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Interview with GM Hou Yifan |
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Sunday, 23 September 2012 |
WORLD CHAMPION HOU YIFAN – Interview with GM Adrian Mikhalchishin in Kazan, Russia
 The youngest World Champion is soft spoken, smiling, curious, beautiful young lady. Russian players call her Fania. As she says herself, she is a child of the city. So, an exit to the nature, like in Kazan makes her terribly happy. She is surprised to see red berries in the forest, and asks –Is it possible to eat red colour berries? My answer is that it is wild strawberry, here people usually eat them and to drink tea from its leaves.
The great biologist Carl Linney used them to cure his podagra, which also world Champion Mikhail Tal suffered from. Generally, all red berries in Russian forests are eatable, especially wild berries and cranberries. In China there is nothing like that. What about mushrooms-here in restaurant? We also ate some yellow ones. At school our teachers warned, that there are too much terribly poisonous mushrooms, she asks ?.
I answer, that these mushrooms are called here FOXIES, and are very tasty. But in Russia peoples know how to differ poisonous mushrooms. And some other questions about nature are endless. She likes to collect different chess sets from the stone and in Kazan made trip to a few shops, looking for them.
But let us return to the chess.
Q. What is your opinion about the Anand-Gelfand match?
A. Some games were interesting, some boring. Like players were
without energy; especially strange was the short loss by Gelfand. I
played during this game some rapid chess and after I finished, I wanted
to see how the game goes, but friends told me that it is over!
Q. What is the difference between Womens and Mens World Champion in your opinion?
A. Mens are much better prepared in the openings and generally-much
deeper. But in Moscow it was strange, that nothing spectacular was
showed, practically all their preparation was off the stage. Pity!.
Koneru prepared very good in the openings for World Championship match
and applied many novelties against me in Tirana. Anand and Gelfand
played, like they wanted to avoid opponents preparation, nothing more.
And form of both was not the highest. It was very difficult
psychological fight, as most of fights, which aim was to avoid opponents
preparation, was very difficult to see for public.
Q. I saw, that you had openings problems in the match against Koneru.
Was it difficult to play, as you are always following opponents
preparation?
A. For me not, except the fact, that I had to think more and I was
spending more time on the start of every game, than my opponent,
generally. Some players are strong in the opening, but have problems
later. But I am a player, who can play better in the middlegame.
Computer helps many players to be stronger in the opening and it makes
chess less interesting. But chess game is not only the opening.
Q. Here I see, that you have openings problems either. How can you
play Maroczy with Black? It is not your style-its like suicide! Lahno
pressed you terribly.
A. I prepared well for match with Koneru in the openings, but after I
played too many games and my openings are out. I just finished terribly
strong tournament of top Chinese players and had no time for rest.
Q. How do you work with your trainers? Do they help you during this
tournament and before? Russian players are contacting their trainers on
SKYPE using modern technology.
A. I have two trainers, but they are terribly busy last time. Ye is
caring about National team, plus he is politician. Another just got a
baby. We don’t use Internet options for training. So, usually I am
accompanied by my mother.
Q. Tell me your impressions after playing J. Polgar. Do you have ambitions to be better than she was in her top times?
A. Not now, maybe on the long run. She did not played women’s
tournament, maybe, she believed that women are too weak for her.
Everybody can have different opinions. I don’t have the direct plan to
become 2700 player. I just play tournament after tournament, recently I
lost many Elo points. So, it will be necessary to get them back to go
forward.
Q. What are your plans for the year?
A. I’ll play Chinese League, then another, last FIDE Grand Prix,
Olympiad and at the end of the year, the World Championship in Khanty
Mansijsk. In September I’ll start my studies in Beijing University,
international relations. I don’t know exactly yet, which direction I
will study later. Our Universities are huge, more than 100.000 students!
The best are in Hong Kong, but I must study in Chinese mainland.
Q. Does Chinese Federation plan tournament for you or you can chose yourself?
A. I get invitations, but Federation always has to give permission.
We have Federation of Mind sports now. There are Chess, Go, Bridge,
Chinese chess and recently were added checkers. (Alisa Galliamova told,
that in past times Chinese players had to give up to their federation
half of the prizes, they got, playing abroad)
Q. How did you start to play?
A. I was born in city of province, which is close to Shanghai. I had
chess teacher, who was training beginners, we had no strong teachers
and they were quite few. Even nowadays we have not enough trainers, even
if some former top players became trainers. We had just few books in
Chinese, old ones . something like Chess Encyclopedia of Openings. Even
now we don’t have many books in Chinese. It was one good book, selection
of the best games of World Champion Xie Jun. She was a big star and
example in China. Now she is politician, and works as Vice Principial in
Central Sports college. Of course, she was my big example to work hard.
Q. When I worked with former Chinese top player (now Dutch Champion)
Zhaoqin Peng, she told me how Chinese players worked. All best are
constantly living in Central sport school in Beijing. They eat here,
played football for physical preparation, studied few hours in school
and had 5-6 hours chess training. They got Xeroxed Chess Informants,
nothing more. Trainers did not work individually-everybody had to work
with Informants alone. They stayed there till they were 25-30. Main
problem was, that girls did not study there how too cook! How does it
look nowadays?
A. Now it is different, there are many tournaments, All top players
are married and they are not frequently in central sports school. Just
the youth team is there constantly. There are some English books plus
computers nowadays.
Q. Do you play blitz there, as did the Polgar sisters every day after training or training tournaments, as Soviet players did?
A. No, we don’t play blitz, just sometimes we play friendly. Younger
players played sometimes training tournaments. Just few times we had
preparation for Olympiad in some other sport center in the mountains.
Now an Academy has been built for the Minds Sports Federations and we’ll
train there. We have some good new players now, few very talented
girls, as Zhao Xue and Ju Wenjun. Plus of course, three times China
Champion Ding Liren, he has to show himself on International level soon.
Q. Does it exist Chinese chess school, as it was Soviet Chess School?
A. No, I don’t think so. China is big, there are different centers, but they don’t form the single Chinese School.
In every big city are different trainers and they teach differently. Just sometimes openings are the same from certain cities.
Q. How do you evaluate your play here?
A. I started badly, as I was terribly tired after men’s super tournament in China. I played, like I was not myself.
Later I started to return back my usual play and free day helped me seriously. I relaxed very well during excursion.
Q. As I saw that you are participating in every excursion during the
tournaments. Some experts, like Botvinnik did not recommend to do it
during the tournaments.
A. Everybody has his/her own style in life and during tournaments. I
want to relax and to see new places and people. Here we saw beautiful
old Kazan Kremlin and I even touched the wall of sacred tower, which
brings good luck.
Maybe, it worked-Laughs.
Q. You always come with a pot of some liquid for the game. Is it your secret weapon?
A. Laughing. Yes, it is. Its special Chinese fruit tea for refreshing and concentration. At the end I eat some berries from it.
Q. Last question-Are you following the social and economical life of our country?
A. Yes, very much. Especially important for me are changes in family
politics of the government. It's pity, that I don’t have a brother or
sister. Soon it will be possible for families to have two children. At
the moment a pregnant women faces two choices-to pay for second child,
which is possible just for rich people or to make an abortion. Last
dramatical case, when a women had to make abortion just ten days before
the birth of child was very painful for me.
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