Elsewhere on the Web : 2005 FIDE World Cup - Quotes
Saturday December 10, 2005
The official site of the 2005 FIDE World Cup, Khanty-Mansiysk (Siberia), Russia, has been posting interviews with many of the 128 players. Here are some comments that caught our eye.
See the link to the official site at the end of these quotes for more from these players and others.
Alexander Filipenko, Governor of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Region, the organizer and host for the event • Q: Khanty-Mansiysk is a place for winter sports. Why was a decision taken on holding a chess tournament here? • A: Ten of our local sportsmen participated in the last Summer Olympic Games. For an area with 1% of the Russian population it is a good result. You are right that we should focus on winter sports but one can also play chess in winter. Of course there are some problems: here in Siberia air temperature can be minus 40 degrees and even lower, and some participants have never seen snow in their lives.
Levon Aronian (seeded no.3, GM, ARM, rated 2724 before the event) • Q: How much is chess an unpredictable kind of sport? • A: Psychology plays a great role in chess. Something that is hard to understand may happen but in fact everything can be easily explained: for example, you sleep badly or eat bad food and then you play a bad game. Absolutely anything can influence the game.
Magnus Carlsen (no.97, GM, NOR, 2570, became 15 years old during the second round) • Q: When did you start to play chess? • A: I learned the rules when I was five, and I began to play when I was eight. I think the main reason for my success is that I was always interested in chess. It was interesting for me to be engaged and to search for new options.
Ernesto Inarkiev (no.93, GM, RUS, 2577, 'one of the most talented young Russian grandmasters') • Q: There is a lot of talk about the crisis in Russian chess, about the lack of young promising chess players. What is your opinion on this? • A: My contemporaries and I are ironical about the statement regarding the crisis in Russian chess. Judging by my own experience I can declare that the competition is getting more intense. There are a lot of young players here who are highly competitive with well-known 'stars' from other countries. I think that too little attention is paid to so-called public relations, popularizing names.
Vassily Ivanchuk (no.1, GM, UKR, 2748, top seed knocked out in the second round) • Q: Do you plan to write a book? • A: It is a big question. I don’t want to write a bad book. And writing good makes you open up to the readers personal information. That way you give a weapon to your enemies. I am afraid I am not ready yet.
Gata Kamsky (no.13, GM, USA, 2690, played a match for the World Chess Championship in 1996 and then quit playing) • Q: Eight years ago you left chess. Have you practiced all these years or you are back with the same knowledge? • A: I have not opened any chess books for these years. I don't have chess pieces at home! I started to play last year. I came to the club, made up my mind to play and became keen on it. Nevertheless I played a lot of tournaments already, I am still getting back into shape. It is hard - much time has passed already. During these years chess has developed much.
Murtaz Kazgaleev (no.72, GM, KAZ, 2601 ) • Q: What are your impressions about the Championship in Ugra region? • A: I was pleasantly shocked by the opening ceremony. It is good that there are such regions in Russia. I was amazed by the hospitality when I came here. I stayed in Ugra hotel for the first night so I can speak of the beauty of Khanty-Mansiysk town. I am sure this is a common opinion among all the participants.
Alexander Khalifman (no.36, GM, RUS, 2653, winner of the 1999 World Championship in Las Vegas) • Q: Do you like it here in Khanty-Mansiysk? • A: I thought it was a country town with rather old small houses, but in fact it is awesome to be here. The city itself, and the place where we live is really nice. To say more I am delighted with this place. From this moment I will recommend everybody to participate in the local tournaments.
Vladimir Malakhov (no.22, GM, RUS, 2670) • Q: As a scientist and a chess player can you divide female and male logic? • A: It is a difficult 'scientific' question. If we judge according to the chess, which is a logic game, women do not play as well as men -- only Judith Polgar successfully plays on the top-level. If we speak about female logic, a joke comes to mind: When a man is asked, 'What is the probability of meeting an alien in the street?', he answers, 'None at all'. When a woman is asked the same question, she answers, '50 to 50 : I might meet an alien and I might not'.
Alexander Onischuk (no.49, GM, USA, 2640) • Q: You were the second highest rated player in the Ukraine after Ivanchuk. Then you moved to the USA, and you head the national team. How did it influence your game? • A: Very well. At the Calvia Olympiad and at the World Team Championship in Beer-Sheva I was given the honor of playing first board. In fact I justified the hopes. I had more than 20 games, and lost only a few times. That is very important because people look up to a leader, and they compare their games with the leader’s.
Darmen Sadvakasov (no.67, GM, KAZ, 2612) • Q: The former World Junior Champion lost to Levon Aronian, one of the favorites of the tournament, 2-0. Could he have made a better result? • A: It is almost impossible to win a game with black against Aronian. And what is really surprising is that after the 12th move I had a real chance to do that. Levon played very fast, but not successfully, and he got a very bad position. But I started to be nervous and I was thinking a lot. After the game Aronian even asked me why I spent so much time and then played a wrong combination. I was afraid to lose. Unfortunately I did lose from a better position. So I became another victim of the system of tiebreaks, where you should not only play good, but also have iron nerves.
Alexander Sibriav (no.128, FM, RUS, 2264, a local player and the only FIDE Master in the city of Khanty-Mansiysk) • Q: Can chess compete with the winter sports like the biathlon? • A: We do not compete with anyone! We supplement other sports harmoniously. As for winter sports, we are in a better position: when there is a biting frost of minus 40 degrees outside and we are moving pieces in the warm and cozy surroundings.
Loek van Wely (no.40, GM, NED, 2648) • Q: What do you think about the FIDE time control? • A: I prefer to play classical chess. However, playing quicker with current FIDE time control very often, I gradually got used to that.
For more information on this event, see the World Chess Cup 2005 official site, and our ChessChrono : 2005 FIDE World Cup.