Tal chess memorial interview: Carlsen says more draws because of very high level of defense
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011

Hello everyone,

Maria Fominykh interviewed Sixth Tal Chess Memorial winner Magnus Carlsen for the official site – Russian Chess Federation website. Here are some excerpts and great photos. 




Magnus, did this Tal Memorial be any different from previous tournaments?
There were lot of draws but the level of defence has risen significantly. That’s a really notable difference between the current Memorial and the previous ones – the resistance has reached a totally new level.

The abundance of draws doesn’t spoil the impression made by the tournament?
I don’t think so. All of the players were trying to fight. Many times someone could not win despite winning chances because the opponent defended very strongly.



Ian Nepomniachtchi at third place.


Levon Aronian at second place on tiebreak

Which games were you most satisfied with?
Overall I played well in the first half of the tournament. I made some mistakes, but the games were very hard-fought. In the second half I played worse: tiredness had its say and I lacked energy. I got lucky in the last round and I won.

Can you compare this tournament to a World Championship?
Of course this tournament is the strongest this year,and one of the strongest for many years. For me the Tal Memorial is one of the main tournaments and I take it very seriously.

Your contemporaries Sergey Karjakin and Ian Nepomniachtchi played very well, but you finished the tournament ahead of them?
I’ve known Nepomniachtchi and Karjakin for long. Sergey was well-known chess player even before I got the international master title. Ian’s also a great talent and he was beating me back in junior tournaments. So the history of our rivalry started a long time ago and it promises to continue for a long time!


You can read our previous post about the tournament here:

Carlsen wins sixth Tal Chess Memorial on tiebreak ahead of Aronian!





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