The incredible story of Sara Khadem
STAAVENGER: On the opening day of Norway Chess, all 12 players posed for photos on the staircase just above the playing hall. The expressions of 11 of the 12 players were variations of bored, them just wanting to get on with it. The one exception? Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, an IM.
She was smiling throughout the photoshoot, more than happy to oblige the photographers. Ten minutes in her company and it's easy to see why she was the only smiling face at the Opening Ceremony. "(smiles) I'm generally a happy person," she tells a group of Indian journalists. She's one of the very few at the top-end of elite chess who sees the game as a means to an end but not the end in itself. "Inside, I might be upset but I'm generally happy, I feel like my life isn't dependent on these games. If I win this tournament and you tell me my life is going to change, 'no, no, it wont'."
That sort of refreshing perspective comes with the territory because Sara -- as she's known in chess circles -- has already been through a lot. First, her passport was confiscated and she wasn't allowed to leave Iran, her country of berth. She subsequently withdrew from the federation. Then came a Covid-induced lockdown. In late 2022, at the World Rapid and Blitz in Kazakhstan, she competed without the hijab, which prompted a furious backlash in her native country with authorities waiting with an arrest warrant. Six months later, Spain granted her citizenship. Since then, she's been in Marbella but during her time in Iran, the one-time child prodigy did consider giving up the game she loves.
"A lot of things have happened in life which have made me go slowly or even backwards," the 28-year-old, who has won loads of individual events in age-group events, says. When she first started playing senior chess, it was considered to be a matter of time for her to become a GM. Yet, that dream hasn't materialised. Events like these, though, have kept her motivated.
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