First of all, I am a mother, and only then a chessplayer

“First of all, I am a mother, and only then a chessplayer”

Interview with winner GM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant

Kirill Levkin: You were born in Georgia and were playing for the country for a long time. Why have you changed your citizenship?

Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant: The point is that in 1996 I married a Scottish citizen. My husband is a chessplayer too, an amateur. And I’ve been living in Scotland for 13 years already, but have continued to play for the Georgian Chess Federation in championships. I changed the federation last year only. The decision had many reasons, and the main one is that long since I’m a habitant and a chessplayer of Scotland, and it would be right to play for the country where I live with my family.

And where there is more competition at the national level: in Scotland or in Georgia?

As for men’s chess, there are five grandmasters in Scotland, six counting me – it is a good staff for a small federation. But most participants of national championships still play at amateur level, so, of course, competition in Scotland does not reach that in Georgia, and popularity of chess is much less.

You are in St. Petersburg for the second time this year. What are your impressions of our city?

I played chess in Leningrad many years ago, but I was a schoolgirl then and have only hazy recollections. I was very glad to hear that Petersburg is to play host to the European Championship [held in March 2009]. And now when I said at home I’m invited to this tournament, everybody envied me. They said, ‘Oh, no, you are lucky! You are going to Petersburg again!’ You city has a quite fair name all over the world, and many people of different countries want to come here and see all this beauty themselves.

Here is the full article.