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Which first move is better for beginners? ?4 or d4?

1.e4. is a bit better, if you play 1.d4 the game is slower, more complicated and more positioned.

Which opening is not played anymore and why?

No opening has disappeared yet, at a lower level you can play more risky, but now there are many options already, for which the end evaluation is known. In the strongest tournaments the King’s Gambit is very rarely used, it is considered that the whites are risking too much.

How many people are there in your team during matches? Describe briefly who is doing what.

My chess assistants for the game against Kamsky in Sofia were three. They analyze the games of the opponent, as well as my games and try to find weaknesses in his game.

During the match against gata Kamsky we saw you swimming at the Kempinski (we swim there, too). Tell us about the physical preparation of a chess player.

Yes, they recommended me to do light exercises in the rest days of the match. Swimming is best because it involves the entire body and there is no risk of injuries. According to my experience it is better for the chess players to practice sports that improve stamina, because our games are sometimes very long and tiring, just like a hard day at an office. (more…)

Breaking news: Russian chess journalists Yuri Vasiliev has now confirmed that the semifinal Candidates Match between Veselin Topalov and Gata Kamsky will take place in Lvov, Ukraine, for a prize fund of US $750,000. The full story, including Yuri’s verbatim interview with Chernenko, will appear tomorrow on ChessBase. Here are some available details:

There is nothing more exciting for U.S. chess than Gata Kamsky’s run for the World Championship. Later this year, Gata will face former world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in a match, while current world champion, India’s Viswanathan Anand, defends his title against his predecessor, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia. Victory against Topalov will mean a title match for Gata in 2009. Read Gata’s own Chess Life annotations from his World Cup win in the March Chess Life Magazine.

This will be Gata’s third attempt to climb the Olympus of chess. In 1993, the rival organisations FIDE and PCA each held Interzonal tournaments. Kamsky qualified from both, and proceeded to wipe out one top GM after another in the two parallel world championship cycles. As FIDE attempted to establish a successor to the title vacated by the formation of the PCA by Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short, Gata decisively defeated Anand, 6-4 (on the Indian’s home turf!), and two others in matches before finally succumbing to Anatoly Karpov, 7.5-10.5, in their 1996 FIDE World Championship match.

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