Interpreting in English the parts of “Shamkir Chess 2019” tournament devoted to the memorial of Vugar Hashimov, the member of the Azerbaijani National Team, the European Champion, Arkadi Naydich answered the questions of official sites.
- How do you evaluate the first rounds of “Shamkir Chess 2019” tournament devoted to the memorial of Vugar Hashimov?
- To begin with I should note the presence of this kind of competition in the memory of prominent grandmaster Vugar Hashimov. The organizers have achieved to hold the competition in a deserving respect to his name. We watched very interesting parts in the first round. For instance, Magnus Carlsen experienced some difficulty in the first game. Teimour Radjabov gained several dominance on him. However, he could not develop this dominance till the end. Radjabov had real chances to capture the point from the World champion. When it comes to the second round, although Anand lost the game against Magnus, he did not played bad. Simply, the tale of the game was defined within ten moves. I should note the confidence game of Sergey Kariakin. Generally, it is quite difficult to see the real dominance of Carlsen in the first rounds.
- Magnus Carlsen have already won three times the tournament in Shamkir. What do you think, who can intercept the World Champion?
- He is the owner of the first place on the FIDE rating. He shows his talent by winning any game. Certainly, there are real opponents to him. However, they act very carefully. It seems that Carlsen puts a spell on them. It is logical to talk about the total result of the game after 6thround.
- The Chinese representative, Ding Liren is considered a real opponent against him. He shows a very stable performance…
- I totally agree with you. Probably currently, Ding Liren is the most stable grand master in the World. There are only two results for him-winning or a draw. He is known as invincible. He can do any turn in the game. We look forward to seeing his encounter with Magnus. Let us not forget that Shamkir tournament is consisted of nine rounds, the leader can change in each round.
- How are the chances of Azerbaijani representatives- Shahriyar Mammadyarov and Teimour Radjabov?
- I should believe my national team colleagues. Shahriyar won the Shamkir Tournament for two times. I hope that this time he will fight for the championship as well. When it comes to Teimour Radjabov, probably, he aimed to be in top three. It should not be forgotten that there are grandmasters such as Sergey Kariakin, Veselin Topalov, Alexander Grischuk among others in Shamkir. It is very essential to fight with all of these grandmaster one by one.
- Recently, draws are frequently critizied in chess. Do you agree that draws make chess uninteresting?
- Draws are different. There are draws in football such as 0-0 or 4-4. There is a distinction between them. If there is a 4-4 result in any match, it shows the productivity. Boring draws are certainly not interesting. However, sometimes, it is difficult to tell boring to the draw. In the Championship game, many draws were recorded in the part of Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana. However, we watched the most interesting performance on their encounter. I believe that the part depends on the chess players, they can play as active as possible.
- The European Championship will be held in the end of the year among national clubs. The Azerbaijan national team won the gold medal in the last tournament. That is to say that, in the next tournament only the gold medal will be considered as a good result…
- Only the highest result is accepted in Azerbaijan. Certainly, as grandmasters, we understand this. The Azerbaijan national team is among the best teams. In my opinion, we have a high chance to win the tournament once again. Simply, we should compete as one team, as we did in the last Continental Championship. There is a friendly atmosphere in the national team. Therefore, I believe that we have enough strength to create difficulty to our opponents.
- You interpret the parts in English in the website of “Shamkir Chess 2019”, is this your first time?
- It is for the first time that I work as an interpreter of the game in my entire career. It is very interesting. It seems to me that I share my experience and knowledge on the live broadcasting. I analysis all games, and express my own versions. The comments of the spectators on the live broadcasting is positive. It makes me very happy.
Press Service of “Shamkir Chess 2019”
