On her blog Natalia Pogonina has posted an article from her sport.ru live online interview. Viwewers could send their questions and her answers were happily published real-time.

From that interview I'd like to point out a few interesting answers:

Q: Whom were you rooting for at the World Championship? Why? (Traglodit)

A: I can't say I was actively rooting for someone, but I like Topalov's agressive and risky style.



This answer made me giggle for one basic reason. I was rooting for Anand the entire match. I think Natalia just had to be different from me.

Q: Do you like clubs and hanging out? (Oleg Haliulin)

.A: Rarely visit them, I am not a fan of clubbing.

Only in chess would such a question be asked in an open forum. Why is it we suffer such peculiarities?

Q: If you became FIDE President, what would you change? (Andrey Santalov)

A: Stabilize the World Championship cycle. Find respectable sponsors. Promote chess in the media, including TV and Internet. Expanding the geography of top events. Serious and constant work connected with the support of developing (in the chess sense) countries. Becoming part of the Olympics. Changing the rating system.

I like all of these ideas (well, actually the last two I really have no opinion of because it doesn't seem to matter all that much). I think if she were running for office i'd probably be singing her praises right now but, alas, to my knowledge she isn't a candidate ... it just goes to show that those who are most interested in what's good for chess are busy playing.

Natalia, I know you or Peter are gonna read this so here's my personal message to you: A very well answered interview altogether. Steering clear of those questions that really had no place and being prepared for the obvious (women in chess, having a family) questions. And most importantly, staying far away from the political questions. At any rate, it's always good to hear from you and you're doing all the right things to publicize yourself on the internet. I'd like to think I've helped pave the way for chess professionals to use the internet as a marketting tool but people like yourself deserve all the credit for having the sense to latch onto the idea and run with it!

That's it folks. There's no more of my commentary for the day. Go play some good chess.

Highlights from Chessbase:



On the match strategy: In one sense, I think, I misjudged him. He made certain changes during the match. One of the things we assumed was, he always likes moving around in matches. This means, he'll play an opening for a couple of games and then move on to the next one. His match strategy in the past was never to stand his ground. Kind of hit-and-run strategy. So, whether consciously or sub-consciously, we had made this assumption the basis of our preparation. But he stood his ground. He did not switch his openings. We started having problem in the second half because we were thin in the areas he had concentrated on. And we ourselves were doing the hitting and running. So there was some coping there.

In terms of the opening preparation, we made some bad calls. The team did some excellent work but in a match it is not about excellent work but making the right judgement call. If you prepare something and it does not get played, it is not much use. So in that sense, he did surprise me.

On dealing with the loss in the opening game: It was one of those ridiculous moments that you are not supposed to have but it happens. The only thing I told myself was if it had to happen, it is best to happen in the first round. You still have time to recover. I knew it would be a long match. I was not worried at that point. But it was the worst possible start to the match.

On winning Game 2 and 4: Topalav was plucky. He was doing a fine job out of the opening but made a mistake. I pounced and made some very accurate moves. I mean, technically, it is still difficult but I managed to wrap it up in some six or seven moves from this point. I thought it was efficient. Game 2 was important because it helped me equalise.

On the final game: I think Topalov took a big gamble. Now it seems obvious to me that this gamble was wrong. I realised he missed my queen move but still, when my bishop is on the big diagonal like that, and to allow me to open it, he took the decision very late.

Full Story

From: Chessbase

"This episode of One on One was aired from Saturday, April 11, 2009. It has been posted in two parts on YouTube and on the Al Jazeera web site. In in Vishy Anand describes very frankly and in a relaxed atmosphere his career in chess. Star Jazeera reporter Riz Khan contributes wonderfully to the flow of the interview."

Run along over there and check it out! Go Anand!

Brimming with confidence and grounded optimism GM Vugar Gashimov was interviewed by Chessvibes. check it out!

In a Recent Interview GM Borris Gelfand weighed in on chess spectators:

Q: Boris, is it important for you to have spectators in the playing venue during the match?

B.G.: Of course it would be more pleasant to play with the spectators watching our match. But it is obvious that chess has its huge Internet audience. No matter where a tournament takes place, 90-95% of the spectators would follow the games via Internet.

The internet has been a wonderful boom for chess!!