Irene Martín Morales I Málaga, (EFE).- “Passion”, “work” and qualities such as “memory and concentration” are key to succeeding in chess, says the Swedish player Pia Cramling, three times gold winner Olympic –Los Angeles (1984), Seoul (1988) and Beijing (2022)– and Absolute Grand Master in 1992.
Born in Stockholm in 1963, Cramling entered the world of chess as a child, back in the 1970s, and has had a long and successful career. She has lived in Spain since 1988 and is married to another great in this sport, Grandmaster Juan Manuel Bellón.
“When I play I stay in my bubble and try to find plans to win,” explains Pia Cramling to EFE, who praises her previous preparation with the “tremendous help” of her computer to analyze her “games and mistakes” and also those of her opponent. , especially in “the openings”, since the beginning can determine “entering the game”.
She recognizes, in this sense, that often she herself, with her doubts, can be an obstacle to winning the game, which is why she always advises “to be optimistic and kind to yourself when things go wrong”.
A male-dominated sport
The chess player, who set an unprecedented record of 47 consecutive games without losing in the Olympics, reveals the “loneliness” she felt in her early days as a woman and with which she still lives today.
“The environment in the world of chess is very good, it’s a bit like a big family”, but it still has to be opened up more because, although “a lot is changing, there is still a long way to go” in a sport that is widely practiced by men, he says.
“I would like it to be possible to achieve that there are more or less the same number of women and men playing,” says Cramling, who remembers that when he started there was one player in a hundred chess players and that now it is ten percent.
As an example of female strength in chess, Cramling highlights the character of Beth Harmon from the famous Netflix series “Queen’s Gambit”, with which she finds certain similarities with her own life, especially in the machismo she has experienced in this sport.
The benchmark of “Queen’s Gambit”
As Pia Cramling points out, players often think that a woman is weaker when, in reality, she “runs first” in the tournament. “It’s typical,” she says.
Harmon’s character in “Queen’s Gambit” remains a “very feminine” ideal, while the Swedish chess player confesses that she has always wanted to go unnoticed and be “one among others” under the acronym ‘P. Cramling ‘so they “wouldn’t know if he was a boy or a girl.” He even came to look more masculine with short hair.
“She (Beth Harmon) was very feminine and it’s something that I really liked, because women have to be the way they are,” remarks the player.
Cramling, who was proclaimed European champion in 2003, has participated so far in 13 Chess Olympiads and has won eight medals, the last one, gold, in 2022, which she highlights with special importance, since she normally faces opponents younger and is happy to be able to “achieve good results” at his age.
“I would like to inspire other women, especially those who are not so young, 30 or 40 years old, so that they can see that, even if a woman reaches a higher age, she can continue fighting and enjoying herself”, she points out.
a precocious player
Pia Cramling’s passion for chess began thanks to her brother, who also introduced her to other sports such as fishing or soccer. However, the player opted for the boards, she joined a club and began to participate in school competitions.
At the age of twelve, she knew that “one way or another” she was going to continue with chess throughout her life, finding inspiration later also in her husband, with whom she travels and plays.
Cramling does not hide his admiration for the Grandmaster and World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen (Tonsberg, Norway, 1990), who highlights his humility and interest in making this sport popular among young people. “I admire players who are strong, but also who are good people in normal life,” he details.
The game-science teacher visited the La Térmica cultural center in Malaga this week, where she talked about her professional experience and participated in ten simultaneous games, adding eight victories and two draws.
Chess, says Cramling, can be used “in many ways”, and although his has been to compete, it also has an important social role, as it can be an educational exercise and eliminates barriers: “There is no age, sex, or where we are, we go together and we are the same”, he concludes. EFE
