Aronian: I’ve never considered myself a strong blitz player
Maria Fominykh’s final report on the Tal Memorial at ChessPro included interviews with two of the winners, Sergey Karjakin and Levon Aronian. Both players talked about the main event, but also the upcoming blitz.
Kramnik and the robot
On the eve of the World Blitz Championship an event was held in Moscow for the opening of the Russian Women’s Championship – where the women were joined by Magnus Carlsen and many of the Tal Memorial players, and Vladimir Kramnik played against a robot.
Ilya Odessky returns in style
For sad personal reasons we’ve been deprived of the work of the Russian chess journalist Ilya Odessky of late, but his reports from the Tal Memorial have been a brilliant reminder of what we were missing.
Carlsen and the Candidates – a retrospective
Although Magnus Carlsen’s decision to pull out of next year’s Candidates Matches came as a great shock, perhaps we should have seen it coming. It’s worth revisiting this summer’s press, where Veselin Topalov was making the headlines, but Carlsen’s name kept cropping up.
Kramnik: I don’t have Kasparov’s approach – first place or nothing
Vladimir Kramnik, who had a very bad day at the office in the Tal Memorial first round, was in better form in the interview he gave to Evgeny Surov before it began. His comments on ratings and the World Championship take on extra significance after Carlsen’s shock withdrawal.
Aronian interview at new Russian chess site
Levon Aronian crossed 2800 on the November FIDE rating list, and on the eve of the Tal Memorial he told Evgeny Surov of the new Chess-News website how that made him feel and what he expects from the tournament.
Shirov interviewed at Crestbook
A full English translation of Alexei Shirov’s answers to reader questions at Crestbook has just been published. The Latvian firebrand is asked about chess tactics and openings but also, for instance, about “the most important thing in a woman”.
Kramnik: For now Magnus is my “client”
Fresh from his smooth win in Bilbao, Vladimir Kramnik gave an interview where he talked about the situation at the top in world chess, Magnus Carlsen’s recent loss of form, and his own hopes of regaining the top spot on the rating list.
Ivanchuk: “People look at some of us as eccentrics”
Despite his loss today to Aronian, Vassily Ivanchuk has been in impressive form of late, particularly in his dominant performance on the first board at the Olympiad. He recently gave an interview to the Ukrainian “Podrobnosti”, where he talks about the Olympiad, what chess means for him and who he sees replacing his generation of players.
Kramnik: “99% of the chess world was rooting for Anand”
With chess about to start in Khanty-Mansiysk, Vladimir Kramnik gave an interview to Yury Vasiliev of Sport Express. As well as expressing his hopes for the Russian team in the Olympiad he talks about how he helped Anand in Sofia, the glass cube in Bilbao, and gives a damning assessment of Topalov and Danailov’s recent comments about the Candidate Matches.
