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In the first game of the final the Russian GM Peter Svidler outplayed with Black his compatriot Alexander Grischuk. The opponents-friends told us about the game at the press conference.

— Peter, you don’t look happy…

— Svidler: It turns out to be more difficult to play against your close friend. I do not know what to add, I am not a favorite of my dispirited look either …

— Alexander, please can you share your feelings about today’s game.

— Grischuk: Usually when you blunder a rook — you lose. Even though I did not get a bad position I still lost. There is some kind of logic here: it happens this way very seldom when after a rook blunder you get a positive result.

This is a classical blunder as it is described in the chess literature. The move Nb6 does not threaten yet, there are other moves threatening. White defended by move 18. Nd6 from these other moves, but after it namely the move Nb6 can be made.

— Peter, how can you explain your fantastic results with Black at this tournament?

— Svidler: Frankly speaking, you cannot. Historically it turned out that I always played better with White than with Black. Here I regularly get from weak to doubtful positions and after I face some unexplainable events as it happened today. I think that somewhere closer to the 15^th move the position of Black was very complicated from the objective point of view. It is miraculous that after the move 15…Bxe4 the move 16.Nxe4 is not hopeless right away, there was a move 16…0−0. If not for castling the game cannot be saved. Afterwards in the strict time-trouble there were mutual mistakes — starting from the move 18.Nd6. Then I did not capture the right material probably after the move 18…Nb6 19.Rxf7, the move 19…Bxd6 was a winning one, and what I did, probably, was not a winning one at all …

Going back to your question, every time playing White at this tournament I get nothing and the game is over by move 15. As for Black, on the contrary I receive some development of the game and thereafter it somehow works out — I don’t have a slightest idea what is the reason for that.