Olga Girya has become a very interesting person to talk to thanks to her outstanding results. She has a 100% result over the distance of four rounds. We had agreed upon a meeting but the Moscow chess player suffered a loss in a very tough game against Daria Charochkina in the fifth round. The game lasted for more than 5 hours. For that reason we couldn’t bring ourselves to bother the player with a conversation. Olga was one of the players who finished the game very quickly, maybe for the first time during the tournament. We saw her watching the games of her opponents and couldn’t miss a chance to talk to the chessplayer.
- Olga, good evening. That’s great that you finished the game quite quickly today. Finally we have a chance to talk.
- Good evening (laughing). Today my roommate Nastya Bodnaruk and I were studying the schedule and we realized that the Olympics are starting today at 19:30. So we agreed to finish our games quickly today. Tomorrow we have the opening ceremony, so our plan is to watch it too.
- It looks like the opponent of Anastasia is not sharing your plans…
- Yes, the main thing it to find an approach. Much depends on the opponents.
- Are planning to visit the Olympic Games in Sochi maybe?
- I don’t have such a plan at the moment, but anything is possible.
- Can you please comment on yesterday’s game with Daria Charochkina?
- The position was very interesting. I was playing and was evaluating this position from perspective of the winning side. Only after the game was finished I realized that Daria was also playing for a win. Even the computer is giving an ambiguous evaluation. At a certain moment I should have played for a draw by making exact moves, but I continued thinking of the victory and got the worse position finally.
- Are you upset about it?
- No, the game was very interesting.
- But you are playing in the tournament not for the sake of interesting games, but to win…
- I just mean that if you lose because of making some stupid blunder or from passive play, that’s something to get upset over. Going down in a struggle isn't so bad.
- Why did you prefer the Women’s Open tournament to the Student Grandmaster competitions this year?
- This year I chose the hard way. I’m of the opinion that the open tournament has its own specific character and is more complicated. Many players are participating in the event. And when you participate in round-robin games in the student competitions, you play in a very relaxed manner. You know all the opponents that you have to play with tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. You follow a strict plan and just compete to be among the prize winners. Bit if you lose a point in the events of this level, your chances are decreasing rapidly, and you find yourself in another playing area. And I’m a fan of the area of the leaders’ boards (laughing).
- How many long have you been playing in the Moscow Open?
- It’s a very complicated question. I know you ask everybody the same question… (laughing)
- That means that you are reading the news of our website, that’s so nice.
- I absolutely read it. I think this is my eighth one.
- Two thirds of the tournament are over with. Do you still have the strength to fight?
- I’ve got enough strength. Especially if don’t continue to play till 9:30 pm and go home on time, I think everything will be good.
Anna Kalyaeva asked the questions
Photo by Galina Popova