Two thirds of the distance are over in the National Student League Championship. The ranking favorite of the tournament, grandmaster from Moscow David Parvyan won over Alexey Mokshanov in the game of the round and became a sole leader of the competitions. Immediately after the game the chess player from the capital answered several questions.
- Hello, David! I believe, you play in the RSSU Moscow Open Cup not for the first time, right?
- Since 2008 I’ve never missed a single tournament. However, I played successfully only twice: first I obtained my first ranking status here, and then I fulfilled the standards for an international master title at the Cup of Russia event.
- Why did you decide to play in the student tournament this time?
- This year I represent my university (Ural State Mining University, Ekaterinburg – editorial remark), and want my alma mater to win the team event. My teammate is Anna Styazhkina and she is also playing well – she has 4 scored points. In the overall ranking our university occupies the first place. However, we have strong opponents – Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism, Lomonosov Moscow State University and RSSU are very close on the heels. That’s why we need to focus on this tournament. Maybe, it’s the reason I didn’t want to combine the student championship with the main Moscow Open tournament.
- How can you evaluate your performance in this tournament?
- So far the competition is going on well. However, I committed a serious mistake in one of the games (against Aleksey Ivlev, editorial remark), and as a result we finished in a draw. I managed to win in a beautiful manner in the key game of the round against Alexey Mokshanov and this victory provided me with the position of a sole leader.
- Tell our readers about your chess life. What did you start with, who helped you?
- I began to play chess at the age of four, and a little bit later I started to practice in the Petrosyan club. I obtained the first significant result at the age of eight, when I won the Championship of Moscow. When I was ten, I was determined: I will play chess. My last coach was Vladimir Belov, who gave me much knowledge. Thanks to him I achieved deserved results and became a grandmaster. At the moment I study on my own.
- Which of your successes can you single out?
- Second place in the Chigorin Memorial (2017, St. Petersburg, editorial remark), and the Gaprindashvili Cup in Georgia, where I showed 2,800 performance. Once I was crowned as a champion of Russia at the age of 14. I remember, I started with half a point of possible two points, after that I won seven games in a row and as a result won a gold medal.
- Where do you plan to play in the nearest future? What goals do you have?
- I will play in the blitz tournament of the RSSU, I think, it’s clear (laughing). And I will also go to the main Aeroflot Open tournament, and the European Championship. Besides, participation in the Junior Championship of Russia is very important for me – it’s my last year in the junior competitions. I hope, I will be able to show a deserved result.
- Thank you for the conversation, I wish you success!
Questions were asked by Alina Bivol.