The permanent commentator of the Moscow Open festival grandmaster Alexander Kalinin answered the questions of the website editor Eldar Mukhametov.
-Alexander, how many years have you been working for the festival already?
- I don’t remember exactly, but it seems like it’s my seventh year.
- What can you tell about the course of struggle in the main tournaments of the festival?
- This year, especially in the beginning of the distance young chess players set the fashion. The performance demonstrated by Urii Eliseev and Alexandra Obolentseva leaves a pleasant impression. As for the creative part of struggle, being a commentator I can’t complain about the absence of work, there is enough interesting material.
- Can you please tell us a couple of words about yourself?
- It turned out so that my whole life since my school years has been connected with chess. In 1991 I graduated from the Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism and stayed there as a teacher of the chess department. When I finished playing in the tournaments, I fully concentrated on the coaching work.
- Who of your students can you single out?
- Of course, Valentina Gunina and Olga Girya. Though we haven’t been working with Olya for around one and a half years already, but we continue to work with Valya. Taking this chance, I’d like to congratulate Valya on her birthday that she celebrated on February 4.
- How did it happen that for so many years you have been working as an analyst and a commentator of the Moscow Open?
- Perhaps, through good connections (laughing). Director of the tournament Alexander Kostiev was my first coach in the Moscow city palace of pioneers in Vorobyevy Gory.
- What’s the difference of the present festival from the previous ones, in your opinion?
- The organization of the mass student tournament proved to be a very successful innovation. Round-robin tournaments of grandmaster students were wonderful. However, now a very important step in the direction of the democracy of these competitions is made. I think, next year these tournaments can gather several hundreds of participants.
- Do you follow just the games of the Cups of Russia or do you have time to keep an eye on other tournaments?
- I have a chance to follow the student tournament watching wonderful photo reports by Galina Popova. My glance always slides through the positions imprinted in pictures, and there are some very interesting ones among them.
Several famous grandmasters are playing in the Veterans’ tournament, and that’s just great! Especially I’m happy that Sergey Arkhipov is also the participant of the competitions. He hasn’t been playing for a while in tournaments. Looking at him, I am dreaming of coming back to the play.