The debutant of the Moscow Open Samvel Ter-Sahakyan became the winner of the A. Pochinok Memorial Student Grandmaster Cup. The Armenian grandmaster was leading in the course of the whole race and played to the draw with the rating favorite Daniil Dubov in the final round, that provided him with the victory.

- Samvel, congrats on the win! How can you evaluate your performance?

- Thank you. Of course, the tournament is very interesting, many talented players were playing in our competitions. Surely, I’m happy to win such a strong tournament.

- Was the last game with Daniil Dubov the toughest of all or not?

- Yes, it was one of the most complicated games. Daniil chose a very modern variant of the game opening, though a couple of games have been already played in this way, exactly at this tournament. I studied it also a little bit before the game. Daniil sacrificed his knight on e6: the white can’t receive anything there immediately, and still the black have a non-castled king and the king wing is blocked. And then Daniil started to commit weak moves and my pieces started to play, the positions were strengthened. Though the bad position of my rook on h8 affected the game – it was an eternal problem.

I think, he missed 26…Bc6. It seemed to me, the black could have had quite a comfortable play there. (The opponents agreed to the draw in the game – editor’s note.)

- Did the sacrifice of the knight on e6 become a surprise?

- I was aware of this variant, though I didn’t think so far ahead. So, yes, Daniil took the pawn quite unexpectedly.

- Have you come to the Moscow Open for the first time?

- Yes, I’ve been here for the first time.

- What can you tell about the organization?

- It was pleasant to play in such a big tournament with the participation of many strong and interesting chess players. As for the organization itself, everything is great, I enjoyed it much.

- Tell us a little bit about yourself, please. What’s your highest result at the moment?

- I can’t say, I have any major achievements. In 2014 I qualified to the World Cup from the European Championship, and it can be considered as a big success. I was not able to win any big tournament for a long time, that’s why it can be said the victory at the Moscow Open is another big achievement.

- Who is your coach?

- Officially I’m not coached by anyone. Non-officially I have coaches, whom I’m working with for a long time. Sometimes I cooperate with young chess players.

- The chess is very popular in Armenia. The President of the country Serzh Sargsyan chairs the Chess Federation of Armenia. There are chess lessons in the school. Do you feel the chess expansion of the country?

- Yes, of course. Now the serious attention is paid to the chess in Armenia, and it’s very pleasant. The President helps much, and that’s why you feel something special, having this support. It positively influences the athletes.

- Are the young chess players of the country strong?

- Some promising guys are appearing. For example, the recent Championship of Armenia was won by Karen Grigoryan (he’s 19 – editor’s note) and after that he became the member of the National Team of the country. In general, young players are studying, growing up. 

- Is the Champion of the country qualified to the National Team directly?

- Yes. The first four places are allocated according to the rating list and the fifth participant is the winner of the Championship of Armenia.

- Samvel, thank you for the interview! I wish you much success!

- Thank you.

Interview by Eteri Kublashvili