Tweet
An Interview with Vassily Ivanchuk
May 5, 2017
Vassily recently gave an interview to Alexey Ryzhkov of Sport-Express in Ukraine. Some excerpts:
https://www.sport-express.ua/rest/ch...u-ukrainy.html
Vassily Ivanchuk: “I intend to continue playing for Ukraine”
March 22, 2017
Our meeting with the world rapids champion and long-time leader of the Ukraine chess team took place in one of the cozy Lviv coffee shops in the heart of the ancient city.
I was treated to aromatic coffee and delicious Viennese strudel by Vassily Mikhailovich. In conversation we remembered luminaries of the past and raised issues of major events of recent months and questions of popularization of chess in modern Ukraine.
Your victory in Doha at the Rapid World Championship – was it an easy one?
- Of course victory in such a strong tournament cannot be easy. A Swiss is not like a round-robin when you know well whom you are to play. In the Swiss you don’t know who is next and that is absurd. You have to play your games with maximum concentration.
You had victories over Magnus Carlsen in both rapid chess and blitz. Are these very different from classical chess?
- Of course rapid and blitz differ from classic chess. However this does not mean that games in these two may not be interesting or rich in ideas. In both games against Carlsen, I caught him to a certain extent in the opening. In the first game I somehow immediately managed to seize the initiative.
In the second, after playing a novelty, I got a pretty good position. However, then it deteriorated somewhat and the advantage was already on the side of my opponent. But Magnus played the endgame badly and I managed to win. The special feature of such events is that it’s very hard to play the whole tournament at the same level. Everyone, including me, had both wins and losses. Mental resilience is then of no small importance. If you suffer some kind of loss, you need to get over it as soon as possible and get ready to play the next game with maximum concentration.
Probably all chess fans saw the closing ceremony on the internet when you were given your prize in Doha and noticed that you were almost late for it because you were playing checkers (with Jobava). Is checkers a serious hobby for you or no more than a hobby that lets you get away from the stress of chess battles?
- For now it’s hard for me to say. I’ve taken part in checkers events and plan to continue doing so, but I don’t know what kind of success I’ll manage to achieve in checkers. I would like, however, to make progress and become a master. When I travel to checkers tournaments I prepare for them seriously. I can put it this way: it really interests me.
http://forum.chesstalk.com/showthrea...huk#post109697
In the Chess Olympiad in Baku at the end of last year you did not play. Will we see you in the Ukrainian team in the future?
- Of course, I plan in the future to play for Ukraine in the most important competitions
Among all the tournaments around, can you single out your favorites?
- One of my favorite tournaments is the Capablanca Memorial in Cuba. I also really like the Frisian checkers tournament (the game is played on a 100-square board, and the main difference between that and international checkers is that you are obliged not only to take your opponent’s checkers diagonally but also vertically and horizontally) in the Dutch city of Franeker. The games are played on a boat (the town lies on the Van Harinxma Canal), and the final round of the event takes place in the old town hall built back in the late 16th century in the Renaissance style.
Which World Champions of the past would you be interested in playing?
- I respect all holders of that highest of chess titles and I’d be interested in having chess encounters with all of them. However if I had to choose one, then I’d like to play Bobby Fischer. I would be interesting to feel the spirit of rivalry with that man at the chessboard and to come up against his specific chess style.
How many languages do you know?
- Of course, I speak Russian, Ukrainian and English. I have pretty good Spanish and I speak relatively decent Turkish. I have some knowledge of Polish and German. That ‘s very helpful both when working on chess and during travels.
How is the Vassily Ivanchuk chess school in Lviv going?
- In December of this year, it will have celebrated its fifth anniversary. During this time, 263 pupils of our school have become chess masters. The strongest of our students have first category. And this – the beginning of a chess career. To make progress you must work hard. Success just doesn’t drop out of the sky. Our school helps young chess players in their formation. Of course parents help the children knowing that the ability to play chess is beneficial to the child.
Can we say that chess in Lviv is popular and parents are willing to send their children to a chess school?
- There is no doubt that chess in Lviv is very popular. And that makes me very happy. Traditions are passed down from generation to generation. We always have had a lot of very strong players: Leonid Stein, Oleg Romanishin, Alexandr Belyavsky, Martha Litinskaya, Adrian Mihalchishin, Andrei Volokitin, Yuri Krivoruchko have achieved significant successes over the years. According to the number of grandmasters per capita, Lviv is one of the first places in the world.
Compare the current popularity of chess with its popularity in the 1980s?
- The Internet now boosts the popularity of chess. It’s very convenient to watch tournaments and matches online. You can quickly find the necessary information and make progress by making good use of computer programs. In the 1980s as well chess was very popular in the USSR and in Hungary and in Iceland. I wouldn’t say that there’s currently less promotion of chess than three decades ago, it’s simply that the popularity is expressed a little differently. The perception has changed. Previously it was essential to listen to the opinion of an authoritative chess player about the position on the board while now you can get an instant computer evaluation of the position. You could say that one modern authority is the computer program Houdini.
How often do you conduct simuls, aimed at popularizing chess?
- Occasionally. In the past year, Oleg Romanishin and myself have given simuls in Lviv. ‘Rotary Lions Club’ sessions are often held under the auspices of the charitable organization. Fund collected from these displays go to help children whose fathers died in the ATO*. But the most exotic places simuls are given are in places of detention. In particular, the Berezhany penal colony. The last session had 15 players. The Director of the colony was a candidate master Yaroslav Ivanovich Novozhenets. He loves chess and gladly organizes such events.
In the mid-1990s, I was giving a small town benefit in a session in a similar facility in the Dolinsky district of Ivano-Frankivsky region. One day Catherine Lagno was there for an alternative session and we alternated making moves. The policy still must be to play better than the prisoners (smiles).
_______
*ATO zone is a term used by the Ukrainian media to refer to its territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions under control of Russian military forces and pro-Russian separatists.
What are your next tournaments?
- At the end of May, the beginning of June, I will participate in the Capablanca Memorial in Varadero, Cuba. In September, I am planning to take part in the World Cup knockout in Tbilisi. But I do not rule out that I will play in something before May. I try to make a schedule so that I play not only in chess but also checkers tournaments too.
See also:
https://chess24.com/en/read/news/iva...-bobby-fischer
________
FIDE World Rapid Championship
Doha, Qatar
Round 7, Dec. 27, 2016
Ivanchuk, Vassily – Carlsen, Magnus
D11 Queen’s Gambit
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Qc2 e6 5.Nbd2 dxc4 6.Nxc4 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.a3 O-O 9.b4 Be7 10.Bb2 Qc7 11.Rc1 Nbd7 12.e4 b5 13.Na5 Qxc2 14.Rxc2 Nxe4 15.Bxb5 Nd6 16.Bc6 Rb8 17.O-O Nb6 18.Rd1 Rd8 19.Ne5 f6 20.Bf3 fxe5 21.Nc6 Bb7 22.Nxe7+ Kf8 23.Bxe5 Nbc4 24.Bxd6 Nxd6 25.Nc6 Bxc6 26.Rxc6 Nb5 27.Rxd8+ Rxd8 28.Ra6 Rc8 29.h4 Rc7 30.Bg4 e5 31.Ra5 Nd6 32.Rxe5 Nc4 33.Rf5+ Ke7 34.Rf3 Ne5 35.Re3 Kd6 36.Be2 h6 37.f4 Rc1+ 38.Kf2 Nd7 39.Bf3 Rc2+ 40.Kg3 Ra2 41.Rd3+ Ke7 42.Rc3 Kd8 43.Kg4 Rd2 44.Rc6 Rd3 45.Ra6 Nf6+ 46.Kf5 Rd7 47.g4 Ne8 48.g5 hxg5 49.hxg5 Nd6+ 50.Kg6 Nb5 51.Ra5 Nd4 52.Bg4 1-0
FIDE World Blitz Championship
Doha, Qatar
Round 16, Dec. 30, 2016
Carlsen, Magnus – Ivanchuk, Vassily
B30 Sicilian, Nimzowitsch-Rossolimo Attack
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.O-O Nge7 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 b6 7.Nxc6 Nxc6 8.Nc3 Qc7 9.Qg4 h5 10.Qg5 Ne5 11.Bf4 f6 12.Qg6+ Nxg6 13.Bxc7 a6 14.Bd3 b5 15.a4 b4 16.Nb1 Bc5 17.Nd2 Ra7 18.Ba5 Ne5 19.Nb3 Be7 20.Bb6 Ra8 21.Be2 g5 22.Rfd1 Bb7 23.f3 Rc8 24.Rd2 Rc6 25.Be3 Bc8 26.Kf1 Bd8 27.a5 Be7 28.Bb6 Nc4 29.Bxc4 Rxc4 30.Nd4 Bb7 31.b3 Rc8 32.Rad1 Kf7 33.Ne2 d5 34.exd5 Bxd5 35.Nd4 h4 36.Nf5 h3 37.Nxe7 Kxe7 38.g4 Rc3 39.Rf2 Rhc8 40.Rdd2 Rxf3 41.Ke1 Rfc3 42.Bd4 Rf3 43.Rxf3 Bxf3 44.Rf2 e5 45.Rxf3 exd4 46.Kd2 Rc3 47.Rxc3 dxc3+ 48.Ke3 Ke6 49.Kf3 Ke5 50.Ke3 f5 51.gxf5 Kxf5 0-1
May 5, 2017
Vassily recently gave an interview to Alexey Ryzhkov of Sport-Express in Ukraine. Some excerpts:
https://www.sport-express.ua/rest/ch...u-ukrainy.html
Vassily Ivanchuk: “I intend to continue playing for Ukraine”
March 22, 2017
Our meeting with the world rapids champion and long-time leader of the Ukraine chess team took place in one of the cozy Lviv coffee shops in the heart of the ancient city.
I was treated to aromatic coffee and delicious Viennese strudel by Vassily Mikhailovich. In conversation we remembered luminaries of the past and raised issues of major events of recent months and questions of popularization of chess in modern Ukraine.
Your victory in Doha at the Rapid World Championship – was it an easy one?
- Of course victory in such a strong tournament cannot be easy. A Swiss is not like a round-robin when you know well whom you are to play. In the Swiss you don’t know who is next and that is absurd. You have to play your games with maximum concentration.
You had victories over Magnus Carlsen in both rapid chess and blitz. Are these very different from classical chess?
- Of course rapid and blitz differ from classic chess. However this does not mean that games in these two may not be interesting or rich in ideas. In both games against Carlsen, I caught him to a certain extent in the opening. In the first game I somehow immediately managed to seize the initiative.
In the second, after playing a novelty, I got a pretty good position. However, then it deteriorated somewhat and the advantage was already on the side of my opponent. But Magnus played the endgame badly and I managed to win. The special feature of such events is that it’s very hard to play the whole tournament at the same level. Everyone, including me, had both wins and losses. Mental resilience is then of no small importance. If you suffer some kind of loss, you need to get over it as soon as possible and get ready to play the next game with maximum concentration.
Probably all chess fans saw the closing ceremony on the internet when you were given your prize in Doha and noticed that you were almost late for it because you were playing checkers (with Jobava). Is checkers a serious hobby for you or no more than a hobby that lets you get away from the stress of chess battles?
- For now it’s hard for me to say. I’ve taken part in checkers events and plan to continue doing so, but I don’t know what kind of success I’ll manage to achieve in checkers. I would like, however, to make progress and become a master. When I travel to checkers tournaments I prepare for them seriously. I can put it this way: it really interests me.
http://forum.chesstalk.com/showthrea...huk#post109697
In the Chess Olympiad in Baku at the end of last year you did not play. Will we see you in the Ukrainian team in the future?
- Of course, I plan in the future to play for Ukraine in the most important competitions
Among all the tournaments around, can you single out your favorites?
- One of my favorite tournaments is the Capablanca Memorial in Cuba. I also really like the Frisian checkers tournament (the game is played on a 100-square board, and the main difference between that and international checkers is that you are obliged not only to take your opponent’s checkers diagonally but also vertically and horizontally) in the Dutch city of Franeker. The games are played on a boat (the town lies on the Van Harinxma Canal), and the final round of the event takes place in the old town hall built back in the late 16th century in the Renaissance style.
Which World Champions of the past would you be interested in playing?
- I respect all holders of that highest of chess titles and I’d be interested in having chess encounters with all of them. However if I had to choose one, then I’d like to play Bobby Fischer. I would be interesting to feel the spirit of rivalry with that man at the chessboard and to come up against his specific chess style.
How many languages do you know?
- Of course, I speak Russian, Ukrainian and English. I have pretty good Spanish and I speak relatively decent Turkish. I have some knowledge of Polish and German. That ‘s very helpful both when working on chess and during travels.
How is the Vassily Ivanchuk chess school in Lviv going?
- In December of this year, it will have celebrated its fifth anniversary. During this time, 263 pupils of our school have become chess masters. The strongest of our students have first category. And this – the beginning of a chess career. To make progress you must work hard. Success just doesn’t drop out of the sky. Our school helps young chess players in their formation. Of course parents help the children knowing that the ability to play chess is beneficial to the child.
Can we say that chess in Lviv is popular and parents are willing to send their children to a chess school?
- There is no doubt that chess in Lviv is very popular. And that makes me very happy. Traditions are passed down from generation to generation. We always have had a lot of very strong players: Leonid Stein, Oleg Romanishin, Alexandr Belyavsky, Martha Litinskaya, Adrian Mihalchishin, Andrei Volokitin, Yuri Krivoruchko have achieved significant successes over the years. According to the number of grandmasters per capita, Lviv is one of the first places in the world.
Compare the current popularity of chess with its popularity in the 1980s?
- The Internet now boosts the popularity of chess. It’s very convenient to watch tournaments and matches online. You can quickly find the necessary information and make progress by making good use of computer programs. In the 1980s as well chess was very popular in the USSR and in Hungary and in Iceland. I wouldn’t say that there’s currently less promotion of chess than three decades ago, it’s simply that the popularity is expressed a little differently. The perception has changed. Previously it was essential to listen to the opinion of an authoritative chess player about the position on the board while now you can get an instant computer evaluation of the position. You could say that one modern authority is the computer program Houdini.
How often do you conduct simuls, aimed at popularizing chess?
- Occasionally. In the past year, Oleg Romanishin and myself have given simuls in Lviv. ‘Rotary Lions Club’ sessions are often held under the auspices of the charitable organization. Fund collected from these displays go to help children whose fathers died in the ATO*. But the most exotic places simuls are given are in places of detention. In particular, the Berezhany penal colony. The last session had 15 players. The Director of the colony was a candidate master Yaroslav Ivanovich Novozhenets. He loves chess and gladly organizes such events.
In the mid-1990s, I was giving a small town benefit in a session in a similar facility in the Dolinsky district of Ivano-Frankivsky region. One day Catherine Lagno was there for an alternative session and we alternated making moves. The policy still must be to play better than the prisoners (smiles).
_______
*ATO zone is a term used by the Ukrainian media to refer to its territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions under control of Russian military forces and pro-Russian separatists.
What are your next tournaments?
- At the end of May, the beginning of June, I will participate in the Capablanca Memorial in Varadero, Cuba. In September, I am planning to take part in the World Cup knockout in Tbilisi. But I do not rule out that I will play in something before May. I try to make a schedule so that I play not only in chess but also checkers tournaments too.
See also:
https://chess24.com/en/read/news/iva...-bobby-fischer
________
FIDE World Rapid Championship
Doha, Qatar
Round 7, Dec. 27, 2016
Ivanchuk, Vassily – Carlsen, Magnus
D11 Queen’s Gambit
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Qc2 e6 5.Nbd2 dxc4 6.Nxc4 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.a3 O-O 9.b4 Be7 10.Bb2 Qc7 11.Rc1 Nbd7 12.e4 b5 13.Na5 Qxc2 14.Rxc2 Nxe4 15.Bxb5 Nd6 16.Bc6 Rb8 17.O-O Nb6 18.Rd1 Rd8 19.Ne5 f6 20.Bf3 fxe5 21.Nc6 Bb7 22.Nxe7+ Kf8 23.Bxe5 Nbc4 24.Bxd6 Nxd6 25.Nc6 Bxc6 26.Rxc6 Nb5 27.Rxd8+ Rxd8 28.Ra6 Rc8 29.h4 Rc7 30.Bg4 e5 31.Ra5 Nd6 32.Rxe5 Nc4 33.Rf5+ Ke7 34.Rf3 Ne5 35.Re3 Kd6 36.Be2 h6 37.f4 Rc1+ 38.Kf2 Nd7 39.Bf3 Rc2+ 40.Kg3 Ra2 41.Rd3+ Ke7 42.Rc3 Kd8 43.Kg4 Rd2 44.Rc6 Rd3 45.Ra6 Nf6+ 46.Kf5 Rd7 47.g4 Ne8 48.g5 hxg5 49.hxg5 Nd6+ 50.Kg6 Nb5 51.Ra5 Nd4 52.Bg4 1-0
FIDE World Blitz Championship
Doha, Qatar
Round 16, Dec. 30, 2016
Carlsen, Magnus – Ivanchuk, Vassily
B30 Sicilian, Nimzowitsch-Rossolimo Attack
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.O-O Nge7 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 b6 7.Nxc6 Nxc6 8.Nc3 Qc7 9.Qg4 h5 10.Qg5 Ne5 11.Bf4 f6 12.Qg6+ Nxg6 13.Bxc7 a6 14.Bd3 b5 15.a4 b4 16.Nb1 Bc5 17.Nd2 Ra7 18.Ba5 Ne5 19.Nb3 Be7 20.Bb6 Ra8 21.Be2 g5 22.Rfd1 Bb7 23.f3 Rc8 24.Rd2 Rc6 25.Be3 Bc8 26.Kf1 Bd8 27.a5 Be7 28.Bb6 Nc4 29.Bxc4 Rxc4 30.Nd4 Bb7 31.b3 Rc8 32.Rad1 Kf7 33.Ne2 d5 34.exd5 Bxd5 35.Nd4 h4 36.Nf5 h3 37.Nxe7 Kxe7 38.g4 Rc3 39.Rf2 Rhc8 40.Rdd2 Rxf3 41.Ke1 Rfc3 42.Bd4 Rf3 43.Rxf3 Bxf3 44.Rf2 e5 45.Rxf3 exd4 46.Kd2 Rc3 47.Rxc3 dxc3+ 48.Ke3 Ke6 49.Kf3 Ke5 50.Ke3 f5 51.gxf5 Kxf5 0-1