WEBVTT - Chess Master Vishy Anand Talks Chess Hitting Wall Street

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<v Speaker 1>This is really going to be fun. For the first time,

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<v Speaker 1>North America is hosting the prestigious fee Day World Rapid

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<v Speaker 1>and Blitz Championships Chess Championships taking place in the heart

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<v Speaker 1>of New York City's historic Wall Street district, including a

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<v Speaker 1>special Wall Street gambit uniting the worlds of chess and finance.

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<v Speaker 1>Joining us now to discuss is fee Day Deputy President

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<v Speaker 1>vc onand he is a five time World chess champion. Wow.

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<v Speaker 1>VH Welcome, thanks for joining us here. Talk to us

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<v Speaker 1>about why you're in New York. Talk to us about

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<v Speaker 1>this tournament. How important is it and how important is

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<v Speaker 1>it in have it in America?

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, So, historically the classical World Chess Championship, that is

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<v Speaker 2>the long time six seven hour format is the most

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<v Speaker 2>important andreminso, but over the last few years we've started

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<v Speaker 2>to work on the Rapid and Blitz format. So the

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<v Speaker 2>rapid is fifteen minutes plus ten seconds per game foot player,

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<v Speaker 2>so already much faster. And then you have the Blitz

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<v Speaker 2>which is three minutes into seconds per play up again,

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<v Speaker 2>so highly sped up. This, as you can imagine, produces

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<v Speaker 2>a lot of excitement. It's very fast paced, pulsating you

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<v Speaker 2>can actually sit there and go oh, and you know

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<v Speaker 2>it's that saturve event and it's important for us. The

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<v Speaker 2>second thing is we had the candidates tournament for the

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<v Speaker 2>Classical World Championship in Toronto in April this year, and

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<v Speaker 2>we're so we're very, very excited that we have a

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<v Speaker 2>second important event in the Americas within one year. And

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<v Speaker 2>you know, it's part of something we're trying to do

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<v Speaker 2>and so and you know, there's been a lot of excitement,

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<v Speaker 2>a lot of growth in the US in chess. Famously,

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<v Speaker 2>I think Queens Gamberto was the thing which kind of

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<v Speaker 2>triggered it.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, now I gotta ask you, I said, chess person,

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<v Speaker 1>did you think that was a good representation of the

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<v Speaker 1>sport and some of the people in the in the

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<v Speaker 1>in the game?

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<v Speaker 2>I mean, yes, I have only one or two quibbles

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<v Speaker 2>the rest, but the rest is very authentic and it

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<v Speaker 2>felt very natural. I mean you could easily see yourself

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<v Speaker 2>in that person's shoes. I think it was very accurately done.

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<v Speaker 3>Let's talk though, about a women versus a man, and

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<v Speaker 3>that's not what's actually occurring. There's a women's chess spotlight

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<v Speaker 3>as well, I understand. So how are we seeing demographics

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<v Speaker 3>play out in the world of chess right now?

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<v Speaker 2>It's becoming a global sport. One of the things that's

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<v Speaker 2>happened is that technology has managed to make it a

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<v Speaker 2>truly global sport. Earlier, if you lived in a country,

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<v Speaker 2>whether or not a lot of chess players, chances are

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<v Speaker 2>you wouldn't know how to get into the game. Now

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<v Speaker 2>that problem has been solved. You can watch a game

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<v Speaker 2>no matter where you are. There are live streams, they're broadcasts,

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<v Speaker 2>you can follow the game in multiple platforms, and so

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<v Speaker 2>it has become an ever more global game, and that

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<v Speaker 2>is reflected here. I don't remember the exact number, but

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<v Speaker 2>it is a very large number of nationalities and more

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<v Speaker 2>than five hundred participants in the men and women's sections together,

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<v Speaker 2>and I should say it's the open section and the

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<v Speaker 2>women's section in a sense, the women can play in

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<v Speaker 2>the open section, but not the other way around. The

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<v Speaker 2>thing is there is still a gap, but more and

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<v Speaker 2>more women are starting to beat male grandmasters. The gap

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<v Speaker 2>is narrowing. There's always been a kind of gap, but

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<v Speaker 2>it's narrowing, and so we hope this will trigger more

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<v Speaker 2>and more women coming to participate in the game as well,

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<v Speaker 2>because it's quite easy to.

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<v Speaker 1>Do, right and this event in New York City, you've

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<v Speaker 1>got some serious players here. Tell us about who's going

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<v Speaker 1>to be playing.

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<v Speaker 2>Yes, So in addition to yourself, I'm not actually participating,

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<v Speaker 2>I can in my capacity is definitely for official duties.

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<v Speaker 2>But we have almost everyone in the top twenty or

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<v Speaker 2>top thirty, bar two or three. It's the strongest ever edition.

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<v Speaker 2>So in all the edition's history, this is the one

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<v Speaker 2>which has the highest average rating, highest average, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>historical record, all that a performance record, I should say.

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<v Speaker 2>And you know, it's fantastic that we were able to

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<v Speaker 2>host it in Wall Street, you know, a very good location,

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<v Speaker 2>and that also kind of gives into our team. We're

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<v Speaker 2>having this conference the Wall Street Gamut. Talking about chess

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<v Speaker 2>and finance. Again, there's a lot of similarities between the

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<v Speaker 2>two and there's been a lot of crossovers. A lot

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<v Speaker 2>of former chess players migrated finance and went on to

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<v Speaker 2>be very very successful. At one point there were companies

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<v Speaker 2>like Bankers Trust Noel, which we're hiring chess players exactly

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<v Speaker 2>for that reason. But the other thing is I would

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<v Speaker 2>say that with all the technological development with AI and everything,

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<v Speaker 2>the relevance. One of the biggest connections I see is

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<v Speaker 2>that chess has kind of been ahead of the curve

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<v Speaker 2>we from the finance perspective, I would say chess is

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<v Speaker 2>like to the future of where finance will encounter air,

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<v Speaker 2>which is what happens when AI becomes very, very good

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<v Speaker 2>at what you do. And because chess is again with

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<v Speaker 2>you know, it's finite sixty four squares, it's finite. So

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<v Speaker 2>the computers were able to solve it, not solve it,

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<v Speaker 2>but get better at humans much faster, and as a result,

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<v Speaker 2>learning how to interpret that information has become a key

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<v Speaker 2>skill for us. Now. Finance, of course much much more

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<v Speaker 2>complex and may not be reduced like this, but again,

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<v Speaker 2>as computers get better and better at different areas, you

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<v Speaker 2>know our experience might be relevant there.

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<v Speaker 3>I'm interested victually as many would say, and that we've

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<v Speaker 3>had on the program before. Paul and I talking to

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<v Speaker 3>Jenny just about how you educate people around poker playing

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<v Speaker 3>and women in particular, and understanding risk and probability and

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<v Speaker 3>ultimately reading people with poker. A professional poker comes money,

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<v Speaker 3>and interestingly, with Wall Street comes money. What are the

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<v Speaker 3>sort of prizes you're having to offer within the world

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<v Speaker 3>of chess to bring about more and more people who

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<v Speaker 3>are at this intersection of Wall Street and chess and

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<v Speaker 3>wanting to be able to sort of tempt those that

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<v Speaker 3>might be a little bit more financially motivated.

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<v Speaker 2>Yes, price funds and chess have been growing clearly as

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<v Speaker 2>the popularity of the sport grows and our broadcast audience

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<v Speaker 2>audiences are larger than ever before, So the money is increasing.

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<v Speaker 2>There's a record price fund for these World WLD Championships,

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<v Speaker 2>more than million dollars. But you know, we have to

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<v Speaker 2>keep expanding and getting more, that's clear. So this is

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<v Speaker 2>part of our is a very important event for us

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<v Speaker 2>because we get an incredible number of spectators. It's our

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<v Speaker 2>second most watched event after the World Championships, and that's

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<v Speaker 2>why it's so important as we connect with more and

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<v Speaker 2>more people and hopefully attract more sponsors to the game.

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<v Speaker 1>And the worst gambit that has some Wall Street players

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<v Speaker 1>going to be playing in this, right, Like who's playing

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<v Speaker 1>that's right?

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<v Speaker 2>Well, that are famous people in the world of finance,

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<v Speaker 2>Einstein and who are all former chess players and quite

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<v Speaker 2>serious chess players. And so we're trying to play in

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<v Speaker 2>that connection, all right, How do people watch this?

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<v Speaker 1>How do they? Is there a stream somewhere or.

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<v Speaker 2>There will be a stream, But you can also attend

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<v Speaker 2>the conference, okay.

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<v Speaker 1>And that's being held were downtown.

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<v Speaker 2>Yes, in uh. I don't have the I'll get a thing,

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<v Speaker 2>but it's basically at.

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<v Speaker 1>All right, and you can check out the stream as well.

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<v Speaker 1>All right, excellent, really interesting stuff on an adjoint says

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<v Speaker 1>he's a five time world champion and fee D deputy president,

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<v Speaker 1>joining us here in studio. They've got their chess event

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<v Speaker 1>going to be down here in Lower Manhattan over the

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<v Speaker 1>next several days, so that's a good thing.