In the first game of the second Round Vladimir Potkin of Russia playing White attacked Alexey Shirov in a very energetic way and it seemed that he did not play a very exhausting tie-break the day before.

Taking into account the inevitable match Black resigned already on the 28^th move. — My tie-break with Shulman lasted so long that I did not even have time to think how dangerous Shirov is. I simply took some rest and continued playing. And probably namely the long game the day before helped me today — I warmed up and calculated every variation feeling myself more confident.

— This year turned out to be rather successful for you — you have won the European Championship. Maybe it is time to think about the World Cup? — It is already good that I qualified to play here. It is my first time at the World Cup and it is a very interesting event for me. Yesterday when playing in tie-breaks I felt myself incredible.

— How do you find it playing in the chess palace? — Very comfortable and without any problems.