Interview with Sergey Rublevskiy: “I collected one point out of two and felt extremely happy”
Russian, and earlier Soviet chess Grandmaster (1994), honored Russian master of sports (1999). Russian Champion (2005). 4-times World Chess Olympiads’ winner with Russian team (1996, 1998, 2000, 2002) and 2-times world champion with Russian team (1997, 2005), winner of many international tournaments . In February, 2012 was appointed to the position of the Russian women team senior coach.
Anasyasiya Karlovich: Sergey, you have just arrived to Kazan from Moscow has recently staged Tal Memorial. Did you follow FIDE Women Grand Prix in Kazan?
Sergey Rublevskiy: Yes, of course, I saw all the game.
A.K.: Will you characterize the quality of the games in Kazan? Who has impressed you here?
S.R.: I was a little bit surprised to see Elina Danielian leading confidently. Frankly speaking, I’m not very much pleased with the games’ quality. There are a lot of torn games, which ended quite differently from what they were meant, and there are a lot of inadequate time troubles. I’m just exploring women chess so far, so I guess all these happen here more frequently, than I can expect.
When speaking of Lahno, Muzychuk and Cmilyte, competing here pretty successfully, all those ladies are very strong. Last year during European Championship I experienced it myself, when I played against Cmilyte and Muzychuk two games in a row. I collected just one point out of two and was very happy about the result. Then I proceeded in a better way playing men, taking 3.5 points out of 4 (laughing). I can still remember the matches against the ladies, which were pretty difficult. This is not a surprise, the ladies have got man’s GM ranking, and they are playing for it, by the way. There is such a feeling, that Hou Yifan is tired of chess. As for the Russian players, I haven’t noticed integrity in the way they play, which made me upset.
A.K.: You’ve been appointed to the position of the senior women national team coach. Russians are not doing very well here so far. Does that mean, you have food for analyses and discussion during the training camp, which is about to start just after the Grand Prix in Kazan?
S.R.: We will have the training camp before the match against China and we will have enough time to discuss many things. I have watched the game Tatiana Kosintseva vs. Alexandra Kostenyuk. To begin with, black played excellently, then there came time troubles, which could be hardly explained, then mistakes, to crown it all, ending in a draw, which produced a terrible impression on me. There was such a feeling, that the first and the second parts of the game were played by two different players on both sides on the board. This is not possible to keep control on the game, having such time troubles! Even Grischuk can do nothing about it. One should realize, that if the situation is complicated, it’s important to have time.
I know many members of the team, since I also competed in the recent match against China. I have a notion what to do, I guess. For instance, I have just had Olga Girya at junior team training camp, and I she will play for Russian team against China. We’ll see what will happen next, but I’ve got some ideas.
A.K.: How are you going to fight with stress during Olympiad and other team championships?
S.R.: I believe, it is more difficult to play, though some coaches might disagree with me about that. There is nothing like the stress a player suffers at the board. When I coached Kramnik, I took it keenly, but I understood, he was taking it much stronger. I have just returned from Moscow, where I was commenting on the games at Tal Memorial, which was a very tiresome business, however I wouldn’t compare that with the loads the players have had. Nerves can ruin health, and one can’t evaluate the stress one experiences during the game. Time troubles, wrong choice of the opening, one doesn’t notice the winning move and discovers it later – there are numerous stresses, and one should survive and keep on playing. The one who doesn’t play chess will never think of it. I take myself as a stress-resistant person, however we will soon check if this is true.
Official website: http://kazan2012.fide.com
Poor quality.