Svidler: “The circus is travelling to Khanty”
After Peter Svidler won the 2011 Russian Championship he gave a long interview to Vladimir Barsky for the Russian Chess Federation website. Barsky had been with Svidler at the World Team Championship in Ningbo, China, so had witnessed the dramatic change of fortune between the two events first-hand.
Morozevich and Grischuk demonstrate their wins
All games were decisive in round 4 of the Russian Championship Superfinal, and afterwards Alexander Morozevich and Alexander Grischuk demonstrated their wins for the local audience and those watching the video broadcast. Vladimir Barsky transcribed their comments for the official website, and I’ve translated them below.
Karjakin reflects on moving up in the world
Sergey Karjakin recently finished joint top with Magnus Carlsen at the Kings Tournament in Bazna, and moved up to fourth on the July 2011 FIDE rating list. In an interview with Yury Vasiliev he talked about his ambitions, his rivalry with Carlsen, the Candidates Matches and the future of classical chess.
Nepomniachtchi back in the race
With his win on tie-breaks in the Russian Championship, Ian Nepomniachtchi, born in the same year as Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin and now 2732.8 on the live rating list, confirmed he’s back in contention for the highest honours in chess.
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.
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.
“Chess punished the whole team” – Russian views on the Chess Olympiad
While the Russian women’s first team took gold with an almost flawless performance, their male counterparts found things a whole lot tougher. Vladimir Kramnik, Evgeny Bareev and Sergey Shipov were among those who assessed the silver-medal performance at the World Chess Olympiad.
Svidler on Rd 9: “As I don’t know the Grünfeld Defence…”
Peter Svidler’s win with black in round 9 kept Russian hopes alive, and he gave an entertaining account of the day’s play to Vladimir Barsky for the Russian Chess Federation website. Meanwhile, some remarkable turnarounds in the women’s event inspired Sergey Shipov to formulate a law of women’s chess.
“Fortune beckoned… then melted into thin air”
Russian Captain Evgeny Bareev comments on the first team failing to beat Ukraine and move into the lead at the World Chess Olympiad. The only (but perhaps sufficient) success story continues to be Sergey Karjakin, who revealed how a little female assistance gave him an easy victory against Pavel Eljanov.
Russia beats Russia
The key encounter in round 7 of the Olympiad was between the top two Russian men’s teams, with the “veterans” prevailing thanks, once again, to Sergey Karjakin. Meanwhile, the emotional roller-coaster of Radek Wojtaszek’s win against Hikaru Nakamura was captured in live commentary by Mateusz Bartel, the fifth member of the Polish team.
