Your questions answered by Natalia Pogonina-5 |
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| Saturday, 24 April 2010 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 It's time for the weekly Q&As! Feel free to send me new ones: Q1: Should I play stronger players to improve? A1: Yes, playing reasonably stronger (100-200 ELO points) opponents allows one to learn something new without getting mercilessly crushed every time. Facing too strong or too weak opponents is not that productive. Q2: Everyone is excited about facing strong opposition, why do GMs play in open tournaments then? A2: For GMs it's a chance to earn some money by beating their colleagues and lower-rated players. Not everyone gets invited to elite tournaments with large appearance fees and prizes, you know. Q3: Anand or Topalov? A3: While I admire Topalov's aggressive style, Anand seems to be a more well-rounded player. Home turf might be able to compensate for this by motivating Veselin...or, on the contrary, put too much pressure on him! It's hard to evaluate the chances now, but it feels like a very close fight. Let's hope the chess match is going to be exciting and courteous! Q4: What chess database do you use? A4: When I was a kid I had chess books and exercise books with neatly hand-written variations. Now things are less romantic: ChessBase, Chess Assistant, TWICs and occasional other downloads. Q5: Do GMs live in the "eat, sleep, chess" way? A5: I hear that sometimes from people who envy stronger players and want to justify themselves ("I would have been Kasparov if blah-blah-blah"). The funny thing is that they often actually spend more time on chess than the GMs they are referring to. Q6: Do you drink a lot of coffee during the games? A6: No, I prefer eating chocolate, fruit, and sipping mineral water or tea. Coffee gets one excited, it's easy to blunder or burn out too early if you drink it cup after cup during the games. Q7: Do you remember all your games? A7: No, my memory in this respect is far from perfect. I know some super GMs who seem to remember thousands of games, but that is more of an exception than rule. Related articles: Your questions answered by Natalia Pogonina-4 Your questions answered by Natalia Pogonina-3 Your questions answered by Natalia Pogonina-2 Your questions answered by Natalia Pogonina 
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