The member of the Russian National Team Sergey Karjakin is the guest of the Moscow Open Round 6. The super grandmaster shared his impressions and gave advice to our young participants.

- Sergey, do you follow the games of the tournament?
- Yes, of course, I watch the games. I’m impressed with the level of the play, in particular, the one, demonstrated by my National Team mate Ian Nepomniachtchi, who struggles for every chance in all the games. In general, the participants are very strong for the open tournament.

- When did you last play in the open?
- It was long ago: in 2005 I played in the Aeroflot Open. As a matter of fact, I wanted to play in the Qatar Masters Open last December, but unfortunately its dates coincided with the dates of the Super Final of the Championship of Russia. It was a very complicated choice: I will not make a secret, I really wanted to play in Qatar, but finally I made the choice in favor of the Championship of Russia. However, I didn’t play good there, so maybe I would better have gone to Doha (laughing).

- How was your study in the RSSU?
- The University management always supported the chess in general, and me, in particular. They helped to solve different problems. Now, when I have already finished the university, I don’t know how it’s all going on, but in any case, it’s nice, the Moscow Open is organized in the RSSU, as it’s a good tournament. 
I’m also glad, Aeroflot Open will appear again. It can also be called a historical tournament. I fulfilled my first grandmaster standards there.

- Before we finish our interview, I would like to ask you to give an advice to our young readers – participants of the children’s Moscow Open.
- If you want to win, you have to train chess much and hard, and then the results will come.

Interview by Eteri Kublashvili
Photo: Karyakin’s interview to the NTV+ sports channel