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3rd round press conference |
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Thursday, 13 May 2010 |
 FIDE Grand Prix chess players after the third round games explain to the journalists their strategy and answered to the questions.
Ernesto Inarkiev (Russia) - Peter Leko (Hungary)
Ernesto Inarkiev: Peter confidently achieved a decent position; frankly speaking, I did not realize what happened. On 26.Be3 I planned to take the bishop until suddenly saw the refutation. After this I realized that I need to simplify the position. Nevertheless, I still had problems to solve, and made a couple of inaccuracies around the 40th move. Peter used them skillfully and squeezed the maximum out of his position, so I had to work really hard to make a draw. Am I tired? It is too early to speak about tiredness, because the tournament just started. However, I’d prefer to avoid such tough and lengthy games.
Peter Leko: I analyzed this variation a lot and played with both colors, but usually I couldn’t get any advantage as White. I think both 17.Ra4 and 18.Be3 are very strong, and nevertheless I managed to obtain a certain plus. I fought until the end, set up traps, but my opponent defended very accurately.
 Evgeny Alekseev
(Russia) - Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)
Evgeny Alekseev: The opponent surprised me in the opening a few times. I
didn’t expect 11...Bf5 and 12…h6. By the 14th move Black didn’t have
any problems at all. However, I think he should have castled longside.
Later I got a slightly more pleasant position, although it was most
likely drawn. There was another critical moment in the endgame, when I
missed 34.h5 with some winning chances. Unfortunately, I hesitated too
much.
Vassily Ivanchuk: It seemed I equalized in the opening, but then started
to play badly. After 34.h5 my chances to survive are slim (later
Alekseev confirmed this evaluation – editor). It is a strange feeling. I
am very surprised to survive with such a poor quality of play.
Question: You keep criticizing your play for the second day in a
row, does it mean that you are out of form early in the tournament?
Ivanchuk: That depends on your definition of form. My physical condition
is excellent, but I am not satisfied with the way I play. The first
round was just a disaster! Yesterday I played well, but made one move in
a wrong direction. And today I played absolutely horrible. I like
everything about the tournament – excellent organization, friendly
people, good playing hall; everything, but not my own play.
 Vugar Gashimov
(Azerbaijan) - Boris Gelfand (Israel)
Vugar Gashimov: It was a typical Petroff. Usually White pressures, but
Black can draw with accurate defense. I tried to attack, using the
presence of the opposite-colored bishops, but Boris defended accurately
and neutralized my threats. Maybe my play can be improved... In the
actual game I had to force a draw with a rook sacrifice.
Boris Gelfand: I had some problems in this line recently and even lost a
couple of games. The struggle in today’s game was quite interesting.
White pressured, but I couldn’t see where he could get anything real. I
had to make the only moves a few times during the game, though.
 Pavel Eljanov
(Ukraine) - Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan)
Pavel Eljanov: My opponent successfully used this variation against
Vladimir Kramnik at the rapid chess tournament in Baku. Shakhriyar
should get a credit for that victory, as after the opening the position
was about equal. Playing White may be more pleasant because his plan –
the minority attack – is very obvious. Black, however, also has his
chances in the center and on the kingside, plus he has a bishop pair. I
played 15...Rс8 to prepare с5, but continued with 16...b5, because I
realized that my position is acceptable despite the weak pawn on c6. By
trading my bishop for the knight on the 20th move I created the
opposite-colored bishops, and White was unable to make any progress.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov: After yesterday’s nervous game it was difficult
for me to keep a bloodthirsty mood. I decided to play solidly and avoid
any risks. After the exchange on the 20th move it was clear that I
cannot improve my position. I think we both were satisfied when we found
the threefold repetition.
 Ruslan Ponomariov
(Ukraine) - Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan)
Ruslan Ponomariov: This game was interesting but extremely solid, and a
draw is the only logical result. Generally it is very difficult to shake
such a solid position, especially when Black has counterplay.
Teimour Radjabov: In was important to find the sequence 13...dc4 and
14...Be4 in order to activate the g7-bishop and improve the pawn
structure. In the resulting position Black needed to carry out b7-b5 in
order to get enough space, and after I made this break, White was left
with a tiny advantage, which I neutralized with accurate play.
 Vladimir Akopian (Armenia) - Peter Svidler (Russia)
Vladimir Akopian: I
cannot say much about this game. This line occurred many times in the
Kasparov-Kramnik match. White must find very refined moves in order to
get an edge. I misplayed something probably, as it turned out that Black
reaches a very comfortable position by simple means. When I saw the
move repetition, I was unable to find arguments to turn it down.
Peter Svidler: We played the variation that I had analyzed quite a lot. I
had to spend some time to recall the things I knew, because I was
unable to guess Vladimir’s first move in this game correctly. I think my
11th move is a novelty, because in that match 11...Nd4 was considered
the main move. However, the resulting position was very similar to
those. Objectively I could continue to look for chances in the final
position, but yesterday I lost, and I still needed to fix my morale. In
addition, I didn’t feel well physically.
 Wang Yue (China) - Dmitry Jakovenko (Russia)
The Chinese grandmaster
looked completely shaken at the press-conference. He said that he
missed a win with his last move.
Dmitry Jakovenko: My opponent could hope to win indeed, but he missed a
tricky but well-known perpetual check. If he avoided the trap, the best I
could hope for is a position with two pawns for a piece...
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