For the approximately two weeks that he was in Goa for the FIDE World Cup, trying also to qualify for the Candidates, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi looked like a man at ease. Unlike other chess tournaments, the knockout format of the World Cup is designed to keep grandmasters on the edge and in a constant state of anxiety.
For Vidit, who has played chess around the world, playing in India brought a certain comfort level. The rare presence of his entire family during a high-stakes tournament had a lot to do with this feeling.
“I don’t know how many more World Cups I’m going to play. So it was nice that they could watch this live from the venue,” says Vidit. After his elimination, he is now preparing for another home event, the Global Chess League, which will be held in Mumbai.
Having elite tournaments in India meant other comforts for the Indian grandmaster besides having his family around him. It meant that his primary concern while travelling abroad — food— was taken care of. He’s had enough instances of asking for vegetarian food at hotels and restaurants and being served just rice and grilled vegetables.
It’s why his suitcase for tournaments abroad in his peak playing days would have an assorted mix of instant noodle packets and protein bars. It’s why he used to travel with a rice cooker to tournaments abroad as a young kid. It’s why he learnt how to cook as early as eight years of age after his first experience of travelling to Iran for the Under-9 Asian championship in 2005.
“My parents could not travel with me because it was too expensive. So with limited food options, I ended up making instant noodles in my hotel room on days. After that, I came back and learnt cooking. So when I won the U14 World Championship in Vietnam’s Vũng Tàu, I had actually cooked khichdi before the last round,” Vidit chuckles.
“Of course, right now it’s not feasible (with all the preparation that needs to be done before games) to cook. It actually sounds stupid that you have to cook your own food before going to the game.”
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So Vidit has come up with hacks to solve the food puzzle. Like requesting tournament organisers beforehand to provide some vegetarian options.
“Personally, I’ve struggled the most when it comes to food. I’ve played tournaments in Khanty-Mansiysk, where you cannot find any vegetarian food at all. Vegetarianism is not a concept that many Western countries have completely adopted. Even in countries where there is now a vegan food trend, it’s largely centred in cities. But tournaments in places like Uzbekistan’s Samarkand, where they only consume meat, there’s a struggle. It’s part of their centuries-long culture. So for them to make vegetarian food is tough,” he says.
“There’s no substitute for cooked food. Not getting that affects me at a very deep level because food means energy and if I don’t get proper nutrition I struggle with sleep. Chess is an exhausting game at the end of the day.”
Having a tournament in India also meant Vidit did not have to go through long connecting flights and visa procedures.
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“Some players at the World Cup said that when they come to India, they have to change two flights; maybe, once in 10 years. We do this every month, sometimes three connecting flights to get to a tournament. And we can play as many as three tournaments a month.
“Then there are visa issues. There are times when I’ve got my passport with the visa stamped only at the airport on the day of the flight. When I was going to Canada for the Candidates last year, I applied in December for the event in March. Firstly, I had to give so many documents. And still, there was no certainty that we’ll get it. What was funny was that my second Daniele Vocaturo, who’s from Italy, applied online while we were having a session and in about 10 minutes, he got his visa,” Vidit recalls.
