there was all this manoeuvring from Magnus to dislodge my bishop from g4, which he finally managed after I misplayed it in time trouble. The nuances of the position were quite dramatic. Any shift in the position of the pieces could have dire conse- quences. Magnus has a special talent for creating this sort of mess, but I also have to claim partial respon- sibility laughs . I wanted a fight.
e was creating a mess, but I was creating one just as much.’
Do you get the chance to enjoy such a fight or are o main nder ress re and fighting
‘ ell, I felt like I had a good position, so I was sort of enjoying it. It’s always a challenge to play against Magnus, and I like challenges. I like showing my skill in fighting my opponents. Magnus was not the only chal- lenge in this tournament, but this game was the toughest one for me. robably not the one in which I had the worst position; that would have been the one against Fabiano. But it was a mess for a long time and when
things got resolved, of course, I could be scared, because after I misplayed it, my position shortly before the time-control was probably techni- cally lost. That was why I took the risk of opening things up. I knew that if Magnus played accurately, I would just be lost, but then he saw this flashy win and missed one detail in the process and didn’t go back till he noticed this detail, and then it was too late.
‘ f course, to win against Magnus with black is always a benchmark, something I can build on for future games. et’s say, if by any chance I qualify for the World Championship match.’
It is clear that Magnus Carlsen remains the touchstone. At the same time, he has not yet won a major clas- sical tournament this year. It feels that e en tho gh he is sti in first a e something is happening. The balance of power seems to be shifting.
‘I think that for slightly more than a year things have been levelling. Magnus has played just a bit worse
than he used to and at the same time everybody is better prepared, for him and for others. The level of the fights with him has increased. That said, in this tournament Magnus probably played the best chess of all of us. He also played much better than in his last appearances. (With a grin) He is on his way to redemption, so to speak.’
Then there was a game of a completely different nature that you played against Sergey Karjakin. A deeply analysed line against the Berlin that, as it turned out, both you and your opponent had prepared virtually till the end. How should we explain such a game to a layman? Is it very deep prep- aration or is it also a psychological struggle? What kind of game is this?
‘There are a lot of elements in this kind of game. Of course, you prefer to produce original content over the board and in most games this is the case. I was playing the Giuoco iano for a while in this tournament, but the positions are extremely messy and everything depends on move orders.
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the world. Do you think that, with these kinds of variations, preparation has been taken to a new level again?
‘Preparation has certainly been taken to a new level. At some point, Kasparov was far ahead of the other players, but now everybody has access to quick machines and great engines. Actually, our preparation is seeking to deviate from the engines’ main lines and eval- uating these positions. We are looking for what sort of position we want
against which player, because lines are equal in general.
‘And the players are much tougher than they used to be. Sergey is one of the toughest players to beat; his defen- sive abilities are great. It is also one of my best traits; that I basically never give up. I fight even if I think my position is terrible. I hold on, I try to find whatever hope I can find to hang on. That makes it hard for everyone to beat you. You already didn’t get much out of the opening and then you have to beat these players with this tiny edge, while they are much more resistant. But at the same time, we find that, in some positions, some players who are normally resilient, are not, or not so much. That can change the balance of the game.’
You are very fond of tactical play. This going for small nuances in the endgame, is that the mathematician in you?
‘I don’t know. I just know that, like every tactician likes to say, my best part of the game is probably the endgame, It takes a toll on you. And, of course,
if your opponent is expecting this all the time, it doesn’t work that well. As for the Berlin, I’ve had different approaches. Sometimes I go straight to the endgame, sometimes I get messy positions. This time I decided, not only to go to the endgame, but to go into one of the most forcing lines. So, first of all, your opponent may not remember anything. I think Sergey checked this line, he remembered some things, but he definitely didn’t remember the whole image. That was already a tough enough challenge for him, to find the critical saving move, 29...♔e8. And it basically took him all of his time. Maybe it’s not great for spectators, but at the same time, the ideas shown in that game are quite interesting, even though most of the top players were aware of this line. But the game in itself would be pure brilliancy if it were not all known already.’
While you were playing the game, Fabiano Caruana said in the studio that probably all participants had this position in their laptops...
‘Yes, I was perhaps a bit more opti- mistic. I thought that maybe one or two players wouldn’t. Anyway, there is another, maybe even more impor- tant point. Black players playing the Berlin, are generally not used to going for the endgame anymore, so by going there I actually force them to work on this endgame, check it before the game. And that’s an amount of work that some of them are not prepared to do. That’s also why some players, like Levon (Aronian) or Magnus, have switched back to the Marshall, for instance. It can actually make people deviate and stop playing the Berlin, because it’s just tough and can be annoying.’
During the game, Garry Kasparov walked into the Club and I told him what Caruana had said. He smiled but also looked a bit apprehensive. He used to be the best prepared player in
in which I can calculate everything. That’s where we find nuances. I wouldn’t consider myself a tactician. I consider myself a calculator, and a pretty damn good one.’
So if you have a sharp Sicilian, you see yourself more as a calculator than as someone like Tal, who wanted to create chaos...
‘It is actually very rare that I go for pure chaos. I do that mostly when I don’t feel comfortable with my position. Unless I have very specific reasons to go for broke, I will not do so. I will just sit tight and try to improve my position. This may mean going for an attack, but I won’t go for a line in which a tempo can be decisive and in which you really can’t figure out the consequences. The good thing of going for broke if you are lost is that it changes the dynamics of the game and you may turn things around, especially in rapid or blitz.’
So, whose idea was it to grow a beard?
‘It wasn’t my idea. (Hesitates) But I am fine with it. My manager, Laurent Verat, suggested it. In the past I was sometimes too lazy to shave and would have a three- or four-day stubble. So when it was suggested, I thought, why not, let’s try something new. I was a bit worried that it would be uncomfortable. So far it hasn’t been, but I don’t know how long it will last (smiles). At some point I may get bored with it. You never know with these things.
You might think now that it certainly didn’t bring you bad luck.
‘Beards are very fashionable these days; apparently they’re all the rage.’
Are you sensitive about the way you present yourself, the way you dress?
‘I used really not to care when I was a teenager. Now I have at least some minimum... But still, you know, I am not someone who thinks that people should be judged by their looks, by what they wear. It feels to me that this