Interview with GM Mikhail Golubev

LatestChess :- How was your experience working with Karpov and now with Ponomariov?
GM Mikhail Golubev :- My co-operation with Karpov (for the opportunity of which I am grateful to Karpov’s main assistant Mikhail Podgaets) was limited by two sessions in Montenegro in 1996 and in Moscow in 1997. It was an interesting experience. Karpov is a great player as we all know. He is very different to other giants like Tal, whose moves I understand better. Once a rare and atypical opening line was discussed, Karpov quickly proposed a novelty, still unplayed until now, which (what at my level only analysis may help to understand) improves upon the play of the elite grandmaster. It made quite an impression. Karpov just felt where to put a piece. The game Karpov-Yusupov (Open Ruy Lopez, 1-0), with notes by Yusupov from some of Dvoretsky books is ultimately best what I have read about Karpov’s style.

Karpov is very different to other giants like Tal...

I should add that in 1996 I lost a fairly interesting game to Korchnoi, that was included by Korchnoi in the book of his best games with Black. Probably, contacts with Karpov, Korchnoi, Ponomariov helped me to make a right decision and become a more useful citizen. Speaking more seriously, it is crucial for the average grandmaster to have a playing possibilities in the place/country where he lives. In Ukraine, we basically have more grandmasters than our country needs. I speak about normal grandmasters, indeed. (We also have a several fake grandmasters but it is a separate problem). At least for certain period, my priority became rather to live in my country and in my town and to be able to make living without travelling abroad, than to continue playing chess professionally.

In Ukraine, we basically have more grandmasters than our country needs ...

I know Ruslan Ponomariov since 1995 when he was 11 years old, and he already could win a blitz match against me. In 1996 we played a more serious training match and we are keeping contacts since then. At my old site there was a Ruslan Ponomariov’s page that was a bit helpful for Ruslan and his team at the early stages of his career to be contacted by organisers and get invitations. We worked on the chess openings also. Several times I travelled with him to the tournaments, including Russia versus the World match in 2002. In terms of rating (2743) and achievements, 2002 was a peak of Ruslan’s career. His coach and, practically, second father in whose house Ruslan lived for many years, Mikhail Ponomariov, died in the Autumn of 2002. Before that, and even more afterwards there was a permanent scandal, with public opinion generally demanding from Ponomariov to play the match versus Kasparov on the Ilyumzhinov’s & Kasparov’s conditions. Ruslan recently said in an interview that possibly he became the world champion too early. Maybe! I believe that FIDE would never even try to treat Anand, Kramnik or Ivanchuk in a way that they treated Ruslan from the very beginning after he took a title. I am happy that Ruslan was able to survive psychologically all the surroundings. Even if the rating shows that until now he did not manage to recover fully as a player. What, in particular, I personally learned from all this is that everything, including public sentiments (and especially public sentiments) can go in a completely wrong direction sometimes.

FIDE would never even try to treat Anand, Kramnik or Ivanchuk in a way they treated Ruslan...

LatestChess :- Can you tell us about your new column on KID section with ChessPublishing.com?
GM Mikhail Golubev :- The King’s Indian is a complex opening, which requires a permanent work from the black player, especially in modern chess, when you should constantly prepare something new. In 2006 I authored the book UNDERSTANDING THE KING’S INDIAN, and I worked really much on it in 2005. But unless you keep working, then instead of learning you begin to forget things, sometimes even lines from your own book. Meanwhile people are usually prepared against lines that you have played in the past. (Thus, my readers may benefit from my book more than I, even if I remember everything from there).

By the beginning of 2009 the King’s Indian, where White has a really wide choice, is probably the most vulnerable part of my reportoire, and, as I am still playing in tournaments sometimes, I do not like to lose games because I forgot or did not see something important. At least, the opponent should show something new to get the advantage. So I hope that my monthly contributions for ChessPublishing would help to me and to subscribers to remain up-to-date with a main developments in this opening. (Indeed, in Chess Today the King’s Indian games are analysed as well, but usually it is around 2 games per month, Chess Today is the daily electronic newspaper, while ChessPublishing is a specific opening project, unique in its own way).

I do not like to lose games because I forgot or did not see something important ...

LatestChess :- Today, chess is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people. Chess player can earn good money with tournament prize money, coaching, organizing, writing etc. Do you see children taking break in the education and concentrating fully on chess?
GM Mikhail Golubev :- The question is too general. Well, I would say that after one reaches ELO 2650 the decision to take break in the education is more than understandable. When the junior reaches 2600, concentrating on chess should be a right decision in most cases. Otherwise, one should ask himself/herself whether he or she really, really wants to sacrifice his or her life for chess - and never to complain later. The professional chess player does not have a right to complain. It is not self-evident that society will forever need results of the chess-player’s work.

after one reaches ELO 2650 the decision to take break in the education is more than understandable...