Rouda Alserkal on the pressures of being a 16-year-old chess grandmaster

Aug 28 – Last November, in round eight of the Arab Women’s Chess Championship, Abu Dhabi-raised chess player Rouda Alserkal had a realization. If she won the match, she’d earn enough points to be named a Woman Grandmaster — the first from her country, and the entire Gulf region. Spoiler alert: she did. At only 15, Alserkal etched her name into chess history, becoming a symbol of possibility for young Emirati women in a sport long dominated by men.

Speaking with Reuters from her home chess club in Abu Dhabi, fresh off international tournament appearances in Norway and Romania, Alserkal gets real about the pressures of representing a country, a culture and a gender on the international sporting stage. “I’ve traveled to over 35 countries to play chess,” she says before a young girl approaches to request a selfie — and to show Alserkal that she had chosen her image for her phone background.

The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

You first started playing chess at four years old, and you were originally turned away from a chess club for being too young. How did that moment shape you?

I used to play all the time with my mom, my dad, my sisters. I was begging my mom: “Mom, please take me to a chess club, please take me to a chess club.” I just wanted to play chess, you know?

Two weeks later, because I was being pretty annoying, she found this chess club. She signed me up there, and they were like, sorry, we can’t accept her, because the minimum age back then was six years old. We talked to the coaches there, to the management, and they were like, so sorry, she’s too young.

Then my first coach, Hisham Al-Argha, a Syrian player, he was like, okay, I’m going to give her a chance. I started playing with him, and when I moved the knight, he immediately accepted me. Usually kids, when they first join the chess club, it takes them a while to learn how to move the piece because it has a very complicated movement. And I’m really glad my first coach, Hisham, decided to give me that chance.

How long did it take you to start playing seriously?

I joined the Chess Club in December 2013. And my coach was like, okay, so Rouda, go play with this girl. And the girl was like: “What are you doing? You can’t move two pieces at once!”

But later on, I was playing, I was beating the girls from our chess club. The club decided to give me a chance to go play in the Asian Championship when I was four years old. And luckily, I was able to take the bronze medal in the Asian Championship. Then, a couple of months later, I played in the Asian Schools Championship, and I took first place there.

Becoming a serious chess competitor at such a young age, what were the greatest sacrifices you had to make? Were they worth it?

I had to sacrifice a part of my childhood, because I wasn’t always at school. I didn’t have time to have fun, go out with my friends. I was missing out on so many family events, friends’ stuff, because I was always traveling, training, playing chess.

Of course, it seems fun that I’m always traveling, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. There’s a lot of pressure. I was five years old, pressured from the chess club, family, federation. They were expecting a lot from me. But I don’t regret it. Not one bit. I’m very happy that I chose this path.

What is it like balancing your different identities as a teenager, in high school, and then on the other hand, a Woman Grandmaster?

I’m two different people. At school I’m a different person; at chess I’m a different person. I know when to have fun; I know when training is serious. I just keep things very balanced. And when I go to tournaments and win and come back to school, I just pretend like nothing happened. Even my teachers, they’re just like: “Good job, Rouda! I need you to submit this assignment.”

What is your style like as a player?

I think I’m a very attacking player. I love tactics. I love calculating. But chess is all about balance. You should know when to attack, when to defend. Personally, I think I’m very good at defending bad positions. But I love tactics. I don’t think I’m a very positional player. I like playing openings that are going to lead me to some very crazy, complicated positions where everything is hanging.

What is your training regimen these days?

During school days, I train like three and a half hours, maybe four hours. During vacation, I would say my entire day is chess. I do take some breaks, but I’m always playing tournaments, always with my coach training at the chess club, always with my friends. Even when I’m at home, I always play on Chess.com. I search for some tactics. At some point I’m going to start dreaming about chess.

During training, we mainly focus on my weaknesses. For example, I just came back from a tournament and my coach noticed that I’m having some troubles with positional chess. So, he can give me a very positional game by, let’s say, Magnus Carlsen, and we analyze this game.

Do you think you’re more of a theory player or an intuitive player?

I’m more of an intuitive player. I think I have a very good memory when it comes to chess, but I like using my intuition more because I trust myself. I’ve played for 11 years now. When I know that my opponent did something wrong in the position, when I know that I have a good move in the position, I just have a feeling about it. This is why sometimes my coach says that I’m better at playing rapid chess. I just trust my intuition more and just go with the flow.

You became a Woman Grandmaster at fifteen-years-old. You were the first in the UAE and in the entire Gulf region. What does that title mean to you — not just as a chess player, but as a young Emirati woman?

Obviously, with the title comes a lot of responsibility. This means I have to train 10 times harder, I have to keep up the grind. I have more goals to achieve, more tournaments to win, and more rating to gain. Of course, it’s very stressful. Especially when I go to big tournaments, like the World Championship. Recently, I was playing the World Cup, and I was the only Emirati who was playing there.

How do you handle that pressure? I try to just remind myself that I’m playing chess for myself because I love chess. I’m not playing chess for anyone .

What is it like being a young woman in a sport traditionally dominated by men?

People are always going to say something. I remember there was this post about me, congratulating me for being the first woman grandmaster from the UAE. And I was looking at the comments and everyone was talking about everything else about me, not the chess. I’m putting my best into this game and people just can’t see it and they’re just focusing on everything else: my looks, the fact that I don’t wear a hijab.

This is not what I’m trying to show the media. I’m trying to show them that I’m an Emirati woman; I’m a 16-year-old, and I have accomplished a lot. I’ve made a name for myself. People are just focusing on the wrong stuff, and this is never going to stop, obviously. I just have to ignore it completely and focus on what’s important, which is me playing chess.

Through all that noise, it’s clear you’re breaking boundaries in the sport. Talking to the kids around the club, they think you walk on water. What is it like being able to inspire other kids in the UAE, and other young women, to play chess?

When I first joined the chess club, there weren’t a lot of people. But later on, I think when I first started winning, so many kids started joining. And I remember, I would be walking around and people were like: Oh, you’re Rouda. Oh, I’ve heard a lot about you. We joined the chess club because we wanted to see you.

This means a lot to me, it makes me really proud. I just really hope that we can see more UAE players, UAE women, more talents, more tournaments. It’s such an honor. I’m really happy that many kids look up to me, many girls look up to me. But as I said, it can be very stressful sometimes, trying to just give the perfect picture. Because no one’s perfect; everyone has their flaws.

What comes next for you?

I’m planning on winning more world championships. The World Youth Championship is coming soon in October in Albania, and I’m going to work really hard to at least take top three.

I have to ask: I know you’ve seen

The Queen’s Gambit

. What did they get right? What did they get wrong?

You know, there were some parts that were unrealistic, but the parts that I liked were that they were showing Beth’s dark side. No one really shows the dark side. I really like that they just showed, behind the scenes, how dark her life was. And although she was going through a lot, she was still doing well in chess.

This made me really like the show. I continued watching the show because of it. And the fact that she started playing chess and it was just all men’s tournaments, and she was the only woman who was playing. I really liked that. It made me very proud as a woman.

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