Wang Yue on his default loss in World Cup

Wang YUE and Li CHAO: "WE ARE NOT GOING TO QUIT SMOKING"

The Chinese Grandmasters Wang Yue and Li Chao are leaving the Cup because of their late appearance for the second games of tie-breaks of Round 3. The reason of being late is ridiculous: they were smoking and did not know that the game had already started.

- How happened that you missed the start of the game?

- I don't know what happened, - replies disappointed Wang Yue. – We were smoking with Li Chao and some fellow told us: “Guys, I think you are late for your game”. Of course we rushed into the playing hall . But it was already too late .

- What did you feel at that moment?

- I did not understand what happened, - says Wang Yue. But he also added: - Ok, these are the rules, I cannot break them. I was shocked . It seemed that the world has stopped .

- Did you try to speak with the Arbiter?

- Sure, we spoke with the Chief Arbiter, - again Wang Yue. – He said: “These are the regulations, we should follow them. The decision is final and nothing can be changed. You should take it, go and prepare for the next game. I think it was a wise advice.”

- Was the decision fair to your mind?

Yes, the decision was correct, according to the rules. The only decision that could be taken. But to my mind not fair. We cannot do anything . We just need to accept it . In China at all chess tournaments a big screen with the information about the tournament is used. A player can go to the toilet, to smoke or to do something else. But thanks to this screen he always knows how much time he has before the start of the game. Here there is no screen. But we hope that they will use it in future. Most of all I feel pity for Li Chao: he started smoking here, in Khanty to join my smoking company.

- Perhaps now it is a good reason to quit smoking? Less chances to get into a trouble and more chances to be healthy.

- I don't think so… After such a shock you only think to take a long smoke!

- How are you going to recover?

- Nothing special… We will have rest, tomorrow a long trip back home, - says Wang Yue.

- Most probably I will read carefully the regulations of the Cup! – sarcastically added Li Chao

Ho Yifan: "I like Karjakin as a chess player!"

Hou Yifan, 15 years old Chinese, became famous long before the Women's World Chess Championship in Nalchik in 2008. Being the youngest participant, she managed to go all the way till the finals where she lost to the Russian. To Alexandra Kostenyuk. And here in the 1 st match of the 1 st round she stood up against experienced representative of Germany Arkady Naiditsch.

• It was not easy for me in the opening. I had bad position because of my mistake, - starts Hou. But at one point I could find a balance and finally I managed to stand up. In general, I am satisfied with the result.

• Is it more difficult to play against men, rather than against women?

• Yes, that's correct. But I cannot explain why. But I am sure men play chess better than women.

• So, you are not attracted by the success of Judit Polgar, who has been competing with men chess players on equal?

• For the moment I have a goal – to play chess as better as possible. I don't even have a target to become a world champion. The most important is to develop my play. All other will come anyway.

• You had a chance to become the World Champion. Did you take your lost to Kostenyuk in the final match hard?

• No, because Alexandra is a very strong opponent. Besides, at that time she was in a very good shape and was playing better than me.

• Upon coming back to China after the World Championship, were they criticizing you for not becoming first or maybe they were praising you for becoming second?

• Obviously they want me only to win. On the other hand everyone realized that nothing bad happened. One very strong chess player won another chess player. Things happen.

• There are legends in the air that Chinese chess players get an enormous support from the Government

• I can say that chess is popular enough in China and the popularity grows every day

• Did you ever participate in the traditional matches Russia vs. China?

• Only once and it is pity that could not participate in others, for I was busy participating in different tournaments. I think these matches help both teams to enrich experience.

• Did you come here with your coach?

• As you know I am not the only Chinese player at this tournament. We all have one trainer who helps all Chinese players. The knocked out participants help those who are still in as well.

• Did you like Khanty Mansyisk?

• Very much. Most of all I like the weather. I love snow and as you know there is not a lot of it in China.

• How do you spend your free time here?

• In general in the hotel. I listen to the music and read books.

• What kind of music do you like?

• I like pop music. The name of my favorite singer will not tell you anything, for it is a Chinese singer, very famous in my country.

• It is amazing how good you speak English now

• Yes, everyone around were telling me that I should speak English, that it is very important for a professional sportsmen. So, I had to work on it more intensively.

• Russian is not less important to speak for a professional chess player, don't you think?

• Sure, - smiles Yifan. The only problem is to find time to learn this beautiful language.

• Probably you should find a teacher among participants? There are only three women at the tournament, and we think it will not be difficult to find someone who could help you to learn “great and strong” Russian.

• At the moment the participants of the Cup interest me only from the chess point of view. The strongest chess players of the planet came here and I try not to miss anything which could be interesting for me at the chess boards.

• Do you have a favorite chess player?

• I had. Bobby Fisher. Unfortunately he is not with us anymore.

• And among participants of the Cup?

• Difficult question. Maybe Sergey Karjakin?

WORLD CUP round 1 pairings

Round 1 matchups:

1 GM Gelfand, Boris ISR - IM Obodchuk, Andrei RUS
2 GM Gashimov, Vugar AZE - IM Sarwat, Walaa EGY
3 GM Svidler, Peter RUS - IM Hebert, Jean CAN
4 GM Morozevich, Alexander RUS - IM Abdel Razik, Khaled EGY
5 GM Radjabov, Teimour AZE - IM Ezat, Mohamed EGY
6 GM Ivanchuk, Vassily UKR - GM Bezgodov, Alexei RUS
7 GM Ponomariov, Ruslan UKR - GM El Gindy, Essam EGY
8 GM Grischuk, Alexander RUS - IM Sriram, Jha IND
9 GM Jakovenko, Dmitry RUS - GM Rizouk, Aimen ALG
10 GM Wang, Yue CHN - GM Kabanov, Nikolai RUS
11 GM Eljanov, Pavel UKR - GM Al Sayed, Mohamad N. QAT
12 GM Karjakin, Sergey UKR - GM Rodriguez Vila, Andres URU
13 GM Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar AZE - GM Kosteniuk, Alexandra RUS
14 GM Shirov, Alexei ESP - GM Kunte, Abhijit IND
15 GM Dominguez Perez, Leinier CUB - GM Smerdon, David AUS
16 GM Movsesian, Sergei SVK - GM Yu, Yangyi CHN
17 GM Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime FRA - GM Yu, Shaoteng CHN
18 GM Alekseev, Evgeny RUS - IM Pridorozhni, Aleksei RUS
19 GM Tomashevsky, Evgeny RUS - GM Ivanov, Alexander USA
20 GM Wang, Hao CHN - GM Friedel, Joshua E USA
21 GM Navara, David CZE - GM Laylo, Darwin PHI
22 GM Malakhov, Vladimir RUS - GM Amin, Bassem EGY
23 GM Bacrot, Etienne FRA - GM Nijboer, Friso NED
24 GM Rublevsky, Sergei RUS - GM Morovic Fernandez, Ivan CHI
25 GM Jobava, Baadur GEO - IM Robson, Ray USA
26 GM Motylev, Alexander RUS - GM Hess, Robert L USA
27 GM Kamsky, Gata USA - GM Antonio, Rogelio Jr PHI
28 GM Vitiugov, Nikita RUS - GM Gupta, Abhijeet IND
29 GM Bologan, Viktor MDA - GM Adly, Ahmed EGY
30 GM Naiditsch, Arkadij GER - GM Hou, Yifan CHN
31 GM Bu, Xiangzhi CHN - GM Pelletier, Yannick SUI
32 GM Polgar, Judit HUN - GM Pavasovic, Dusko SLO
33 GM Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter ROU - GM Lupulescu, Constantin ROU
34 GM Sargissian, Gabriel ARM - GM Li, Chao b CHN
35 GM Onischuk, Alexander USA - GM Flores, Diego ARG
36 GM Cheparinov, Ivan BUL - GM Kryvoruchko, Yuriy UKR
37 GM Efimenko, Zahar UKR - GM Milos, Gilberto BRA
38 GM Sutovsky, Emil ISR - GM Zhou, Weiqi CHN
39 GM Najer, Evgeniy RUS - GM Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan IRI
40 GM Tiviakov, Sergei NED - GM Iturrizaga, Eduardo VEN
41 GM Areshchenko, Alexander UKR - GM Corrales Jimenez, Fidel CUB
42 GM Sasikiran, Krishnan IND - GM L'Ami, Erwin NED
43 GM Smirin, Ilia ISR - GM Ehlvest, Jaan USA
44 GM Baklan, Vladimir UKR - GM Shabalov, Alexander USA
45 GM Ganguly, Surya Shekhar IND - GM Filippov, Anton UZB
46 GM Fier, Alexandr BRA - GM Khalifman, Alexander RUS
47 GM Fressinet, Laurent FRA - GM Sjugirov, Sanan RUS
48 GM Meier, Georg GER - GM Petrosian, Tigran L. ARM
49 GM Grachev, Boris RUS - GM Bartel, Mateusz POL
50 GM Caruana, Fabiano ITA - GM Bruzon Batista, Lazaro CUB
51 GM Sokolov, Ivan NED - GM Fedorchuk, Sergey A. UKR
52 GM Milov, Vadim SUI - GM Negi, Parimarjan IND
53 GM Timofeev, Artyom RUS - GM Leitao, Rafael BRA
54 GM Inarkiev, Ernesto RUS - GM Gustafsson, Jan GER
55 GM Savchenko, Boris RUS - GM Shulman, Yuri USA
56 GM Kobalia, Mikhail RUS - GM Sandipan, Chanda IND
57 GM Tkachiev, Vladislav FRA - GM Le, Quang Liem VIE
58 GM Tregubov, Pavel V. RUS - GM Akobian, Varuzhan USA
59 GM So, Wesley PHI - GM Guseinov, Gadir AZE
60 GM Granda Zuniga, Julio E PER - GM Sakaev, Konstantin RUS
61 GM Laznicka, Viktor CZE - GM Papaioannou, Ioannis GRE
62 GM Andreikin, Dmitry RUS - GM Nyback, Tomi FIN
63 GM Mamedov, Rauf AZE - GM Zhou, Jianchao CHN
64 GM Amonatov, Farrukh TJK - GM Volkov, Sergey RUS