The Ukrainian Grandmaster Anton Korobov who defeated the Chinese chess player Zhou Jianchao in the first round has confessed that this victory was unexpected for him.

А. Korobov: The game turned out to be rather chaotic, during the whole game I did not make any good move. By move 32 I realized that I would not lose and decided to make a long move with my rook. All of a sudden I noticed that I had my hands shivering at that moment, I guess it was a matter of nerves. However, I managed to cope with that. I started making simple and short moves and my opponent had to choose complicated ones and maybe it was the reason I won.

— Do you have any definite aim at this tournament? — This is a lottery tournament and that is why I do not think it is possible to set any global objectives — there are only two games and any blunder is hard to be compensated.

— Anton, Ukrainian chess players perform well in Khanty-Mansiysk, we can judge by the last year’s World Chess Olympiad. What is your estimation of your personal chances taking into consideration that this time there will be three players to be qualified for the World Championship? — My intellectual abilities leave much to be desired, that is why I still cannot perceive the new qualification system. Before players were qualified to play in the Grand-Prix series tournaments according to their ratings, now the system is different. There used to be 16 players to be qualified from the World Cup, after there were 2 places and now there are 3. I am not striving to challenge the chess crown, I simply play. I am alone here, but I have my friends and people I know supporting me, however, I am not expecting any help from anyone.

— Is it your first time in Khanty-Mansiysk? — Yes, it is. And unfortunately, I have not seen anything else but the hotel. If I manage to be knocked out in the right time not to exert myself, I will arrange a proper cultural program for myself here.