In the first round of "Shamkir Chess 2019" Super-tournament devoted to the Memorial of late Azerbaijani grandmaster Vugar Hashimov, the Russian representative Sergey Kariakin played a draw with Chinese Ding Liren. According to the information of the Press Service of "Shamkir Chess 2019", players have attended in the press conference after the game.

S.Kariakin noted that although he wanted to win, he failed: "My opponent was really strong. There were several moments that I could use my chance and defeat him. I forced my opponent to use strong moves".

The grandmaster stated that this year will be very different for him: "There are upcoming tough tournaments ahead. As I could not win in my last tournament, I will do my best to win this one".

On the other hand, Ding Liren stated that, he was very careful about this round: "All moves were very important in the game. As far as I could, I tried to be very careful and attentive during the game. Finally, the battle ended up with a draw".

He talked about their third place on the World Cup, as well: "All team members preferred to play individually. Nobody was interested in another one's game. However, there was very happy atmosphere in the team. Generally, I am satisfied in total".

The Press Service of "Shamkir Chess 2019"