Positively. Federer is an avid chess participant, in accordance with Ivan Ljubicic, who coached him in tennis from 2016 to 2022 and is himself a former tennis world number-three. In keeping with Ljubicic, Federer “likes to play bullet to kill time and distract himself….  He additionally is aware of the overall concepts of what is occurring within the chess world.”

Ljubicic takes credit score for Federer’s curiosity in chess and says the 20-time Grand Slam champion noticed “how fanatic I used to be about it [the game]” and “bought hooked” by seeing how absorbed his coach was with chess.

Why Did Federer Play Tani?

The video games with Tani have been recorded as a part of Federer’s new video collection through which he visits his favourite cities around the globe. The tennis legend’s go to to New York Metropolis contains 4 movies; the video about taking part in Tani, entitled “Assembly of the Masters,” is clearly the spotlight and essentially the most entertaining one.

Completely. The seven-time Wimbledon champion commented: “I have never been nervous shortly since my taking part in days principally. However I’ve by no means sat throughout a chess grasp, so at the moment, properly I could also be a little bit nervous.” However, Tani informed Chess.com: “I wasn’t nervous in any respect”—by the best way, he has additionally met different well-known athletes similar to Kayvon Thibodeaux, New York Giants defensive finish, and Grant Williams, Boston Celtics ahead. By the way, Tani has performed Williams “blindfolded” and gained as the next video exhibits.

After spending 90 minutes with Federer, Tani informed Chess.com that if he needed to give the tennis star a chess score it might be below 1500. Tani explains: “I feel Roger can be round 1300-1500. He could make plans which I feel is already at that stage; his weak spot can be lacking opponents’ concepts deeper.”

Tani described Federer as “humble.” The younger prodigy informed Chess.com: “He’s very humble, and I can say he loves me as a result of he mentioned he had learn a lot about me.”

He did. Tani says: “He mentioned that I should not be too pleased with myself and he’ll hold following me in my profession.”

Tani’s story is now well-known by many Chess.com members and extra broadly internationally since his autobiography, My Title Is Tani, was printed in 2020. Born in Nigeria, he left his native county for the US along with his household in 2017 to flee violent threats from a terrorist group. After he joined a chess membership at his elementary college in New York Metropolis, Tani quickly realized to play the sport, has been gaining trophies ever since, and is projected to climb increased within the chess world after incomes his second IM norm final 12 months on the age of 11.

Not solely as soon as however 3 times—even with rook odds. In all video games, Tani established a really snug benefit early earlier than checkmating his opponent. Did Federer ever stand an opportunity to win? He says: I don’t even suppose for a second.” For instance, one sport led to checkmate by Tani this fashion: