The Stern General Efstratios Grivas

I have always had a problem with his name. I first met Efstratios Grivas, a chess grandmaster from Greece, in Tromso, Norway in 2014 when he was the coach of the Sri Lankan team for the Chess Olympiad and I was the non-playing captain cum coach.  ‘Grandmaster’ seemed too formal. ‘Grivas’ was too casual. ‘Efstratios’ was hard to pronounce. I called him ‘captain.’ 

Now, 12 years later, he is once again our coach and I am also here in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, for the Chess Olympiad or rather the Congressional Sessions and Election of the world body for chess, FIDE. He is the official ‘captain’. I am the official delegate of Sri Lanka.

A few weeks ago, when we came to an agreement about this particular assignment, I told him that I never knew how to address him. He laughed and came up with some suggestions. I asked him what his name meant. ‘Efstratios,’ he said, meant ‘General.’ Seemed apt.  Now, when I address him either in text or in conversation it’s ‘General’ or ‘Captain.’

Today, I decided to investigate the name. Etymology. Historically, it meant 'commander of a good army.' 'Ef' means 'good' and 'stratos' is 'army.' General’ is a decent enough equivalent. Stratos 'moved' to 'strategy.' Makes chess sense as well.  But Grivas? Well, apparently it is from Slavic languages and it means 'the mane of a horse'. Apparently one of his ancestors was a big warrior who was feared. 

 

He’s had his battles. On and off the chess board. His exploits in chess are well documented and include dozens of medals in world events. He has represented Greece in international competitions no less than a staggering 186 times and he’s competed in eight Chess Olympiads between 1982 and 1999. 

General Grivas has not played much competitive chess in decades but he’s spent all that time honing the competitiveness of hundreds of thousands of chess players. He holds top coaching credentials in the world body for chess, FIDE, and has coached dozens of top grandmasters. He’s a champion-generating machine and that has a lot to do with his knowledge, his ‘generalship’ and being a ‘stern one’ long before the ‘greyness’ arrived and through the passing years. He has coached and he has helped people self-learn through over 130 published chess books and other educational material which have been translated into nine languages. There’s even a chess opening in his name, the Grivas Sicilian variation.

So he’s won medals for his playing and awards for training and leadership. He would shrug these off with a characteristic wave of the hand and a laugh. Yes, General Grivas can laugh and can make people laugh. But I’ve seen him being stern. When he has to. Decades of teaching has probably given him an array of training techniques he can draw from to get his players to be the best they can be. He can instill fear but also obtained respect for he ensures that at the end of a session self-confidence is left intact or strengthened.  

Battles off the 64 squares are for anecdotal articulation. He says things in passing but only if asked. He has let things go. He lets things stay 'gone.'  Wise man. 

Last night, outside the Bogishamol Hotel in Samarkand, I listened with fascination as he tossed out examples of things that worked for him and the theories behind certain coaching decisions including team selection and which complement of players should play each round of a team tournament like the Olympiad. 

I offered, ‘you keep learning as you teach, don’t you?’  

He didn’t laugh. He was not ‘stern.’ He simply said, ‘Of course; if you think you know it all, you are finished.’  As a teacher, that is. 

It’s not some amazing ‘truth’ that he has chanced upon of course, for the best teachers always know there is more to know than is already known. Not all teachers operate that way. They prefer to display a wizard badge or wear the relevant trappings in words, voice, tone and advertisement. 

Grivas, a FIDE Senior Trainer who once served as the Secretary of the FIDE Trainers’ Commission and of the European Chess Trainers’ Commission, has credentials tough to match, but he has in the  curriculum vitae of demeanour and conduct that which is rare among teachers. Humility. 

It's been 12 years since I first met him. We’ve aged, both of us. He has become a better coach. I can say that because simply by walking through the years I read people better than I did 12 years ago. There’s more grey than before, less hair too. The mind is young. Virile. And he gives the best lessons without reservation.

‘What a teacher!’ That’s what I might have said 12 years ago. ‘What a student!’ That’s what I say today. I know he will laugh if/when he hears/reads this.

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The long road to ‘Gold’ at the Chess Olympiad

It’s a long way from Colombo to Tromso.  Indeed, a few years ago none who undertook the journey to the distant fishing ‘village’ in the northern part of Norway would have heard the name.  That is, not until FIDE, the world body governing chess announced that the 2014 Chess Olympiad would be held there.  The journey was long.  It was arduous too because a cash-strapped Chess Federation had to arrange a flight + train + bus journey.  There were no tickets by the time the visas came through.  In fact the manager got his visa so late that the team left without him.  He left the following day, but due to fortuitous scheduling of trains, arrived in Tromso just a few hours after the team did.

No one complained.   They took a flight to Stockholm, followed by a 22 hour train ride to Narvik, Norway and a 4 hour bus ride to Tromso.  They still managed to arrive a day before the tournament started without any loss of enthusiasm.  Sri Lanka fielded a solid team which included three national champions, G.C. Anuruddha (who was playing in his 6^th Olympiad), Chamika Perera (National Champion 2011) and Isuru Alahakoon (National Champion 2012, 2013 and 2014), the last two playing in their second Olympiad.  It was Prasanna Kurukulasuriya’s first Olympiad but he has been consistently among the top 10 players in Sri Lanka for more than a decade now.  Rajeendra Kalugampitiya, currently the No 1 blitz and rapid player in Sri Lanka, first played in the Olympiad in 2006 when he was a schoolboy.  This was his second Olympiad.

There was also a women’s team, led by Anuththara Chandrasiri of Girls’ High School, Kandy.  They performed creditably, winning 5 and losing 6 of their matches.  This story, however, is about the men’s team, competing in the Open Section. 

The team had been put through a tough training program organized by the Federation which secured the services of a top coach from Greece, Efstratios Grivas.  He spent two weeks in Sri Lanka and the players agree that this was the best preparation they had seen in many years.  Grivas, a key member of FIDE’s training program, was at hand in Tromso to help the team.  He spent a vital 2 hours with them every morning, going through the games they had played and helping them prepare for the particular opponents in the afternoon.   Most importantly, he infused a sense of purpose and gave the players ample confidence especially when they took on opponents with higher ratings.  None of the players would ever be intimated by titles such as Grandmaster (GM) or International Master (IM). 

Sri Lanka was ranked 120^th in a field of 172 teams.  The team didn’t have a single IM or GM.  They ended 74^th.   That leap was enough to secure a Gold for the team according to the tournament format which offered ‘category prizes’ for the best performing teams in 5 different rating-related segments.  It was tough going all the way.  As the coach pointed out, there are no bad teams, everyone comes to play chess and you have to be totally focused in order to win. 

Sri Lanka’s low ranking assured a strong opponent in the first round.  Sweden, ranked 34^th, had 4 GMs.  Sri Lanka lost 1-3, Alahakoon and Kalugampitiya drawing their respective games, the latter actually missing a relatively easy win.  Sri Lanka beat Honduras (125^th) 3-1 in the next round but lost to 66^th Ranked Scotland in the 3^rd round, 1-3. Scotland boasted of 2GMs.  Anuruddha drew with one of them while Alahakoon drew with FIDE Master Alan Tate.  The loss gave Sri Lanka a weaker opponent in the 4^th round, Malawi (134^th).  A 3-1 win saw Sri Lanka being paired with Venezuela (61^st) in the 6^th round. Venezuela, with 1 GM and 1 IM had a tough time.  Mistakes under pressure saw what ought to have been a  2.5-1.5 victory turn into a 1.5-2.5 defeat.  Anuruddha drew against an IM while Chamika defeated an FM. 

The pattern of loss followed by victory was wrecked when Sri Lanka defeated Afghanistan 4-0 and Jamaica 2.5-1.5 in the next two rounds.  It was at this point that Sri Lanka became a contender for the category prize.  The next two assignments, however, were tough.  Finland, ranked 56^th with a GM and 2 IMs, defeated Sri Lanka 4-0 while Sri Lanka went down to 55^th ranked Bangladesh 1-3.  In the latter match, had opportunities not been squandered, a draw or even a victory might have been possible. 

It all came down to the last round.  Sri Lanka was drawn to play New Zealand, a team with 3 IMs and ranked 44 spots higher.  Kurukulasuriya lost relatively quickly on Board 1, adding pressure to the other 3 players.  Anuruddha got into difficulties but fought as tenaciously as he had throughout the tournament to secure a draw.   He remained the only unbeaten player in the team and won an FM title for his efforts.  Chamika and Isuru battled hard to score memorable wins over considerably higher ranked players.  They held their nerve although down to a few seconds on the ‘clock’, unfazed even by the huge commotion caused by a Swiss player collapsing with a heart attack. 

That 2.5-1.5 win pushed Sri Lanka marginally higher than Lebanon on the tie break for the category prize.  There was jubilation, naturally, for Sri Lanka had not won a category prize in over 30 years.  The entire team put it down to better preparation courtesy the foresight of the Federation to secure Mr Grivas’ services.  The players themselves kept their motivational levels high despite setbacks, determined to do their best without being intimated by players stronger on paper. 

Anuruddha, in particular, brought all his experience into play.  Isuru Alahakoon, the team’s captain, gets the credit for both his excellent play and for convincing his teammates that the team should not be happy with consolation prizes of securing the odd draw with a GM or IM, instead they should aim to win the particular match.  Kurukulasuriya, handed the toughest assignment of playing on Board 1, played game after tough game without complaint.  Chamika Perera offered solidity on Boards 2 and 3, while Kalugampitya was gracious to acknowledge form loss.  This did not stop him from constantly backing his team and reveling in their victories.  It was, in this sense, an excellent team effort.  A well deserved Gold. 

[The writer accompanied the team as Manager cum Non-Playing Captain]

     

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