The sixth round of the ShamkirChess 2018 Super Tournament in the memory of Vugar Hashimov has been completed. The Press Service of the Tournament reports that, in the sixth round the World Champion Magnus Carlsen played a draw with the Russian representative Sergey Kariakin.

Magnus Carlsen talked after the game at the press conference: “I did not want to make some innovation in the debut. However, I could not gain the precedence. We know each other well with Kariakin. Therefore, both sides avoided to have some risks. Thus, the draw was inevitable. It is not easy to play after the free day. I believe that, the last three rounds will be very decisive for players”.

The Norwegian grand master said about the football tournament held on the free day: “I think that the football was really interesting. I lived some exciting moments. The “World Team” formed out of the foreign players performed well. Although Sergey Kariakin did not play the game, his second Denis Hismatulin helped us a lot. There is his peculiar place in our victory. I really enjoyed football game”.

The Russian representative has said that he is not performing the game which he really wants: “In fact the tiredness is inevitable after the Berlin Candidates Tournament. Yet, it is always a pleasure to play within such a strong staff. Actually, I was thinking about victory to rise my score in the last rounds. However, I cannot get a precedence in the games. I fell that the draw is normal to conclude the party in an equal level”.

Sergey explained his not playing football on the free day such: “In the morning we held a seance for the teenagers. Afterwards, I walked a bit to relieve myself. The reason why I did not attend at the football tournament was that I was preparing the game against Magnus. In order to prepare the game against Magnus, I would say that I have been in my room all day”. 

Press Service of the ShamkirChess 2018 Tournament