Tag Archives: Radosław Wojtaszek

CONVERSATION WITH DAVID NAVARA (2)

(ending; beginning is here)

The 2020 Candidates Tournament, when the competitions in the world have already started to be canceled, began in Yekaterinburg on March 15, 2020. I think it was a political decision of the Russian authorities, which was implemented by the new FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich. And this despite the fact that Teimour Rajabov refused to participate in the competition. He was replaced by the Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who, in my opinion, was the most unlucky in Jerusalem. But the coronavirus quickly spread around the world, including Russia. After the end of the 1st round, the same Dvorkovich announced that the competition was terminated, but it would certainly be played out, and the participants urgently headed home. The question arose about Rajabov, how to compensate him for the fact that he quite rightly refused to participate. There were various proposals. How do you feel about the new leadership of FIDE and the voluntaristic decision to start the Candidates Tournament in mid-March?

– Maxime was unlucky not only in Jerusalem, but also in the qualifiers for the last two Candidates Tournaments. I am very glad that he eventually got there and performed well in the first round.

As for the tournament itself, it’s not so easy to answer. I confess that I also thought for a long time that the tournament should be held. Firstly, it was not clear how the situation would have developed in autumn or winter, and I didn’t want to wait more than a year, because young talents were growing up. In addition, Yekaterinburg was still a relatively safe place in March. Only a couple of days before the start, I began to realize that the tournament is long, and a lot can change over the time. The fact that they will close the borders a few days later, I did not expect. In hindsight, I can say that the tournament shouldn’t have been started, but it was not at all clear in advance.

It is clear that it was stupid to let so many people attend the opening, and FIDE chose the only suitable moment to suspend the tournament.

As for Teimour Rajabov, I think that a ticket to the next Candidates Tournament would be adequate compensation for him.

I believe that with the change of the leadership in FIDE, something has improved. Another thing is that with a different result of the elections, something would probably have been improved a little too – it was just the time for changes.

To what extent things have improved in FIDE is another question. The new leadership is working hard, making some progress, and some of the decisions are dissatisfying. I don’t like either the fact that chess is strongly connected with politics in general and with Russian politics in particular.

The pandemic has hit everyone, but chess has gone online, and now we do not have time to follow the huge number of tournaments. You recently reached the final of the Mr Dodgy Invitational tournament, where you lost to Anish Giri, and Daniil Dubov even won in the final of the 2nd super tournament, organized by Magnus Carlsen, against Hikaru Nakamura, who, in his turn, beat Magnus in the semifinals. What is your opinion about what is happening now, when you can play and earn good money without leaving your home? The organizers do not bear many of the usual expenses, especially when it comes to inviting elite chess players. Can you explain how the tournament and prize fund is being formed now?

– Everyone can play on the web, but only a few can make good money. Since mid-March, I have been working a little less than in the past, and I earn a lot less. It is clear that there is a lot of money to be made in Magnus Carlsen tournaments, and in most tournaments, many grandmasters compete for several prizes. I was glad to receive an invitation to the Mr Dodgy Invitational tournament, I even managed to win 500 euros there, but you still can’t call it big money. In the leagues, I received from 250 to 650 euros per game, and almost regardless of the result.

Which time control used in current tournaments do you prefer? What is your opinion about that a number of tournaments have started using different scoring systems, depending on whether these are the first games or the last ones? If for a victory at the beginning you get one point, then in the final games as many as three…

– I like to play classical chess, rapid chess, and blitz. The latter should not be taken so seriously, there much depends on the instant form. I consider classical to be the highest genre, but the difference between genres is decreasing.

I don’t really support innovations about scoring. In one recent tournament, it turned out that if the points were equal according to the local scoring system, the player who scored fewer points according to the normal system automatically won. Yes, we are talking about the same tournament.

Your universal rating, taking into account performances in all competitions (classic, rapid, blitz), established by the Grand Chess Tour and the Kasparov Foundation, as of June 1, 2020 was 2714 points, this is 30th place…

– I’m not very familiar with the universal rating system. Perhaps its time has just come, since the official ratings (divided into classics, rapid and blitz) do not work very well with a small number of games played.

You first crossed the 2700 mark in 2008. But it seems that you never had any special ambitions in the struggle for the highest titles. If you take the current top five-ten, what are your results against them?

– You’re right, I never had any special ambitions. It’s a bit like mountain climbing. Living at the very top is not so easy, there are additional loads. More journalists want to interview you, more people will call and ask if you want to coach them, more people will criticize you for nothing. (It is clear that there is always something to criticize for, I speak about it from my own experience.) Ten years ago I could strain to get into the top ten, but there was never a strong desire. Excessive attention from the outside was more of an additional burden for me. Sometimes it was difficult to deal with it, even if I did not hit the top ten.

Besides, I never learned how to prepare for elite tournaments. This requires systematic work on the opening and more, you need to play with black reliably. From time to time I got into the elite due to the fact that I managed to complicate the game and gain a lot of points in various leagues against decent, but far-from-elite opponents. I have a bad score with most elite players, although there are pleasant exceptions.

How did you perceive the coronavirus situation, what can you say in general about what is happening in the Czech Republic at the beginning of the pandemic and now? How was the quarantine in the country?

On a walk with a self-made chess mask

– The introduction of quarantine in mid-March was a shock for me, because the borders were closed within 24 hours. Somewhere at the initiative of the Czech Republic, somewhere at the request of neighboring countries. In fact, at first, information was mixed with disinformation, for a long time it was not clear how great the danger was. It was only by mid-March that it became clear that this was not just a variant of the flu, but a more dangerous disease (experts understood this earlier).

So the quarantine time passed. I looked for errors in chess books that were being prepared for publication. (The photo is indicative, but the reality is quite real.)

Coronavirus, get out of here! On the board, the initial position of the so-called Czech system (1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 c6) is White’s time. I have alcohol in my left hand, and I’m pointing “out” with my right hand. In Czech, it turns out to be a play of words, since there is one expression for “get out of here” (not very pretty) and “walk” (on the board).

Fortunately, the Czech government took necessary measures in time to avoid the worst. In general, I have sceptical attitude towards this government, but they have succeeded perfectly in the fight against COVID-19. It was very useful that the renowned epidemiologist and vaccinologist Roman Primula was the deputy minister of health. By the way, he is a strong chess player, a FIDE master.

Some of the measures taken by the Czech government were problematic. Employees often bought masks from suspicious companies, publicly thanked P.R.C. for selling them masks, and did not thank Taiwan for sending free of charge masks. It is clear that at first we had to buy masks from China, and without them it would have been much worse, but Czech manufacturers of quality sanitary hygiene products have received only modest support to this day. Several close employees of the Czech President violated the hygiene standards enforced in the Czech Republic. One of them returned from China, and did not comply with quarantine.

On a walk

But in general, fortunately, in the Czech Republic it turned out not so bad, it could be much worse.

Tell us about your hobbies, passions. Literature, films, music?

– I don’t watch films that much. I read with pleasure, although chess magazines are the most of what I read. I am interested in sociology, although I have forgotten a lot over the past decade. I read Dostoevsky, Lev Tolstoy, and much more, but I still don’t consider myself as a big reader. And there is not always enough time.

I love melodic and not very loud music. I like different genres. If I even had any exquisite taste, then it disappeared over the time.

And about politics…

– I have always watched over politics, but I myself have not shown much activity. I am a devoted democrat, I am close to the concept of an open society by Karl Raimund Popper. (It’s funny that my full namesake showed some activity in this area in the Czech Republic.) I also like the concept of civil society, but I don’t have enough time to do it. I strongly dislike the Kremlin policy. It seems that the Russian authorities wanted no one to remain indifferent to them, and they succeeded in that. It’s a pity, because I have many friends in Russia. At the same time, I cannot say that I fully agree with the foreign policy of, say, the Czech Republic, the European Union, the United States or Israel, but you can’t agree on everything. I like something more, something less… The European Union is far from ideal, but still I am very glad that the Czech Republic is in the EU.

I recently played for a Hungarian team in an internet tournament. Friends invited me, and friendship is more important to me than politics.

What is your daily routine at competitions (in pre-coronavirus time) and in everyday life. Tell us about your life, your favorite dishes.

– I prepare a lot at tournaments, but at home I read more chess magazines. I live in a single family house on the outskirts of Prague. I love fish, vegetables, fruits, bread and their various fancy combinations, as well as spicy chocolate.

Which cities or places you’ve visited are close to you?

– I don’t know, for me the environment and the company are more important. For example, I felt good with the Novy Bor team at almost all European Cups, regardless of the place.

You are always elegantly dressed. Wouldn’t you like to come to tournaments in looser clothes? I reviewed all the pictures of the 2015 European Championship in Jerusalem, as well as a number of your games, and decided to show most of them.

European Championship in Jerusalem (February 24 – March 8, 2015) On the left is the game of the 3rd round, won against Alexander Shimanov, after which David won 3 out of 3. On the right during the game in the 4th round with the future winner of the championship Evgeny Najer, which ended in a draw on the 28th move.

Before the games of the 6th and 7th rounds

During the tour of Jerusalem on the eve of the last tour

Final round 11. Ivan Cheparinov from Bulgaria plays the black. The game ended in a draw on move 44.

Rewarding ceremony. David Navara (2nd place) congratulates Mateusz Bartel, who beat Ian Nepomniachtchi and became 3rd. Evgeny Najer from Moscow is in the center. Pictures by Yoav Nis

– I only dress elegantly when there is a decent chance that I will be photographed. In everyday life, I prefer to dress informally.

Probably, the lack of conflict, gentleness of character hinders you when playing at the highest level. Have you tried to somehow break yourself?

– What for? I have more or less everything in order with this in terms of chess, I play combat chess. It seems to me that in the past two years I have become a little tougher, although this is not always a good thing. For example, if I showed a brilliant result in some league and received a rather modest fee, then this is a perfectly suitable reason to say goodbye.

Year 2018. I meet Sergei Movsesyan, my good friend (photo by Anežka Kruzikova). I played the most tournament games with him; in addition, we have provided a number of tandem simuls. One of them took place in Prague in 2016, and then we played an exhibition match on 12 boards at the same time!

– I try to be pleasant, although it doesn’t always work out. I also have my own troubles, life is not always so simple.

What are the most memorable games or episodes from them?

– It’s hard to say, because in the last decade I have played a thousand classical games!

Then remember, please, how Korchnoi reacted to his loss to you in the aforementioned short match. Have you played with him again?

– Grandmaster Korchnoi first left, and when I showed the game to the audience, he came back, offering a strengthening. I proposed a retaliatory move saying that the position was unclear. And he replied: “Only for you!”. I was okay with that. The position, by the way, was indeed in dynamic equilibrium, which is what I meant by the word “unclear”. Perhaps this assessment to the eminent grandmaster seemed somewhat evasive. I played five games with Viktor Lvovich, winning three with two draws. It’s true that his best years were already behind him.

In chess, you like creativity, but at the same time you have to memorize a lot and then painfully remember it at the board, having a limited time. How is your chess memory, do you think you have a chess talent? You also once said that a particularly important quality for a chess player, that is not always talked about, is intelligence in the broad sense of the word. And that even among elite chess players there are few intelligent people.

The game of the 9th round (March 5, 2015) ended with the victory of David in the European Championship in Jerusalem. On the eve of Ian Nepomniachtchi winning and taking the 1st place. Photo by Yoav Nis

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e3 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Qc7 7.Bb2 Nd7 8.Qb3 e6 9.c4 b6 10.a4 Bb7 11.a5 f6 12.Bd3 Bd6 13. Qc2 f5 14.Ng5 Nf8 15.f4 h6 16.Nf3 Ng6 17.h4 0-0-0 18.axb6 axb6 19.Bxf5 Nxf4 20.Be4 Bxe4 21.Qxe4 Nd3 + 22.Ke2 Nxb2 23.Rhb1 Rhe8 24.Rxb2 Qb7 25.Qb1 Bc7 26.Rba2 Bb8 27.Ra8 Rd6 28.R1a7 Qxa7 29.Rxa7 Bxa7 30.Ne5 Red8 31.d3 Rf8 32.g4 Bb8 33.Qh1 h5 34.gxh5 Rf5 35.Ng6 Rf7 36.Qe4 Rf6 37. Ne7 + Kc7 38.Qh7 Rf7 39.Ng6 e5 40.Nxe5 Re7 41.Ng6 Red7 42.Nf4 Kb7 43.Qf5 Bc7 44.e4 b5 45.Nd5 bxc4 46.dxc4 Rd8 47.e5 Re8 48.Nxc7 Kxc7 49.Qf7 + Kd 50.Qxe8 + Kxe8 51.exd6 Kd7 52.Kf3 Kxd6 53.Ke4 1–0

David Navara was the first player to qualify for the December 2019 semi-final in the Jerusalem Grand Prix after a clean 37-move victory over Dmitry Yakovenko. Photo by Niki Riga from here

David Navara in Jerusalem, December 2019. Photo by Niki Riga

– In every work there are more and less attractive elements. It so happened that over the time, even studying openings began to interest me, although I would prefer to create them myself.

I could hardly play a blindfold simul, I hardly remember positions (as well as one great ex-world champion), but I am able to restore a game played in turn, and in fact I remember a lot of things, although not always exactly. I definitely have a talent, but not for blindfold simuls!

Do you think there is a problem of “cheating” in online tournaments?

– Of course there is. And how serious it is, I cannot say, because in my life I have played only five tournaments on the Internet, and everything went well there. Due to the threat of cheating, it is hardly possible to organize tournaments with long control or open tournaments with really big prizes. We need security measures, programs like ZOOM, cameras, judges. However, playing live in this sense is safer, because on occasion, you can check players with a metal detector.

Surely you could change the federation and represent another country and earn more. The pandemic most likely cleared up this issue. And if it hadn’t happened?..

Czech teams at the training camp back in 2012 (photo by Kateřina Němcová)

GM Jansa with Fiona Steil-Antoni and me. (Jansa also worked as a coach in Luxembourg for about 20 years, so Fiona is also his student!)

– I’m not going to change the federation, I have good relations with my superiors. After all, I became a strong grandmaster in the Czech Republic, I received money from the federation for training. There were no other offers, but I am happy with where I am and I love to play for my country. I do not exclude that under some circumstances I could have moved, but for me this is not a question of money.

A little about women in chess. As already noted, in 2010 you lost the match to Judit Polgar, and in 2013 you played 2:2 with the then world champion Hou Yifan. What can you say about those matches, and other meetings with women chess players?

– I played very poorly against Judit Polgar and deservedly lost. And then I lost to Hou Yifan in a tie-break, and after that I lost to her more than once. In general, my results with women are normal. In Gibraltar, I played eight games with women chess players with ratings 2400-2500 for several years and scored 7.5 points.

What is chess for you, what is 35 years for a chess player nowadays, how long are you going to play actively?

– I am going to play for a long time, because I love chess and I am tolerant to defeats. Another thing is that over the time there are more of them…

I think that many people have read the interview with interest and got to know an unusual chess player of our time. What would you like to say to the readers of the site?

Wishes (I added a couple of words to create some ambiguity): “I wish you strong health, many good ideas, and joy (not only) at the chessboard. David Navara. June 26, 2020”

Original in Russian 06/25/2020. English translation by belisrael

GM David Navara was interviewed by Aaron Shustin (Petach-Tikva, Israel)

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feedback:

GameDev. Very informative. What brave and bold moves. Brilliant !!

manmeet nimbarkSir you are doing great work. Salute to you

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From the editor of belisrael

We are ready to talk with other interesting people from the world of chess, other sports, culture, art, medicine, business… and not only with Russian-speaking ones.

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Published on 08/15/2020 14:15

CONVERSATION WITH DAVID NAVARA (1)

Today’s guest of belisrael.info is 35-years-old Czech grandmaster David Navara, who has been a member of the world chess elite for many years. At our request, David willingly agreed to talk on a variety of topics.

– David, tell us, in what environment did you grew up, when and from whom did you learn about chess?

– My father Mirko is a professor of mathematics, my mother Lia is a children’s dentist. As far as I know, they have never changed their occupations. In the early 1990s, we were a normal “middle class” family. Compared to Western Europe, the whole Czech Republic was poor than, and it was not easy for my parents to pay for my trips to the World Youth Championships. Fortunately, the coaches and the Czech Chess Federation met us halfway. Over the time, things have improved, more to our family than to others.

We weren’t a chess family. I knew about chess at the age of six from a book that my grandmother showed me so that I would not be bored. Before that, I had already read many children’s books. My parents later enrolled me in a club and a circle, they began to go to tournaments with me, the whole family collected chess columns from newspapers.

Who were your first coaches, and how were the classes?

– I was very lucky with the coaches. My first coach in the children’s club was Mr. Zdenek Müller, a pleasant person of golden age. He was not such a strong player, but he was a great tutor. There were only eight of us in the circle then, but one of us became a grandmaster, and two became international masters.

David Navara during the signing of the book by the legendary grandmaster Luděk Pachman (photo by National Master Břetislav Modr)

After that I had many more coaches, among which the most famous are GM Luděk Pachman, IM Josef Přibyl and especially GM Vlastimil Jansa (I list them in chronological order). I did not study with Grandmaster Pachman for a long time, since he lived in Germany and the Czech Republic. He was very friendly. I learned a lot from his books. International master Josef Přibyl did a lot for my chess growth, under his leadership I quickly (by the standards of that time) made my way from a candidate to an international master. He worked a lot with me on the classics and on the endgame. And with Grandmaster Jansa we still cooperate, although with a break of several years. He is an excellent theorist and strategist, he has many original ideas in his openings.

By the way, the book by V. Hort and V. Jansa “Together with the Grandmasters” (published in Russian translation in 1976) was popular in the Soviet Union… When did the first successes appear, after which you said to yourself that you would be a professional chess player? Perhaps it was the World Youth championships?

– Perhaps it is really worth mentioning the bronze medal from the U12 World Youth Championship in 1997 and the silver medal from the U14 World Youth Championship in 1998. In 1999, I completely failed, and in 2000 I performed successfully in the older age categories. The last time I participated in the junior world championship of U20 was in 2001. I didn’t want to waste money and time when it was possible to play in stronger tournaments under better conditions. You can hardly compare my game then with the game of today’s young professionals, but considering the circumstances, I played pretty well.

I decided to become a professional chess player gradually. There was no turning point, I just always loved chess very much.

Can you recall a number of remarkable Czech chess players of the past, starting with Richard Réti, Salomon Flohr and ending with Luděk Pachman, Lubomir Kavalek, who emigrated to Germany after the Prague Spring of 1968 (not to forget Vlastimil Hort). The guys of your generation appeared in the 21st century. Who is the closest to you of those who I have named?

– As a child, I read a very good book about Richard Réti by the chess historian Jan Kalendovsky. Grandmaster Pachman coached me for a short time, so he is very close to me. I also have good relations with the grandmasters Hort and Kavalek, especially with Kavalek (by the way, he soon moved from West Germany to the USA, where he lives to this day).

In addition to studying chess, which takes a lot of time, you got a higher education. What and where did you study?

– My field was logic. But I was only an average student (from among those who got there and stayed there) and in ten years after my master’s degree I managed to forget almost everything. There is an expression: “education is what remains when we forget everything that we have learned”… I wanted to do something else, to broaden my horizons, and even to get a master’s degree. If I began to look now for another source of income, it would be useful for me.

You speak and write perfectly, in Russian. Where does this come from and what other languages do you speak?

– I speak English more or less the same as Russian. I studied it longer, but learning the Slavic language is still easier for me. In secondary school (where we ), we had to choose a second foreign language. My parents advised me German, but there were too many applicants. Therefore, I voluntarily chose Russian, and some others – not so voluntarily. Then I began to get involved in foreign languages, discovered my talent and managed to learn a lot on my own. I had to start with German and Spanish by myself, and the language courses at the university came in handy. I didn’t become a logician, but I improved my knowledge of the language. This is where it feels like I’ve spent 19 years in various educational institutions!

In addition to these four languages, I also partly speak Polish, French and Ukrainian. Slovak does not count, as I was born in Czechoslovakia!

Do you remember your first chess book? I wonder if it was a Czech author or translated perhaps from Russian? Indeed, before the collapse of the Soviet Union, a lot of chess literature was published there. Have you studied the creativity of chess players of the past?

– I do remember. It was partly translated from German, partly supplemented by a Czech author. His name is Vítӗzslav Houška and he is a journalist and a writer. He has written many books on various topics, such as a series of books about the first Czechoslovak President Masaryk. I was lucky that I managed to get to know Mr Houška personally before his sudden death.

I got to know the Russian-language chess literature first through my coaches, and on my own – from about twenty years old. As a child, I read a lot of Czech chess books and magazines, and somewhere from fifteen to twenty-five years old, I had little time, because I had to study a lot…

Tell us about those who have had the greatest influence on your game, style, and who is helping you now, with whom you cooperate.

– I , but tried to learn from the classics their strengths. It’s true, in practice, this is far from always possible. It is clear that the coaches influenced me greatly, especially the already mentioned GM Jansa, IM Josef Přibyl and GM Pachman. But there are many others. Since 2012, we have been friends with Pentala Harikrishna, from time to time we prepare together. He and his wife actually moved to Prague. It so happened that they rent an apartment in a house in which I also have an apartment. (However, I don’t live there yet.) This means that he is my universal neighbor: both in the rating list and in the house. Although not for long, he and his wife are planning to move. We’ve rarely trained together lately.

I also have a student in Prague, also since 2012, his name is Thai Dai Van Nguyen. He had many coaches, and we still train with him, although rarely. During this time, he managed to become a grandmaster, to win the European U18 Championship, to receive a certificate of maturity, and to beat me in many training games, especially recent ones. It is clear that I only slightly contributed to his success (with the exception of victories over me), but nevertheless, they please me (also with the exception of victories over me).

When did you feel that there was a qualitative leap in your game?

– Up or down? 🙂

All right, both of them

– At about 17 years old I strengthened, and at 20 I had a very successful period, which lasted from August 2005 to August 2006. Unfortunately, the downward races followed. But around the age of thirty I played very well – maybe up to 33. Since then, I have been crawling down very slowly, while still enjoying the “look from above” at the psychological barrier of Elo 2700. Some fatigue set in, and there have been more bad days recently.

It is known that you are not a big fan of sports, but you keep fit by walking. Do you run?

– I’m not lazy, it’s just that balls and wheels categorically do not like me and do not listen to me. I really enjoy walking, and my usual speed of 7 km per hour is not so different from running.

A couple of years ago I saw Natasha Zhukova’s video, where during the Chess Olympiad you did a morning run together, and she interviewed you on the way. At my request, Natasha sent me that video, for which I am very grateful.

– That interview took place. During the Olympics in Batumi, I often walked or ran by the sea. Once I met there GM Natalia Zhukova, and she interviewed me. But I ran there even before that – after the victory over Boris Abramovich [Gelfand] it turned out very well.

In my opinion, you are very benevolent and correct in relation to your opponents. Who can you call your closest friends among your compatriots? And, maybe, among foreigners?

The triumphant victory of the Nový Bor team in the 2013 European Club Cup in Rhodes, Greece. In the penultimate sixth round, the team of the current Cup winner, the superclub SOCAR from Azerbaijan, was beaten 3.5:2.5. The defeat awaited the Azerbaijani team on the first three boards: David Navara defeated Fabiano Caruana, Radosław Wojtaszek won Veselin Topalov and Viktor Láznička won Gata Kamsky.

– I have a lot of friends in my Czech club “AVE Nový Bor”. The name of the city is best translated as “New Pine-Forest”. I am on friendly terms, for example, with Pentala Harikrishna, Mateusz Bartel from Poland, Ján Markoš from Slovakia, and with many other teammates… And also with most of the Czech colleagues.

I know that you like to play in team competitions, for example, for the Czech national team, in leagues of different countries, in the European. I would like to hear more about this.

– Yes, that’s right. When I was in college, I had free weekends, and from Monday to Friday (sometimes -Thursday) I attended classes. It happened that in one season I played in seven leagues. I stayed in many of these teams.

Belarusian grandmaster Aleksej Aleksandrov once said that chess team is an artificial entity

– As for me, It’s more pleasant to play for teams. In them, a person is part of a squad, in individual tournaments, I suffer a little from loneliness.

Since 2003, you have played many rapid chess matches at home. Where did the idea come from and who sponsored it?

– As far as I remember, Pavel Matocha came up with the idea… The sponsors were different, once or twice among them was Microsoft, and most often the state energy company ČEZ.

More about the Prague matches. In the first one, you defeated Viktor Korchnoi (1.5:0.5), in the next 2 years there were also short matches of 2 games, when you lost and made a draw… In 2006 you played a 4-game match with Boris Gelfand, with the result 2:2. Then there were matches of 6 and 8 games, for example, in 2010 you lost 2:6 to Judit Polgar, then you won against Sergei Movsesyan 3.5:2.5. The next matches again included 4 games, and in 2017 and 2018, you already played 12 rapid games, but the result was far from what you would like. What prevented you from playing better, how upset were you after failures?

A photo from the 2018 exhibition match with my good friend Pentala Harikrishna. Observed by the captain of our team Petr Boleslav

– My results in these matches have been frankly bad lately, and I have refused to participate this year (nevertheless, I do not exclude that I will play in some other match).

Yes, it’s nice to be able to play with such strong opponents, but in about half of the cases the matches started almost immediately after my return from. It is usually hot in Prague in June, and it is not so pleasant to drive 40 minutes to the playing hall (wearing a coat!) in such weather, and 40 minutes back in the evening. In addition, I knew that for a match I get three times less money than my opponent with about the same rating… But the fact that I did not prepare enough for the matches is, of course, my own fault. And some rivals were clearly stronger than me, nobody can’t argue with that.

The Prague matches were played in a very pleasant atmosphere and I am glad that I participated in them. However, I need some respite.

In December 2019, you played in Jerusalem in the final stage of the FIDE Grand Prix, held on a knockout system, where the last two participants in the Candidates Tournament were determined. Could you tell us about your performance, about other participants who were most lucky and unlucky, about the most memorable moments of the game?

– In Jerusalem, oddly enough, I played well. True, Wang Hao came there straight from the Chinese league and looked very tired. And yes I was very nervous… It seemed to me that almost all the semifinalists were sick, including me. The tournament was well organized and it was interesting to visit Israel. I spent some time on touring, but mostly focused on the game.

How many times have you been to Israel, what can you say about the country, about the service? Have there been any unforeseen or funny situations?

– In Israel, I played three times: the first two – in 2012 in the Eurocup (for the first time for Novy Bor) and in 2015, when I won a silver medal in the European Championship. I don’t remember any special stories now. It’s true, after leaving the Grand Prix, the security service at the airport asked me about my friends from Turkey, I named the grandmasters Mikhalchishin, Šolak and Ipatov (two of them do not seem to live there anymore). They didn’t really like my answer, but soon I was allowed to go further.

I would also like to ask about your meetings with Boris Gelfand, who turned 52 on June 24, 2020. Besides the friendly match in 2006, how many more games have you played against him, what is the total score?

– I think we played ten classic games, and the score is +1 in my favor. Considering that I played the overwhelming majority of these games with white, this is a normal result. Boris Abramovich is a very strong chess player, and at the same time an intelligent and benevolent person.

Who is the most uncomfortable opponent for you? I remember that several years ago Levon Aronian was considered to be such…

– With Levon, my score is still bad, but with Hikaru Nakamura it is even much worse. In general, I lost almost all the games I played against him, with one exception. In two informal games after Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz in 2017 I beat him, but anyway

It happens that one move in a game can cancel out a good games during the entire tournament, or on the contrary, with a general bad game, one gets lucky, which is not so rare, especially in cup matches. How are you with luck and bad luck?

– Here you must first define what luck and bad luck are. If the opponent makes a mistake at the last moment and loses a point, then I’m probably lucky. And if I often save bad positions because I stubbornly defend myself and set traps, is it luck or tenacity?

I save bad positions much more often than spoil good ones, although both happens to me. For example, in the 2011 in the quarterfinals of the World Cup in a game with Alexander Grischuk, I was going to make a winning move, which, most likely, would have ensured me access to the semifinals. But I changed my mind, made a mistake, didn’t win the game, and in the end I lost the match. A bit of a pity, but it happens. I’m the.

(to be continued)

Original in Russian 06/25/2020. English translation by belisrael

Interview by Aaron Shustin (Petah Tikva, Israel)

Published on 08/14/2020 18:24