The Czech grand master David Navara has said in an interview of the official website of the ShamkirChess 2018 Super Tournament.


- You played successively the three rounds with a draw. Generally, in the current tournament, 10 games were draw. What do you think, is the reason for this kind of game?

- The top grand masters are playing in Shamkir. It is very difficult to find a mistake in the game of two strong players. No one wants to lose. Maybe this kind of game is boring for the chess fans. Nevertheless, we do not want to lose the game. I have 1.5 scores in three games. I consider my performance normal. At least, I have not lost any game.


- What did you think firstly when you invited to the Shamkir Tournament?

- After I accepted the invitation, I started to check out something about Shamkir on the Internet. Shamkir is far from the capital Baku. Yet, I read only positive opinions about the organization in here. It is already, fifth time that the Memorial of Vugar Hashimov is held in a high level here. Therefore, I accepted the invitation with a great pleasure.


- In which place does David Navara see himself at the end of the tournament?

- I have come to Shamkir to show a quite good game. Believe me that, there will not be easy parties. The World Champion himself participates in this game. It means, last games will be more difficult. I would not like to predict something; however, I simply do not want to lose my rating.


- Which one of the Azerbaijani grand master is difficult for you to play against them?

- You have a lot of strong grand masters. However, to play against Shahriyar is very difficult for me. He is somehow can read the moves out of his opponent`s brain. In fact, I have lost many games against Azerbaijani grand masters. Nonetheless, everyone can easily see that, Mammadyarov is in the sound form. Shahriyar holds high places in the recent games.


- How do you spend your leisure time in Shamkir?

- If I have an opportunity, I walk in the park. I try to walk about 3-4 kilometers in a day. Otherwise, I run very fast. Actually, I have no any to time to rest. I have taken two books with me to Shamkir. However, I have not read even one page yet. Because, there is no any time.


- On the day off the tournament, players are thinking about to play football. Will it possible to see you in the football field?

- When I played football last time, I got injured during the training. Can you imagine that before the game started, during the training to the match, I got injured. Therefore, probably, I will not play. I think that I can be more beneficial with sitting in the reserve.


- The Traditional ShamkirChess Tournament is dedicated in the memory of Vugar Hashimov. Who was the winner of the games that you played against Vugar?

- Totally, we have met 9 times in the different tournaments. In the five of them, Vugar won. Our games with him have always been memorable with interesting moves. Even, when I had a precedence, he could change the result in favor of him. The worst situation was not failure for him. Hashimov never got exhausted of playing chess for 5-6 hours. This man really enjoyed fighting till the end. I was very disappointed when I heard about his death. This is really a huge loss for the World sport and chess. I would like to say my gratitude to the organizers for holding this kind of great tournament. This worth to Vugar`s name.

Press Service of the ShamkirChess 2018 Tournament