Interview with andreea navrotescu, international women's chess grand master

Yes, it's a sport, but it's also a game. It depends on your individual perspective, but in the eyes of the law, chess has been delegated as a sport since last March, and by the Ministry of Sports since 2005.

For the past several months, I've taken my physical preparation very seriously. Matches can last for four to five hours each, and that requires a very high level of endurance to last until the end. You need unwavering concentration, not letting anything slip by, and you need it for hours. Endurance helps to achieve that. For the past three or four months, I've been doing cardio four to five times a week at the gym - 45 minutes on the cross trainer, to be more specific - and I noticed that this work has improved my results and my ability to concentration.

However, although accessories - athletic ones, among others - are essential for high-level chess, the discipline's low visibility makes it hard to find sponsors… So it's sometimes hard to fund this equipment. I think we'd need to affiliate ourselves with marketing campaigns for the luxury brands that play with the chess world in their advertising. Why not incorporate professional players in these campaigns?

There aren't enough studies on the connection between nutrition and mental performance, but according to what I've read personally, it's important not to eat simple sugars before a match, because otherwise you'll quickly reach your glycemic peak and then fall off, creating additional fatigue.

Physically, it's the preparation just before a match. We have databases that we use to try and anticipate our opponent's game. Then if you add the length of the match, you can be physically pushed to the limit. Over the course of the match, you are allowed to get up and take a breather, but matches are often at mealtimes or just afterwards. In spite of that, you need to stay constantly alert without ever letting down your guard. One mistake, and you've lost!

This summer, between tournaments, I only spent two weeks at home. I'm still young and I can handle travel well, so I leave for tournaments at least every two weeks. Tournaments are generally spaced out over the course of a week, and organisers compress the matches as much as possible to prevent participants from needing to take too much time off work, which means that you sometimes might have two matches per day.

I can't say that I'm making a lot of money, but yes, I essentially live off of professional chess. The freedom to do what you love is priceless, and I'm pretty frugal! Out of inertia or by default, I just decided to devote myself fully to chess. I don't need to beat myself up every day to be the best version of myself at work. I love winning, travelling, and being free, so this is the perfect lifestyle for me at the moment.

It's a delicate subject, because the proportion of women in chess is just 20% in France, and 10% in the world, which makes us a minority. So let's just say that it's not a great start! However, you can see an avant-garde approach in the chess world. To encourage young girls, there are 100% women's tournaments and titles to help create role models for younger players. In the long term, we're aiming to be fully co-ed, but for the moment, we don't have the numbers to get there.

In a world where you're looked at for your appearance rather than your chess moves, we try to support each other even when we're constantly pitted against one another.

It was in 2017, when I had my first performance as women's Grand Master. I remember it well, because I didn't think I was capable! In the last part of the tournament, I played against a Grand Master who was much better ranked than me, so I just needed to face her and at least achieve a draw. I went there, and in the end, I realised that I'd done it, and I cried for joy. I'd never thought I'd be able to achieve such a thing. It teaches a life lesson: you never know how strong you are until you realise the extent of your strength.

You need patience, first of all, and you have to understand that some people spend their entire lives trying to master this game. So it's obviously not something you can learn in two weeks! I think that you get good simply by enjoying practising, whether that's in a training setting to work on skills, or over a drink with friends. All the beauty of chess is that just when you think you understand the game, you realise that in fact, you don't know a thing!

We have an image of this sport being inaccessible and elitist, but I think that's a false prejudice. You can have fun with it, no matter the level. Don't get discouraged, don't tell yourself it isn't for you - you never know, you might awaken a passion!