Rook Reflections - Episode 1 with WFM Alessia Santeramo
Hi everyone,
I have started a new podcast/interview series, called ‘Rook Reflections’. 'Reflections' because I will invite different level and rated chess players and ask them about their chess experience, how chess is, from their point of view, as well as the psychological part of the game. 'Rooks' because it makes a nice alliteration with Reflections, and it's a chess piece after all. 
The main interviews will happen on my Twitch channel, every few weeks, but the video of it will be uploaded to my YouTube channel, but I will highlight a few questions and answers as well in my blog.
This is the first episode of the series, which was with an Italian Woman Fide Master and (in)famous content creator, Alessia Santeramo. Please check out her Twitch channel here: https://www.twitch.tv/alessiasanteramo
F: So let’s start with a warm-up question; how did you start playing chess?
A: I started when I was 7 years old, and I didn’t like chess, but a teacher came, and she convinced me to play chess for the school, and then she convinced me to go to the club.
F: I see, but what made you like chess, if you didn’t like it before?
A: The first lessons were too slow for me. Like in the first lesson we learned how the pawns move, and the next 3 lessons we practiced only how the pawns move, so I was like, damn man, it’s boring, I got it the first time, now can we move on? And we did the same about every other piece. Then one year later we already knew how to play chess, so it became more spicy and exciting.
I am a very competitive person, and I destroyed everyone in my class, of course. I always liked to be the first in everything, be the best at everything, I was the nerd. I enjoyed beating other people in my class. It was really cool when we made a team with my classmates and during school time we went on vacations to play chess tournaments, which were the best days of my life! Then I also started to get good at the game so that made it even better.
One director from the secondary school really loved chess, and once we came back from tournaments she made us go to others’ classes and show the trophy that we had won. It was so weird! We were knocking on doors where they were teaching whatever, and we went like: ‘Sorry guys, but we are the chess team of the school and we’ve just won this!’ This was so embarrassing, I hated that! But she wanted us to do that, so we had to do that.
F: And were the others proud of you?
A: Nooo! I mean, you know how kids are in secondary school… It’s the most critical age for bullism and making fun of others, and chess was already not seen as such a cool sport, it was kind of nerdish, and it was already embarrassing, so I didn’t like this part. But now it’s fun to tell the story, because I remember young Alessia being quite shy and embarrassed, wanting to hide underground while doing this. But the good part was skipping classes.
F: How did you get good at chess? Thanks to your talent or hard work?
A: I mean, I don’t know. I think it’s a mixture of these. I think I already had a predisposition to chess, but I think my biggest luck was being an extremely competitive person. Even if I play any game, I like to win. I was a nightmare for my sisters because when we played games I always had to win. I even study strategies of games, so they don’t want to play with me anymore because they always lose, which can be annoying. So I am working on being less competitive, but I think it was my huge advantage, I am not sure if that’s talent or hard work but this part of me made me work hard.
In my first Italian championship in 2007, I was 8 years old, I was playing in the category of girls under 10. I got 12th place, and my sister, one year older than me, whom I taught chess, got 4th. She embarrassed me in front of everyone! Since then I started to train every single day, from 6pm to 9pm in the chess club, playing and practicing chess all the time and one year later I won the Italian Championship. She made me a stronger chess player! [...]
F: Have you ever had issues with time management?
A: Time management is something that is super important. And I am generally a very confident person, and if I make a mistake, it’s usually from me being too fast rather than being too slow. But I also had some moments where I’ve been less confident than other times. [...] There is a really cool video on YouTube about Magnus Carlsen who says how confidence has helped him to become one of the greatest chess players of all time and he says he would always choose being too confident and getting burnt sometimes, like making mistakes rather than second guessing every action. I actually support this view. [...]
F: Do you have any mental or physical rituals before playing an important match?
A: Right now I don’t have one, but I’ve done once! With the Italian team at the world youth chess championship in Greece, in 2010, girls under 12. Generally for me and for the Italian Federation it was always tough to play these youth events, because we were weaker than any other country. Our expectation was usually to do 50%, so we had to create something to have extra power and we created a very strange dance that I will show to you (see in the video). We shouted in Italian: What will we do today? WIN! and then there was the dance.
F: Did it work?
A: No, we lost, but we had a lot of fun doing this! After the lost games we were like, ‘Come on guys, we need to do something!’. Then we did this again, and then we lost again, haha. [...]
F: Have you tried any psychological warfare against your opponent?
A: Haha wait, I need to think what I can and can’t say… I think how you stand, how you sit at the board gives a lot of your thoughts. In the beginning I did not care about this, but especially in the last few years, I play chess more freely, less stressed, not caring about the results so I can be confident and just enjoy the moment. So I think I have a small advantage there compared to others, because I’m ambitious but I’m also not stressed about the result. Of course it’s bad to lose but it’s not as bad as it used to be before. It’s such a nice mode to play, because I can enjoy it. I always try to give my best, I always prepare, but I don’t win, it happens and I move on.
There is another one. Once I was playing over the board where I blundered a pawn in the opening. After making the move I realized it immediately, so I looked at the side with a face like ‘Why is my opponent not continuing the line already’, ‘Why are you so slow’. Looking very calmly, zen mode was on. And she didn’t take the free pawn, it was so cool!
F: Wow, what was the rating of your opponent?
A: 2100 FIDE, a Woman International Master.
F: And if we turn the tables, did someone use any psychological tricks on you that you are aware of?
A: First of all, there are these people who look at you at the board when it’s your time to move, and that can be really annoying. Imagine, they are staring at you all the time, and then you look up, ‘Oh no, they are staring at me!’. Then you try hiding your eyes with your hands, but when you eventually remove the cover, they are still there, so you want to say ‘STOP STARING AT ME!!!’. But they can keep staring at you and you can do nothing about it. [...] Going back to your previous question in online chess, there are these very stinky people going around in the playing hall who don’t shower for one year or more, and that’s really annoying as well. This is basically a biological warfare that some people are using and the arbiters can’t always say anything to them.
F: Have you ever laughed during an over-the board chess game?
A: Yeah, for sure. Sometimes when I was winning against a stronger opponent and they were visibly upset then I really had to hold my smile and laugh. Chess is one of the only sports where this feels disrespectful, in other sports you just celebrate when you score a goal, and you show your emotions, but in chess showing emotions can be rude. But do you know that feeling when you keep telling yourself, ‘don’t smile, don’t smile, don’t smile’, but then you smile. [...] And again, in other sports you don’t keep any emotions in, but you cannot scream in the playing hall. Actually, once when Noel won the Swiss championship for the second time, he took me out of the playing hall, he closed the door and he started shouting! I mean, it was only that freaking door between us and the players! Anyone could hear that! It was the last round of the tournament, so nobody could disqualify him, but still.
These are only parts of the whole interview. In the YouTube video you learn:
- what Alessia’s goal is,
- what Hikaru said about her,
- what she thinks about chess improvement and flagging and time management
- the psychological difference between online and over the board games
- what the funniest chess related thing that has ever happened to her is (and to me as well)
- even more details about the answers above ;)
If that sound exciting, then please, check out the full video on YouTube :
