Yesterday Russian grandmaster Boris Savchenko won the Russian Cup event Moscow Open 2013 by scoring 7.5 out of 9 points. We were able to find Boris in the hall of the RSSU Cultural Center before the start of the award ceremony. The winner was surrounded by a crowd of participants and guests congratulating his victory. We joined the congratulations and asked Boris to say a few words about the tournament, his success, chess plans for the future and some other things.
- Now I can confess, - Boris begins - that already before the start of the event I felt the inspiration and I knew that I had to 'catch this wave' and needed to find a way to realize it, which was our beloved "Moscow Open 2013" tournament. I was very optimistic during the opening rounds though I could not have predicted that this was the way it would turn out. Sometime everything just goes your way, and sometimes it doesn't.
- How was it this time?
- Initially, not so well, but I picked up momentum as I went along.
- What helped you to not give up?
- The weather is good this year (smiles). It's good that the weather wasn't too harsh. Last year, when I arrived to Moscow open, the weather was freezing, like -20. And I am a man from warm climate, I spent a lot of time in Krasnodar. So I play better in warm places, as well as outside. It's my territory.
- What difficulties did you face on your road to victory?
- The main difficulty was strong grandmasters. Moscow Open is a always a good tournament, with a solid line up. In a swiss tournament it's not hard to get several wins against opponents weaker than you. But in order to win you have to expend a lot of efforts and overcome this major challenge of strong grandmasters. It is hard to do when there are a lot of them - exhausting, wearisome and difficult. But it is good training.
- Have you planned a break after this 'training'?
- Yes. I admit, as soon as I finish playing the Aeroflot, I would like to take a break. I have been on the road for half a year and have hardy seen home. I've been very busy...
- Would you tell us about it?
- I spent a lot of time working in Kislovodsk. FIDE Master Salim Fazuliyanov and I have been conducting 'sessions' at grandmaster school for a number of years. A lot of kids attend them, some of them come year after year. They're like family. In addition there were many different conferences, tournaments and seminars. [sighs]
- So speaking of your holidays…
- I would like to come back home as quickly as possible and set up healthy routine. I still have a lot of work to do on my game. This is something I will focus on. In addition my good old yoga classes await me. I need to combine chess with healthy lifestyle.