Kostia Zuev - Hobbies

This page is wiritten mainly for my studetns. I hope that reading about my hobbies would help you to know me personally a bit better.

Ever since I can remember I played chess. When I was a kid I wanted to become a world champion, but this did not happen :) My biggest achievements are rather modest: the 4th place in the Hong Kong Chess Championship and a draw against a former world champion Anatoly Karpov in a simul. Chess is one of my main hobbies, it cheers me up and helps me to relax after a long hard day. In summer 2020, to enhance the online experience of all Caltech community members, who like to play chess, I have created the Caltech Chess Club on lichess. This club is created for the entire Caltech community – students, postdocs, faculty and staff members – to enjoy friendly online chess tournaments. So, if you like to play chess and want to meet other Techers over the virtual board, join us! To register: a) Create an account at lichess.org b) Send a request to joint the Caltech Chess Club c) Send an email to kostia [at] caltech [dot] edu from your Caltech email with your lichess username. See you over the virtual board!

My favorite sport is football (aka soccer). As a kid, I spent days (and sometimes nights!) playing football outside with my friends. I watched all games of the 1994 World Cup, and cried when Roberto Baggio missed the penalty in the shootout of the final against Brazil. As a student, I played for a Mechanics and Mathematics Department team, called MMF, and we became the champions in 2005. Modesty forbids me to show this photo here. In the photo below, I am the first from the left in the back row (I still have this jersey!) I was #5 and played right winger. In 2007, I played for the Civil Engineering Department team of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and we won the championship. Unfortunately, in one of the games, I have badly dislocated my right shoulder. Because of this trauma I can't play football competitively anymore, but if you want to invite for a friendly pick-up game, I will be happy to join!

I like hiking and camping a lot. My favorite National Park is Death Valley. It is my “place of power” in Castaneda's sense :) Usually I visit Death Valley with my family twice a year, in Spring and Fall. Speaking of mountains and canyons, among many other places around the globe, I hiked the White Mountain Peak in California (I barely made it, since I suffered from altitude sickness), the Grand Canyon in Arizona (it took me 10.5 hours from South Rim to the bottom and back again), Mount Moosilauke in New Hampshire, Blue Hills in Massachusetts, Castle Peak and the Wilson Trail in Hong Kong. I hope that one day I do the John Muir Trail in the Sierra Nevada, or even, perhaps, the Pacific Crest Trail!

I like team sports. So, after I stopped playing football “seriously,” I have started to look around for alternatives, and discovered an amazing sport, called floorball. I learned it from Caltech students and postdocs in 2010, when I myself was a postdoc at Caltech. We used to play in the Brown Gym, and had a very good team. Caltech's team participated in the official US/California tournaments and was competitive. Unfortunately, after the floor in the Brown Gym was refurbished, we were kicked out from the Gym because our sticks could scratch the new floor. We were offered to put socks on our sticks, but we obviously refused to do that :) Ironically, I have met several students who seriously believed that, in floorball, socks are supposed to be on sticks! :) Now I am playing for the SoCal team. In 2017 we won the US National Championship! In the photo below, I am the one with two medals! Let me know if you want to try real floorball (without socks on sticks). We practice in El Segundo and Fullerton.

As I wrote on my research page, I like to branch out and learn new things. This applies not only to research :) In 2018, I have started to practice karate at the Caltech Karate Club, which is the oldest university karate club in the United States (founded by Mr. Tsutomu Ohshima in 1957). The club is affiliated with Shotokan Karate of America, a nonprofit organization teaching traditional karate since 1956. The club is open to all members of the Caltech community and all members of the local community (18 years of age or older). You are very welcome to join! Karate is a lifelong journey and it will help you to learn a lot about yourself.