Eljanov on Ukrainian players wanting to abandon their federation and Shirov’s unusual training methods, Gashimov on “incorrect” Chinese chess, and more: the Azerbaijan site was on hand to report a lot of interesting material from the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk.

Originally posted at the Daily Dirt:

Some more titbits from the site (here and here):

Eljanov:

“The majority of strong Ukrainian chess players want to change federation” (as there’s no money or support – perhaps not even enough to send teams to international competitions).

“I think there should be one normal person in a marriage” (on persuading his wife to give up professional chess).

“It’s hard to say. Perhaps Shirov [will win the tournament], he’s in a very serious mood. He arrived with a second, a girl. Clearly he prepared vigorously”!

Gashimov:

“Gashimov also expressed his opinion on the chess demonstrated by the Chinese players. ‘To me it seems as though the majority of Chinese chess players have basically derived their chess understanding from computer programs, and they play incorrect chess. Perhaps Wang Yue stands out among the other representatives of the Kingdom under Heaven, and therefore he has a higher rating. I think you can detect the absence of a school in Chinese chess’.”

Laznicka in his press conference after the second game with Mamedyarov simply said that if a player as strong as Mamedyarov wants to draw with white he will – but it seems as though no-one challenged him about agreeing to a draw so soon.

Kamsky said he’ll keep playing chess until he’s 40 (he’s 35 now). He also mentioned he still had the same off-the-board distractions as during the Topalov match, though he didn’t specify what they were. He’s not especially happy with the US chess federation, but won’t switch.