The Ukrainian grandmaster Ruslan Ponomariov outplayed his compatriot Zakhar Efimenko and qualified to the 4^th Round. The chess players shared their impressions on the game with the journalists at the press conference.

— Ruslan, how do you feel after the 3^rd Round?

Ponomariov: — I am very satisfied with my victory today.

-Zakhar, what mistakes did you commit today? What did go wrong in the tie-breaks?

Efimenko: — To my mind, the first game where I had White was very important. Having made one imprecise move, I got a worse position that I had to defend very accurately, and Ruslan felt himself more comfortable. Unfortunately, I did not manage to save my position. As for the second game, I was not well prepared psychologically thus did not manage to tune into the fight.

— Ruslan, did this match turn out to be the most difficult for you?

Ponomariov: — The fight gets more difficult with every round. And when you get to the tie-breaks, you realize that you can expect anything and it is not possible to foresee the outcome of the game.

— Your impressions on Khanty-Mansiysk?

Efimenko: — I like it very much here. It is my fifth stay here and sometimes it even seems to me that I come here annually. Last year’s Olympiad was great. We spared some time to do sight seeing in the city and felt ourselves very comfortable during the competitions. As for this World Cup, its organization is at a very high level. Therefore, I have only positive impressions on my present stay here. Besides, it is nice to play here in September when it is not that frosty. So, everything is super!

Ponomariov: — I share Zakhar’s opinion. We played for the Ukrainian team at the last year’s Olympiad thus always went for a walk together. Khanty-Mansiysk leaves only the most pleasant impressions.