2024-08-28 14:34:39
The editor-in-chief of “Chess Armenia” magazine Gagik Hovhannisyan conducted an exclusive interview with Charles Aznavour in Zurich.
– Master, we are extremely happy that you, being now, I think, the most famous Armenian in the world…
– Yes (smiling), I think it’s true…
– …And here, you found time to come here, where the world’s most famous chess players compete, including our Levon Aronian. As far as I know, you are not only interested in chess, but also play it yourself.
– I can say that it was like this 30-35 years ago, when I loved playing chess like crazy.
– Do you remember when you learned to play chess and who taught you?
– Poet Misak Manushyan. During the war, when the Germans occupied Paris, Manushyan lived in our house. We couldn’t leave the house all day, we had to do something, and Misak taught me how to play chess.
– Did Misak play chess well? Were you winning or him?
– I can’t say how well he played. Understandably, I was being defeated. Rather, he just taught me the steps and I mostly played along with my musicians.
– And who were your competitors?
– I used to play a lot with my pianist and his two brothers, who are also musicians. They were from Lebanon, surnamed Rabat, they were Arabs, but their mother was an Armenian woman who was an orphan, they were employed in that family, then one of the boys married her, they had six children. I took three of them into my band. And I played chess with them all the time.
– Master, you said that you loved chess like crazy. How would you explain what attracted you to chess?
– Once, when I was in the hospital, my doctor advised me to do something other than my main job. For me it was chess, but I can’t do anything in life. That’s how I started playing chess like a patient, like a madman.
– And in the past 30-35 years, when you were not playing, did you still follow the chess events?
– I know that chess has achieved great success in Armenia. Follow and proud. Whenever Armenians have achievements somewhere, I watch with love and am happy and proud. And if it’s a failure, I don’t even want to talk about it. And now I love watching the game of the talented Armenian boy Levon Aronian. Armenians should always be the best, win, be it in chess, concerts or anywhere else.
– In your opinion, why is chess so popular in the world, why is the Zurich tournament hall full these days, for example? Yes, you also watched the game with interest for a long time, took photos of the chess players.
– I think one of the reasons is that chess is a kind of relaxation. you can watch the game for several hours without getting tired.
– On one occasion, you gave the name of famous chess grandmaster Saveli Tartakover…
– When I was playing chess, I started reading and studying Tartakov’s textbook in order to understand the secrets of the game. As I said, when I do something, I have to do my job very well, go to the end, reach the maximum, know who is, what is, where it comes from and where it is going.
– Perhaps it is thanks to this that you have reached such a height in your art.
– I hardly went to school. After the age of ten and a half, I left my studies because I had to pay and we didn’t have AMD. I started giving concerts very early. And I’ve done everything myself all my life.
– Soon, in May of this year, you will be 90 years old. Can you tell me where, in what way, with what concert you will celebrate your jubilee?
– Probably, I will have a concert in Armenia. May is being invited from different places. Canada, France, other countries, but I think it would be right to organize in Armenia.
– What other plans do you have?
– (Smiling) I will live and create for another 30 years. So I have a lot to do. I might as well start playing chess again…
The interview was conducted by Gagik Hovhannisyan
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