The "playoff" games started in the Tournament A. The favorite of the race Ian Nepomniachtchi won over the Moscow Open-2008 winner Artyom Timofeev from Kazan in a very complicated game of the Round 5. He told the correspondent of the official website about this game.
- Artyom is a very strong opponent, a chess player of an extra class. However, recently he plays not so successfully, but, nevertheless, the game wasn’t expected to be easy.
In the opening he didn’t choose the main continuation as the answer to the Grunfeld defense, when the white is up a pawn, but in reality stands none the better. Then Artyom made a few less effective moves, after that, I think, I gained some initiative, and I used it not so bad, on the one hand: first I won back the pawn, and then I won one of my own. Then I exchanged too many pieces, and we received a 4 vs 3 major piece endgame, which almost always boils down to a theoretical draw. Maybe it was worth trying to keep all the pieces on the board, but it was quite a complicated task. Artyom placed all the pieces on the same line and started to “chase” me, demanding an immediate exchange, first of rook and then of queen.
I didn't play with enough guile and as a result I received the minimum I could receive in that situation, nevertheless, it’s not so little: I had already played h5 and g5 in the 4 vs 3 rook ending. It’s because if white gets the chance to move on h4, it will lead to a very simple draw. But after h5 and g5 you can create some miniscule problems. The way Artyom played led to quite a drastic loss: my pawn made it to f3. Artyom organized a counter-attack, trying to activate his king and to play for a perpetual check, but it didn’t seem to me it that it would work out. I ended up winning one more pawn, and as it’s very well known, two connected pawns pass easily promote in a rook endgame.
- Did Artyom also suffer from the lack of time?
- Yes, he was spending his time very strange. He froze up for 15 minutes before entering to the rook position.
In general, it will be hard for me to enter this game to my account.
- What can you tell about four previous games?
- All the opponents play quite tough, in spite of the 400-point ranking difference. It looks like it’s compensated by their strong desire to show their best.
The game of the first round was quite complicated, my position was worse during the course of the whole game, but at some point the opponent missed all his chances at once. The game of the second round turned to be quite easy.
In the third round we received one of the draw results that make me dislike playing in open tournaments. A high quality player places his pieces very well and you have either to risk it all or to make reasonable moves. I chose the second option and received a slightly better endgame, but the opponent defended himself against it quite easy.
In the fourth game I almost won, but then I made several weak moves and my position became just a slight edge. Then we had a draw, but my opponent outwitted himself as by that time I had already given up on finding chances for the victory. However, he decided to play actively and lost.
- Do you watch the games from Baden-Baden or Gibraltar, while you’re playing in the tournament?
- When I come home, then yes, of course I watch. If I watched them live, I would be disqualified from the tournament (laughing).
- The RSSU is your home university. Tell us about your study here.
- Yes, I studied here at the humanitarian faculty, journalism department, and now I attend the post-graduate course. As we say, there is nothing better than home.
- Ian, thank you for the interesting comments and good luck!
- Thank you.
Interview by Eteri Kublashvili