Former FIDE World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov Talks Chess and Trading

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

Here are excerpts from an interview with Rustam Kasimdzhanov - World FIDE Chess Champion 2004. You can read the full interview here.

 

From L-R: Christian (German Operations Manager), Nikita (Russian Operations Manager), Rustam (FIDE 2004 World Champion) and Jack (Tradimo Head Coach)

Rustam Kasimdzhanov: Frankly speaking, there's no routine or schedule. Sometimes I may dedicate 12 or 14 hours to chess, sometimes just half an hour. I spend more time playing when I'm surrounded by other chess players, and less time when I'm alone, obviously. I know some people who spend all their spare time playing chess! However, there are those who can get by on their own talent and who don't spend so much time studying and practising.

Q. It's similar to trading in this way. There are traders who spend days and nights at the PC and others who can manage on two hours a day and still succeed. It's more about style and strategy. Talking of strategies, in trading, there's a concept called money management whereby a trader defines their acceptable levels of risk. Is there anything like this in chess?

In chess, risk management is very important and also depends on your style as a player. Some positions are lower risk than others. Say there's an interesting move but the results are completely unknown, the Old School would say 'no, don't make that move'. But it depends on your style. Someone else will take more risk, and then reassess after every move and every piece sacrificed. Others are not so fond of such uncertainty and weigh all the risks before making a decision. I'm sure it's the same in trading.

Yes, quite right. Traders often take completely different approaches to each other in the same market conditions – some tend to avoid trading, while others enter the market and increase their position sizes, taking on more risk.

Yes, I suppose such people can be found wherever there's a need to make strategic decisions and assess risk.

Rustam, tell us why you came to Tradimo? What did you like about it?
Rustam Kasimdzhanov: Frankly speaking, I'm fairly surprised there are people who still haven't signed up on your site. Your project is very interesting as it offers training in financial trading and money management absolutely for free. Too many people prefer to pay huge sums of money to someone who will trade for them, and they lose the chance to maximise their own capital.

Q.Will you share your financial trading experience with our users? What further plans in this area do you have?

This topic is extremely interesting for me. I have read a lot about trading, have tried everything under real conditions and now I'm going to contribute much more time to it. As I see it, one shouldn't trust someone else to manage their money if they have an opportunity to do it themselves. And nowadays, knowing how financial markets and macroeconomics work is no bad thing for anyone.

I agree entirely. Even if we don't take part in financial market trading directly, we do still exchange currency when going abroad and then coming back.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal chess blog
at www.chessqueen.com
Don't miss Chess Queen™
YouTube Channel