Highlights from extratime.az’s World Cup coverage
Eljanov on Ukrainian players wanting to abandon their federation and Shirov’s unusual training methods, Gashimov on “incorrect” Chinese chess, and more: the Azerbaijan site was on hand to report a lot of interesting material from the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk.
Karjakin on his rivalry with Carlsen
At a press conference at the World Cup Karjakin pointed out that while Kasparov was training Carlsen he was being trained by Kasparov’s old trainer.
Kramnik on blitz
Fresh from winning the Tal Memorial in Moscow, Kramnik gave a couple of interviews where he talked about the upcoming World Blitz Championship, later won by Carlsen.
Kramnik: “One of the toughest games of my whole life”
The Chesspro report on rounds 5 and 6 of the Tal Memorial in Moscow included Kramnik’s reflections on his hard-fought victory over Ponomariov.
Aronian on draws and… “I’m like an animal”
Ilya Odessky’s report at the Tal Memorial website included Aronian disputing the link between draws and dull play, and also surprising the journalists in the press centre with a gnomic utterance.
“Magnus’ trainer had clearly not done enough work”
After Magnus Carlsen only survived his first round Tal Memorial game against Kramnik by finding a study-like draw, Kramnik couldn’t resist the temptation to tease Kasparov a little.
Svidler on Kramnik’s opening preparation, and Shirov’s top 5
Peter Svidler describes how Kramnik’s approach to opening preparation is not his thing, while Alexei Shirov sums up the top 5 players.
Kramnik on the liberation of losing the crown
In the wake of his record-breaking victory in Dortmund, Kramnik gave another interview, this time to Alexander Levit of Russkaya Germaniya. The most interesting section is Kramnik’s graphic description of the burden that being World Champion had become, and the liberation he felt on losing the crown.
Karpov on the World Champions
Anatoly Karpov gave a long interview to the Russian RIA News. The most fascinating section is his assessment of his own place in the pantheon of Chess World Champions, including his controversial opinion that Anand and Topalov would have been unable to achieve the same success without computers.
