Winner of the Moscow Open Men’s Cup of Russia 20-year old Dmitry Gordievsky is speaking of his success with the tournament official website correspondent Alina Bivol.
- Hello, Dima. For the second year in a row you’re sharing the first place in the Moscow Open. What’s the secret of your success?
- I’ve been participating in the Moscow Open tournament since the moment when the festival was created. It’s strange but all the previous years I considered the Moscow Open to be the worst tournament for myself as I was playing very unsuccessfully there. I’m very glad, I managed to change this tendency.
It’s hard to compare these two tournaments. Last year I was trying to catch up my opponents: I lost in the fourth round, then I played in a draw, and at the end of the tournament I won five times in a row. This year I managed to win all five games at the start of the tournament. It means other players were trying to catch up with me.
- Can you single out a key game of the tournament?
- I think there were no key games in the course of the whole tournament, except the last round: if I lost that game I wouldn’t be among the prize winners. However, I managed to grasp the initiative from the early beginning and played in a draw from the position of a stronger part.
- How did you prepare to the tournament, did somebody help you?
- I was preparing on my own. I opened something interesting for myself: there is no sense in trying to open the game with some certain variant as most probably it won’t happen. The preparation is needed to get some confidence at the board.
- Do you study in the RSSU? Recently you’ve been playing for the team of this University in the Championship of Moscow.
- Yes, I entered the University this year, and was able to play for the team in two tournaments. Our University was included into the Higher League of student games, and won the Championship of Moscow in team event. The RSSU provides very good support to the chess.
- What are your chess plans for the current year?
- I am just planning to play better and better. Now I’m working at self-improvement, analyzing my mistakes. So I’ve got only these plans.
- You’ve managed to meet the standards of an international grandmaster twice. Where will you go for the third time?
- In two weeks I will play in the Aeroflot Open, and I hope I’ll be able to fulfill the last standard criteria in this tournament.
- Thank you for the conversation and good luck!