Kramnik: “Intellectual effort gives me enormous pleasure”
Vladimir Kramnik has had a wildly uneven 2013, swinging from the highs of the Candidates Tournament and Dortmund to an abject last place at the Tal Memorial. The Alekhine Memorial was merely disappointing, and afterwards he gave a long interview to a popular Russian weekly magazine.
Anand’s WhyChess interview
After last year’s Tal Memorial, where Viswanathan Anand drew all nine games, he gave a long and fascinating interview to Vlad Tkachiev. Topics included the champion’s current form and the upcoming match against Boris Gelfand. On the eve of that match I’m resposting the interview here as it’s currently unavailable at WhyChess.
Averbakh: “History is written by the victors”
Yuri Averbakh, the world’s oldest grandmaster, celebrated his 90th birthday on February 8th this year. To mark the occasion he gave a long and fascinating interview to Vladimir Barsky and Eteri Kublashvili, which turned into a whirlwind tour of chess history.
Karpov, Kramnik and Kasparov on Spassky
To mark the 75th birthday yesterday of Boris Spassky, the Tenth World Chess Champion, the Russian Chess Federation website has published congratulations from three of Spassky’s great successors to the chess throne: Anatoly Karpov, Vladimir Kramnik and Garry Kasparov. They talk about Spassky as a chess player and a personality.
Magnus Carlsen: Not a child of the computer era
After the Tal Memorial in Moscow Magnus Carlsen gave a long interview that provided a remarkable insight into what makes the Norwegian stand out in world chess. He claims to have essentially developed as a player without computers, and to barely work on the game outside of tournaments.
Gelfand and Grischuk’s final press conference
Much of the final press conference of the Candidates Matches in Kazan needed no interpretation. Grischuk’s sportsmanship in defeat was there for all to see, and the rough course of the game was conveyed in the players’ English comments. There was again, however, much more in Russian…
Vassily Ivanchuk: “I’m a very ambitious person”
Few would identify emotional outbursts as the quality to borrow from Garry Kasparov, but then Vassily Ivanchuk has always stood out from the crowd. In a long and fascinating interview he again displays the self-awareness and deliberate strategy that often lie behind his apparent eccentricities.
Judit Polgar: “I love chess”
While Vladimir Potkin’s transformation from coach into major tournament winner was impressive, perhaps the most popular story of the recent European Championship was Judit Polgar’s spectacular return to form. After the event she gave an interview to Evgeny Surov of Chess-News.
Can you match Garry Kasparov?
Garry Kasparov, with some help from his wife Dasha, recently won the Georgian charity version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”, answering 15 questions correctly to win 20,000 lari (about 11,400 USD) for a brother and sister requiring heart surgery. Could you have done the same?
GM Ruslan Ponomariov answers your questions: Part I
Answering reader questions almost a decade after becoming FIDE World Champion as an 18-year-old, Ruslan Ponomariov provides both a revealing insight into the life of an elite player, and a damning indictment of the chess politics that saw his match against Garry Kasparov collapse.
