David Navara Interview

David NAVARA: “I WILL NEVER BE SPECIALIST IN LOGICS”

Interview from the official website: http://ugra-chess.ru/eng/main_e.htm

• David, this is your third visit to Khanty Mansiysk. Have you opened something new for yourself?

• Yes, now I am staying in another hotel (laughing). Last time I stayed in “Ugra valley” and Tarei. Now I am staying in “Yugra”. In general I have not found anything new. Though… Yesterday I visited the museum of “Nature and humans”. I did not want to stay in my room and the museum is situated not far from the hotel. It is a pity that I had only two free hours, it was not enough to see all there.

• What can you tell us about your opponent –Laylo Darwin of PHI?

• It turned out that it is not that easy to win here. Even in the first round I played against very serious opponent. In first classical game, for instance, he played better than me. I was lucky to bring it to a draw. Perhaps the knock out format does not suit me. I don’t want to say something bad about this format; I just play it not that brilliantly as my opponents.

• You have a reputation of unstable player: sometimes you come close to the 2700 level but after a while you suddenly go down 100 points. What is the reason?

• Most of the times I am very intense. And all of a sudden, not in time, a period of relaxation comes. I don’t want to follow the game, it is impossible to concentrate. I walk around the playing hall and… I make a mistake. These situations occurred in Baku and Sochi for instance, at the FIDE Grand prix tournaments. It was a big honor for me to receive invitations for these tournaments. I did not deserve them.

• What are your plans for future? Do you put any aims for yourself?

• I am planning to develop further as a chess player. Apart from that I also want to finish my study in the University… But here a problem comes. My specialty – logistics, but the matter is that I am not interested in it anymore. It is a pity of course, but I will never become a specialist in logics. I miss something: either talent, or diligence, or right preparations…

• Where did you learn such a good Russian?

• I was learning it for four years at school and a year in the University. Another half a year I spent learning Russian in the Center of Russian Science and Culture which is in Prague.

• Did you ever try to read Russian classics?

• I recently read two Russian novels of Dostoevskyi – “Idiot” and “Prestuplenie i nakazanie”. Though I read these books in Czech language. I read in the original only memoires of Nadezhda Yakovlevna Mandelshtam. Very interesting though very sad as well.