For Sweden, everything is in the family | Chess news
Former women’s world No. 1 Pia, her husband and daughter lead the nation’s challenge
CHENNAI: 59, Swedish grandmaster Pia Cramling will be among the oldest at the upcoming Olympiad to be held here from July 28. Although most of her contemporaries have long retired from the sport, the former women’s world No. 1 shows no signs of slowing down. Pia is the highest-ranked female player in the Swedish team, which also includes her daughter Anna.
To top it off, Pia’s husband — Spanish Grandmaster Juan Manuel Bellón Lopez — will be the team captain-cum-coach. “My joy for chess (drives me). I still enjoy competing in tournaments, but now I have to choose events carefully and only play where I think I will enjoy it. My energy is not the same anymore. Playing together with my family is what I love more than anything else, Pia told TOI.
Anna, who traveled with her parents for Olympiads since she was two, advanced to the first leg of the high-profile event in Baku 2016. Pia admits she gets nervous watching her daughter play. “In Baku I was quite happy that Anna was on board 4 so there was no chance for me to see her matches when she played. I get so nervous when I see her play and she did very well on her debut,” said Pia. Juan coached the Swedish side during that tournament.
Speaking about training with Anna ahead of the tournament, Pia said: “We sometimes train together but Anna normally works more with her dad Juan Bellon.” More recently, Anna – Woman Fide Master — has started streaming chess on Twitch and Pia believes the move has brought the sport to a wider audience. “I am happy that Anna has found her way in chess with streaming and is enjoying it very much. I think it is wonderful that we can see many players and others streaming chess and making it more accessible and understandable to a large audience,” she said .
Was there pressure on Anna to pursue a sport that her parents excelled at? Pia feels that Anna liked chess naturally. “In my heart I hoped Anna would become a strong player when I saw how well she played in her younger years. She played her first tournament at 5. Juan and I have spent a large part of our lives traveling around and playing chess. I always hoped that Anna would share our passion. We didn’t want to put any pressure on her, says Pia.
In addition to the mother-daughter duo, the Swedish women’s team, seeded 34th, consists of Anna, Inna Agrest, Victoria Johansson and Andric Jelena. The open team is the 31st seed and has a strong lineup: Nils Grandelius, Erik BlomqvistHillarp Persson Tiger, Westerberg Jonathan and Emanuel Berg.
Pia believes that much more can be done for chess to flourish in Sweden. “I think one of the reasons why chess is small here in Sweden now is that it is not considered a sport. It is extremely important for a country like Sweden that chess one day becomes an Olympic sport. Traditionally, chess was played very, very much in Now we see, especially after the pandemic, that players have left chess and many clubs are struggling to survive, Pia pointed out.
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