National team member, Grandmaster from St. Petersburg Anastasia Bondaruk is the rating favourite women’s tournament of the RSSU Chess Cup Moscow Open 2016. She has made her way to the victory in the first round and answered our website correspondent’s questions Eteri Kublashvili.
- Nastya, how many times have you played at the Moscow Open?
- To be honest, I cannot answer...
- Means a lot.
Yeah, I played about 5-7 times.
- And is it the first time when you're a rating favourite?
- Yes, this is for the first time.
- What would you say about the women's tournament?
Compared to the previous years, the players are weaker. But, of course, you should always expect surprises from young talents. For example, in the first round I saw several victories of very young chess players over the rating favourites.
- How important is Moscow Open to you, if you come here so often?
- The Moscow Open is the first tournament of the year, and you always want to start with a positive note, but unfortunately it's not every time possible. For me the most important thing in this tournament is that it is the most popular leg of the Cup of Russia, which brings more points. Therefore, first of all, I consider the Moscow Open as a Cup of Russia leg.
- If the tournament were not a stage of the Cup of Russia among women, would you consider participating in men's competition?
- I probably would play, yes. However, in women's tournament prizes are quite good. But, in the end of the day, it’s always better to play with people whose rating is higher, but in this tournament I will compete against players whose rating is lower than mine, so it's possible that I would consider an alternative.
- What would you say about the tournament organization this time?
- I'm always grateful for the atmosphere and good food. I only don’t like the playing hall: we are sitting at desks like students. But it's not as stuffy as sometimes before. This year there is no broadcast, but that doesn't make me particularly sad. Maybe for the fans it's not that good, but for we’re less nervous and have no thoughts about cheating.
- How was your first game at RSSU Cup?
- I played with Norwegian Junior Edit Machlik, I’ve seen her at different tournaments before. She plays a lot, travels around the world. It’s difficult to analyse straight away but I think I dominated, but maybe somewhere played inaccurately. At some point it seemed to me that I was missing an advantage. But my competitor, being in a time trouble, made a gross mistake and I managed to bring the game to the victory.
- In 2015 you debuted as a representative of female Russian national team at the European team championship. How was it?
- Emotions have subsided a bit, but of course impressions can be only positive and very bright. I am grateful that I could become a part of the national team, as I do understand that the competition among Russian chess players is crazy. The team is amazing: players and coaches are just one big family.
- Were you nervous because of the responsibility?
- There was an annual training camp just before the tournament, and it somehow smoothed out the excitement. But of course I was nervous before the games, after all it’s my first time playing for the national team. Unfortunately, I played only three games, but I hope that I will have another chance to play for the national team and play more.