1.
First of all, let me congratulate you with your
recent win of the "G" tournament in Moscow, what are your impressions
from the tournament?
Thanks a lot, Irina! It was already the 7th
time I’ve participated in Moscow Open tournament, but the first time I played
in the closed women tournament (G). Of course, I’m very happy about the first
place, and I have to admit it was a big luck for me as we shared it with Olga
Girya and Dinara Saduakassova and I was just slightly better on tie-break.
It was a nice event and I don’t think I can complain about something and even
the weather was not as cold as the last year. Probably, you remember!
2. I know you're
both playing and coaching, what would you prefer if you had to choose just one
of them?
I only started
coaching last year and I traveled with kids to the World and European Youth
championships to Prague and Maribor as one of the coaches for the Russian
delegation. That was a really very interesting experience! But still, if I have
to choose between playing and coaching, this time I would prefer to play. But
it’s quite possible that my opinion can change in a few years.
3. You've been
travelling quite a lot, what is the place you loved the most?
Yes, but I
travelled mostly only through Europe. As for some more exotic places, I have
some plans about visiting Australia, South America, Caribbean Islands, ect. By
now, I love Germany and France very much, but my native city – Moscow is still
my favourite one.
4. Does chess
involve a specific lifestyle (that's the question I've been struggling with too) ?
As any other professions connected with
sports, seems like, we have a special lifestyle. We travel and play a lot, so
we can not attend the studies regulary or do some kind of a usual job (and
mostly we can not get regular payments as it depends on the results). But in
general, I don't think there is something really unusual about the chess
lifestyle, maybe it comes when you become such a professional who works 8-10
hours of chess a day...
5. What is the
thing you like the most about chess and the thing you'd like to change?
I like our
chess society very much and I have a lot of real friends here! By the way,
that's another reason not to switch to coach's work completely. Hard to say,
what I don’t like and even harder to propose something reasonable.
6. What do you see
yourself doing in 5 years?
Hm, good
question Actually I have no
idea even about what I’ll be doing in 2 or 3 next months. I can expect that
I’ll be still connected to chess somehow, as a player, coach or any other way.
