Interview with Alexander Morozevich
By Olivier Breisacher
Having
scored 7.5 points out of 10 games, 29-year-old Alexander Morozevich won in
a landslide, and for the third time in three participations, the Biel Grandmaster
tournament. His global achievement at the Festival is impressive: 30 games,
18 wins, 10 draws, and 2 losses. In 39 years of history, no other grandmaster
ever reached such an average.
Crowned ahead of the young talents Magnus Carlsen and Teimour Radjabov, Alexander
Morozevich accumulated a lot of self-confidence and a lot of… Elo points
during his stay in Biel. The Moscow-born grandmasster takes a look at his trajectory,
talks about his approach to chess and what the future looks like for him and
for the checkered world.
Alexander Morozevich, it is your third participation and your third victory
in Biel. What is your secret?
Biel is an important tournament in the milieu and it was fun to win it. I
feel especially comfortable here, I like the surrounding atmosphere and the
playing conditions. However, it is every time harder for me. In 2004, the tournament
had a very high level as well, but a number of my opponents were not in great
shape and underperformed.
Before you, only Anatoly Karpov had won three times in Biel…
It is always good to know that! If the comparison stretched to the number
of world titles, it would be even better!
This year, you finished again way ahead…
It was not as easy as you might think. I had to fight to the end, I made
a number of blunders, and my game was sometimes uneven. My victory against
Volokitin in the 8th round was very important. The following day, everything
happened to my benefit. Carlsen lost, Radjabov did not win, and I defeated
Pelletier.
You are mentioning a number of blunders…
Yes, particularly in my second game against Magnus Carlsen (27. Bg7??). However,
I made mistakes in other games, fortunately when I had a winning position,
for example against Bruzon (round 1) or against Radjabov (round 4).
The winner in Biel: Alexander Morozevich of Russia
What makes the difference between a 29-year-old grandmaster and his much
younger rivals?
On my hand, I would say a better experience and understanding of the game.
On their hand, there is more energy, which allows to maintain some freshness
and to calculate all variations faster. But the scales may lean towards one
side or the other.
How do you judge Magnus Carlsen, your executioner in Biel?
I faced him for the first time in my career. He is a free spirit; he calculates
and plays fast. Of course, he still needs training, he can show some impatience.
However, this is easily understandable given his young age. He seems to be
well coached. The rest depends on him. If he continues on this path, he can
go far, very far.
You came to Biel alone. How did you prepare yourself?
I was well supported from a distance. I analyzed and prepared the games of
the tournament with a few friends at different levels.
You are considered as one of the most creative and unpredictable players
on the circuit. You bring creative chaos onto the chessboard…
Everybody can define me in a different way. I have more confidence in myself
than in books or in computer-based preparations. This allows me to find new
ideas sometimes. However, I lack stability, I can often line up good and bad
results. This is my weakness. This is what also made a difference with great
players.
What do you mean?
Most top-ten players are more professional in their approach to chess. They
devote most of their time to it. Anand, Leko or Topalov do not necessarily
play better than I do, but they are more serious in their work, in their regularity.
I can beat any player in a game, I can get ahead in a tournament, but they
logically defeat me on the whole. I consider myself partly amateur. Chess remains
my greatest passion, of course, but I can do other things for months, before
getting back to it. I have other centers of interest; I have friends outside
of the chess world. This is my way of life and it suits me.
This is not enough in order to aim for a world title, for example?
Indeed. I am not the kind of person who makes big announcements, who argues
that I want to be world champion. I am not ready to sacrifice everything in
order to achieve this. From this point of view, my fourth place at the last
world championship in San Luis in 2005, with 50 percent of the points, suits
me very well. I only started serious preparation three weeks earlier. Only
during the tournament did Alexander Beljavsky and Vladimir Barsky (MI) come
and support me.
Will you stick to this philosophy in the future?
It is not easy to modify one’s style completely.
You are 29, what are your goals?
I like to play a creative chess. It is understood that I will pursue my career.
However, with my current point of view, I try not to become too dependent on
the results because they can vary a lot.
Russia ended only at the 6th rank of the Turin Olympiads last June. How
do you explain such a result?
There are numerous reasons, among which the fact that Russia lacks young
blood in its ranks. Our coaches should remember this for the next important
competitions. In Turin, our age average was over 30. Given the FIDE time control,
the youth, and motivation of our opponents, it was not necessarily an advantage.
The second reason is that most of the players of our team were far from their
best form.
What do you think of the reunification final for the world championship
between Topalov and Kramnik?
Any duel with two high-ranked players has to be a plus for chess. There is
an obvious interest. However, I would prefer not to make any political judgment
regarding the scope of the matches. I have nothing to say. I would certainly
not talk about “reunification”.
