00 my chat starts. There are about 8 people first, then the number goes up to 10, only to fall to 8 or so. Anyway, the chat goes well (see can find its transcript on this site soon). I got a few marketing hints for CT. I though that there could be more interesting questions, but perhaps with more people in the chat that could be better — I will host another one in 2-3 weeks. Perhaps I should start it later, say, around 19-00 — to give a chance to guys in the West Coast of US to take part in it. Also, it could be better for Australians. Chess Today has a very diverse audience — we have good few readers in Japan, Thailand and Philippines.

After dinner I make CT — today I am much more efficient and do it quicker. Watch some video till about 23-00. Still not sleepy, so I try something, which I wanted to test recently — I make a chess X-word. Time flies, but I am not making much progress — how do they make them anyway?! Either I am too stupid or too tired... Call it a day at 1-20.