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The interview with Vladimir Kramnik starts at 14:55. We have found it extremely interesting and translated it from Russian into English.
Why did Vladimir lose the final game at the Candidates? Does Kramnik consider Carlsen to be the best player in the world? How does he evaluate Vishy Anand's chances to keep the title? What should Magnus and Vishy work on to succeed? What does he think of Kasparov's opening preparation? Will the ex-World Chess Champion be competing in the next cycles of the World Chess Championship? All this and many other revelations can be found below.
Marina Makarycheva (MM): The tournament came to an end, and there is a certain disappointment in the air, because you have shown the best performance hereand then there was the dramatic final round. What happened?
Vladimir Kramnik (VK): Of course, I am tired and disappointed. I was so close. However, I believe that both I and Carlsen have deserved to win this tournament, but there can be only one winner, so in this case we can maybe say that I was a little bit unlucky. In the final roundafter Magnus fortuitously won his game in the pre-final round (against Radjabov Pogonina.com), I was already in a difficult situation. In the case of a tie one of the tie-break scores was in my favor, while the other favored Magnus. Unfortunately, his tie-break score was more important according to the regulations of the event, although often the situation is the opposite. Thats the way it happened, its just a matter of chance. Basically, he was half a point ahead. We had an equal amount of points, but in the reality he had half a point advantage over me going into the final round. I had Black, while he had White, so the situation was rather hard for me. I was forced to play very sharply for a win, this was my only chance. I still think I have made the right decision, because it was the only opportunity to put Magnus off balance, make him nervous and force him into playing for a win too. This could have potentially led to his loss, which has actually happened. Unfortunately, I myself have gone too far and couldnt save the game at the stage when it became clear that Magnus was losing. I have played all-in from the very beginning and couldnt do anything. Its a standard, normal situation. I have taken my chanceduring one-two moves I could have actually turned the tables. Maybe I got a little bit unlucky and didnt make the most out of it. However, overall, up to that moment I have already wasted many tournament opportunities
MM (interrupting): Maybe if you had a chance to freeze the position for a few minutes
I had to take risks.
VK: Yes, there was an interesting moment when the outcome of the event was decided within just 5 minutes. At that point I could have saved the game, but the move Ne6, which I have obviously considered and would have made under normal conditions, didnt offer me any chances to play for a win. At that point, alas, Carlsens game wasn't going downhill, his position was absolutely normal, so I tried to bluffFive minutes later it became clear that I should have played Ne6 anyway, but it was too late. There was no way back. The situation has worsened: I took a risk, went all-in, but, alas, it wasnt possible to save the game. Vassily, my opponent, played precisely in the time trouble, he didnt make any mistakes. I was bluffing and hoping for a time-trouble blunder from him, but after the time control Magnus was lost, while my position was also non-defendable. This is a normal sports situation. I am already an experienced chess player, and I have foreseen this possibility. I just didnt have any other chances. I had to take risks.
MM: It seems that this tournament has revealed that Magnus also has nerves! It was widely considered that his strongest virtue is that he doesnt make mistakes and always keeps his temper under control. But here we could see him rushing to check your board each time, for example, when you were playing Gelfand and in the final game as well. So, he is also not invincible? Is it so?
Carlsens hegemony in the chess world is overestimated.
VK: Magnus is an outstanding, remarkable player. Nonetheless, in my opinion, his hegemony in the chess world is overestimated. I believe that both I and Aronian can match his skills. Well, he has certain qualities: young age, lots of energy, a good nervous system, incredible motivation, killer instinct, but in the chess sense I dont see why he should be a lot stronger, if at all, (than me or Levon).
MM: Is he a Player? (It goes back to the Players vs. Researchers debate in the Soviet chess Pogonina.com)
So far I am maintaining a positive score against Carlsen.
VK: Yes, he is very practical and so on and so forth. He is undoubtedly a very strong chess player and an enormous talent. I am not trying to diminish his achievements. However, I believe that his rating advantage over everyone else is non-chess based. It is due to other qualities. In the chess sense I was absolutely confident that I can compete against him. This is what I am always doing. So far I am maintaining a positive score against Carlsen. Also, I had an advantage in the mini-match at the Candidates, so he should be happy with the two draws that he earned. Everyone (including me) thought that he was pretty much invincible in terms of energy, nerves and the like. At this tournament he got into real trouble for the first time in his life. In an extremely important event everything was not going exactly as expected, something went wrong after his game with Ivanchuk. All of a sudden, it turned out that he is rather vulnerable. When I was his age, I also used to twitch at decisive moments, glance at the other boards. Such moments were definitely not his cup of tea.
MM: Yes
VK: It is natural for a young player. I used to act the same way, but over the years I have become stronger in this respect. I can win or lose, but my loss in the final round was not caused by nervousness in any way. I felt calm and played quite decently.
MM: Are you saying you had everything under control and werent nervous at all?
VK: Just a little bit. Its not even about being nervous or not, its about the ability to concentrate on the game and nothing else, to forget what everyone around you is saying or what the tournament situation is. To be fully focused on the game. This comes with experience.
Results of Round 1 of the women's tournament (the main sensations were a tie between SHSM-Nashe Nasledie and Chigorin Club & a loss of Ladia to Economist):
The fair had arrived in town. "A prize for guessing the number of balls under the mugs," shouted one stall owner, as he placed four upturned mugs on the counter in front of him. Each concealed the same number of balls and on each mug was a statement about the number of balls underneath : One or four; Two or four; Two or three; One or two. Only one of the statements was correct. How many balls were under a mug and which statement is true?
Calculate the variations and try to find the best continuation for White. If you understand Russian, you can watch the video below to review the entire game and to consider three more problems. If you don't, just skip to 7:00 and check out the solution.
Pogonina.com offers you a selection of some of the most informative chess tweets from last week. All the fresh chess news in one short post:
GM Anna Ushenina drew WIM Olena Boytsun in an advanced chess game Most people must be using less than 10-20... Next question: is Magnus good at chess-boxing? One of the strongest chess leagues in the world is starting
Russiachess.org: Russian Team Chess Championship will take place in Loo
Garry Kasparov became a fan of women's chess - surprise! Vishy about Vlady: "I felt some sympathy, almost like a brother from my generation kind of a thing." How do you win the Bundesliga? Invite all the top stars
Chess News: Baden-Baden wins the Bundesliga for the 8th time in a row
Who will dominate the chess world in the future? Quote of the week Many players find the privileges of the World Chess Champion excessive. Do you agree or not?
Have we missed some of the best tweets? You can contribute to our next top-10 stories chart by retweeting the post you like and adding @Pogonina to the message so that we can see it.
Location: Loo, Russia Dates: April 7-13 Format: Swiss (7 rounds) in the men's championship; round robin in the women's event Participants: 16 teams in the male division, 6 in the female Time control: 90m/40+30m, 30s per move increment from move 1; no draw offers allowed until move 40
The reigning Russian Chess Champion Dmitry Andreikin will be playing for Economist-SGSU in the team event
Notable players (2700+):
Sergey Karjakin, 2786, Russia, #5 in the world, Malakhit Fabiano Caruana, 2772, Italy, #7, SHSM-Nashe Nasledie
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, 2766, Azerbaijan, #10, Malakhit
Alexander Grischuk, 2764, Russia, #11, Malakhit
Alexander Morozevich, 2758, Russia, #12, Economist-SGSU
Vassily Ivanchuk, 2757, Ukraine, #13, Economist-SGSU
Peter Svidler, 2747, Russia, #14, SPBSHF
Peter Leko, 2744, Hungary, #15, Ugra
Gata Kamsky, 2741, USA, #17, Kazan'-2013
Dmitry Jakovenko, 2734, Russia, #19, Ugra
Dmitry Andreikin, 2727, Russia, #23, Economist-SGSU Leinier Dominguez Perez, 2723, Cuba, #24, SPBSHF
Evgeny Tomashevsky, 2722, Russia, #25, Economist-SGSU
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, 2722, France, #26, Belorechensk University
Quang Liem Le, 2717, Vietnam, #27, SHSM-Nashe Nasledie
Nikita Vitiugov, 2712, Russia, #28, SPBSHF
Vladimir Malakhov, 2709, Russia, #30, Malakhit
Ian Nepomniatchi, 2708, Russia, #31, SHSM-Nashe Nasledie
Alexander Riazantsev, 2705, Russia, #41, Malakhit
Pavel Eljanov, 2703, Ukraine, #43, Economist-SGSU
Andrei Volokitin, 2702, Ukraine, #45, Economist-SGSU
Ivan Cheparinov, 2702, Bulgaria, #46, PGMB Rostov Baadur Jobava, 2702, Georgia, #47, PGMB Rostov
Alexei Shirov, 2700, Latvia, #49, Malakhit
Radoslaw Wojtaszek, 2700, Poland, #50, SHSM-Nashe Nasledie
The reigning Russian Women's Chess Champion Natalia Pogonina is playing for Ugra this year Notable players (women, 2400+): Kateryna Lagno, 2550, Ukraine, #5, Belorechensk University
Valentina Gunina, 2510, Russia, #15, SHSM-Nashe Nasledie Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2496, Russia, #18, SHSM-Nashe Nasledie Anna Ushenina, 2488, Ukraine, #21, Ugra
Natalia Pogonina, 2473, Russia, #28, Ugra
Olga Girya, 2464, Russia, #33, SHSM-Nashe Nasledie Ekaterina Atalik, 2455, Turkey, #37, Ladia
Anastacia Bodnaruk, 2443, Russia, #41, Chigorin Club
Elena Zaiatz, 2430, Russia, #47, Ladia
Ekaterina Kovalevskaya, 2411, Russia, #55, SHSM-Nashe Nasledie
Which Countries Have the Potential to Become Global Chess Leaders?
Written by Administrator
Thursday, 04 April 2013
One of the ways of estimating the chances of a country to produce top players in the future is to check how many promising junior players it has. Obviously, not all the chess prodigies become part of the world elite, but we are discussing potential here.
Federation
# of players in FIDE Top-100
# of players in FIDE Top-100 Juniors
Trend
Russia
23
16
Negative
Ukraine
10
4
Negative
Hungary
6
3
Negative
China
6
7
Positive
Armenia
5
4
Negative
France
5
2
Negative
India
4
12
Positive
USA
4
5
Positive
England
4
1
Negative
Azerbaijan
3
2
Negative
Bulgaria
3
0
Negative
Israel
3
3
-
Netherlands
2
5
Positive
Cuba
2
0
Negative
Czech Republic
2
1
Negative
Poland
2
7
Positive
Norway
1
1
-
Italy
1
1
-
Vietnam
1
0
Negative
Uzbekistan
1
0
Negative
Germany
1
3
Positive
Georgia
1
1
-
Philippines
1
1
-
Latvia
1
0
Negative
Spain
1
3
Positive
Moldavia
1
0
Negative
Romania
1
0
Negative
Austria
1
0
Negative
Belarus
1
2
Positive
Venezuela
1
0
Negative
Denmark
1
1
-
Serbia
1
1
-
Peru
0
2
Positive
Argentina
0
2
Positive
Turkey
0
1
Positive
Sweden
0
1
Positive
UAE
0
1
Positive
Greece
0
1
Positive
Belgium
0
1
Positive
Iran
0
1
Positive
Bosnia & Herzegovina
0
1
Positive
Slovakia
0
1
Positive
Turkmenistan
0
1
Positive
Brazil
0
1
Positive
Sorted by: 1. # of players in top-100 2.ratings of top-rated representatives
Current top-12: 1.Russia 2.Ukraine 3.Hungary 4.China 5-6.Armenia, France 7-9.India, USA, England 10-12. Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Israel
By candidate master Peter Zhdanov, editor of Pogonina.com
In this special weekly column we will be looking at the most unexpected upsets that happened last week. Players usually face opponents of a comparable level. Considerably less frequent are situations when a significantly lower-rated player succeeds in beating a much stronger adversary.
If you have ever won a game against someone rated 300 points or above of yourself, please send it to us for publication. Any additional information (a photo, annotations, etc.) will be appreciated.
