Ivanchuk, Polgar, Akobian Interviews
Thursday, November 26, 2009 at 7:06PM The interviews above, and more, are all accessible from the World Cup home page. They're short and less than ideally translated, but they're better than nothing. Or at least, most of them are: the Ivanchuk interview has an almost apocalyptic tone. Here are some excerpts:
To my mind I should leave the professional chess now. Chess becomes hobby for me from now on. As for the signed contracts, yes, I will play in all tournaments where I have to. Perhaps I will even participate in a tournament before the New Year. I should win SOMETHING! And that will be the end. No serious plans, no professional goals.
...
• (Questioner:) It is well known – chess and Ivanchuk cannot exist separately.
• This is right but in the past. And now chess is killing me. Chess is playing against me! Chess is destroying me! I would take it easy if my opponent would be much stronger than me, or he will be better prepared. But my loss was so stupid, it is a destiny sign, which screams: “Vasya, leave it, it is not your business”.
...
• There is an impression that you put all stakes on this tournament?
Maybe. But now I only feel that the world crashed down around me. Everyone is against me and I don't see the way out…
Akobian, Ivanchuk, Polgar in World Cup 2009
Reader Comments (3)
I haven't looked much at the Ivanchuk-So games, but Ivanchuk seems to be unusually harsh on himself and on So. I don't recall Ivanchuk saying that his opponent played 'very badly' before. I thought he was typically gracious, but perhaps I don't follow these things that closely. The word on Ivanchuk is that he's erratic, so perhaps he's gracious at times and petty at times?
The Interviewer (or perhaps the Editor) called him the 'unknown So Wesley', which seems ridiculous. Anyone who follows chess knows that So is a fast-improving strong young player. Is it the case that the (presumably) Russian editor/interviewer is sympathetic to the Ukrainian GM here? I would guess that a lot of Russians consider Ukraine like a province.
Chucky is an extremely gracious player.
He is just terribly upset that he has lost for the 3rd time in the early rounds of the World Cup, missing the chess world championship to follow. He'll get over it soon and be back to the Chucky we all love, I hope.
On the bright side, as a big Chucky fan, at least Nisipeanu did not knock him out this time. :-)
Wesley So is much less known in Russia than in the West, so the question does not sound ridiculous in Russian.
As for the "very badly" comment by Ivanchuk, it seems he referred to the second game, where he completely outplayed So from equal, seemingly dull position (thus the opponent did play badly) but could not find the finishing blow (and it was there).