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You are just back from the Russian Team Competition. How was it?
It was a very hard tournament. With my new team “Saransk” we won the bronze medals.
Who else was on the team?
Ivanchuk was the leader, and Volokitin, Sutovsky, Kobalia, Volkov and Najer were the main boards. For team reasons they placed me on board two, although there were higher-rated players in the field. The decision was good, since I did not lose any game, and managed to win against the legendary Korchnoi. At the same time Volokitin scored excellently on board three.
Such a formidable team and only third place?
Yes, the championship was extremely strong. The winner “Ural” for example had Alexander Motylev (2644) as the second reserve player. At the same time running champions for two years from “Tomsk” almost dropped from the Premier League!
Are you not tired after this event?
Not really, or at least I hope not. I did not play that much chess recently – my German club Porz withdrew from the Bundesliga, and I did not play in Serbia either.
And what about the Russian Individual Championship?
This is a different story. The price fund is very good, the event is very prestigious. Well, you have to qualify for it as well, but I managed to do it.
You have very good support from the Russian Federation now
Yes, it is true. Our president Zhukov is practically the third man in Russia. Strong connections, huge passion for chess. By the way, he is a very good player – a master candidate. I once played a blitz game against him in a team competition, and won with difficulties. Actually it was a draw, and his flag fell. Normally I would have even agreed to it, but it was still a team tournament…
I have known your name ever since I was a boy, but can you tell our readers about yourself?
I won the Russian championship under 16 at the age of ten. This was a huge achievement at the time. I remember that I almost beat the 16 year old Boris Gelfand, who was already a GM. I tortured him for about 100 moves but he survived. And he did not underestimate me, since it was the penultimate round, and people already knew what they were facing.
I remember a picture of you playing against Kramnik, it was a qualification for a world championship and one of you won 4.5-1.5
Yes, it was me.
But you were lower-rated than him?
Yes, I had something like 2370, while he already was over 2500. But I did not play many tournaments and was not correctly rated. Everything normalized in my first international tournament when I scored 3.5 points more than the required IM norm.
And after that did you become youth champion?
Twice – once under 16, and once under 18; and once I was the runnerup losing the final encounter.
You have been on the Russian National team as well?
I am two time Olympic Champion with our team. In 1998 – Elista and 2000 – Istanbul. In the latter case I had the second best performance in the tournament after Morozevich, scoring plus five.
And what is your best achievement at the European Championships?
I do not really know. I usually try to qualify for the World Cup only and after making the needed “pluses” just finish off with short draws. There was one exception –in Ohrid I tried hard, rejected Emil Sutovsky’s draw offer as Black in the penultimate round and eventually lost. This helped my opponent win the title.
Last year you lost against Ivan Cheparinov in the tie-breaks.
Yes, but it was not so important since before that I lost against the same Sutovsky and we did not play for the medals.
Do you still write opening books?
I am not that interested.
What do you do between the tournaments?
I am seconding Evgeny Alexeev.
We make camps quite often.
When was your last visit to Bulgaria?
Two years ago. We spent twenty days with my wife in Sunny Beach. Excellent resort, excellent weather.
What is your objective for this EICC in Plovdiv?
The minimal one is to qualify for the World Cup.
Thank you very much. Good luck, and enjoy your stay in Bulgaria!
Interview by IM Dejan Bojkov