The FIDE World Chess Cup is taking place in Khanty-Mansiysk from November 20th
to December 15th 2009. It is a seven-round knockout event with six rounds of
matches comprising two games per round, with the winners progressing to the
next round. The final seventh round consists of four games. The time control
is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of
the game with an addition of 30 seconds per move from move one. Games start
at 15:00h local time, which is GMT +5 hours = 11:00 a.m. European time = 5 a.m.
New York. The World Chess Cup is an integral part of the World Championship
Cycle 2009-2011.
FIDE Interviews with the Grandmasters
Laurent Fressinet: "My wife Elmira is the main breadwinner of our family"
In Khanty Mansiysk, Laurent had an “average” performance. He easily
beat his opponent Sanan Syugirov in Round One, but then lost in the tiebreaks
to Evgeny Alexeev.
Laurent: I like Khanty Mansiysk very much. Beautiful city,
brilliant tournament. It is a pity that my stay here was so short…
So stay here… It would make everyone happy.
No, I have to go home [laughs]. My favorite place in the world is Paris. I
live there with my family. I like to travel. But wherever I am, I feel nostalgia.
I want to go home. It is wonderful when you have a place to come back to.
Is your family waiting for you – your daughter and wife, the famous
chess player Elmira Skripchenko?
Yes, but now Elmira does not play a lot of chess. She started
playing poker recently and has achieved a lot of success. The biggest success
was her participation in the poker tournament in Las Vegas. She won 80,000 US
dollars within just four days. In principle, you can win a lot in poker. So,
now my wife is the main breadwinner of our family [laughs].
Almira Skripchenko, chess IM and poker player
Don't cherish vain hopes: everything is possible in poker, you can win
but you can also lose.
Well, we are safe there. Elmira has a personal sponsor in poker: a famous poker
site supports her financially: it covers her trip expenses and more. So, we
don't risk our money: she wins – perfect. If not – we don't lose
anything.
Do you play chess or poker with your wife?
We play chess against each other. In poker, there is a different situation:
we support each other when playing against our opponents. But in general, we
don't have time to play at home. We have more important business – our
daughter.
Almira and Laurent's two-and-a-half year old daughter Ludivine
Alexander Oinschuk: "I propose we provide every chess player with a pager"
The American Grandmaster Alexander Onischuk has his personal opinion of the
situation with the Chinese grandmasters Wang Yue and Li Chao. To recollect the
situation: they were two minutes late for their second games of the tie breaks.
According to the regulations of the tournament their games were forfeited.
Onischuk: I was very disappointed with the situation with
the Chinese players. To my mind a lot had been solved unwisely. We all know
the rules: who is late, loses a game. But there is a difference with the two
late appearances. If a player knows that a game starts at 15.00h sharp and he
comes at 15.01, he deserves a defeat. No matter why he was late.
But here we have another situation in principle. The participants of the tie
breaks are ready for 14 additional games. But no one knows the exact time of
the next game. I mean everyone can miss the start of the next game. Today the
Chinese players were unlucky, tomorrow – someone of us can be in the same
situation. Now tell me, what is good in the fact that two brilliant chess players
lost the opportunity to fight for the World Cup because of an unfortunate misunderstanding.
Not only they who suffered. Their fans suffered with them. Chess in general
suffered.
What can be done to avoid such situations?
There are several variants. They can fix the exact time of the next round.
As the Chinese players proposed, a big screen with the relevant information
of the tournament can be arranged. But the easiest way is to provide every participant
with a pager. They will receive a message about the start of the next round.
In American fast food restaurants every visitor receives a token, which starts
to vibrate when an offer is ready. It costs “two cents”. It is not
difficult and expensive to distribute such a token among the players.
Is it so difficult to follow what is going on the stage?
Yes, taking into account that you can finish your game in two minutes and the
rest of the games could last about an hour. Or less. Or more than less. It means
that each participant must come into the playing hall every five minutes, in
order not to miss the start of the next game. It is awfully uncomfortable.
The Chinese players were late for their games because they were smoking…
Everyone remembers that since Soviet time smoking in the stadiums and sport
palaces were strictly prohibited.
Thanks God we don't live in the USSR anymore. But I agree: an excuse of the
Chinese players does not sound convincingly. But anyway, they could be in the
toilet or in the bar. In general, I just hope that the organizers could make
a conclusion of this incident. They are interested in it not less than us.
Interviews by FIDE, photos
by Galina Popova
Links
The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the
chess server Playchess.com.
If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase
Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program
to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009! |
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