The younger of the Muzychuk sisters came to the press center after winning her match with Monika Socko, and shared her impressions from the first two rounds.
Anastasia Karlovich: Dear friends, welcome to the Women’s World Chess Championship. Our guest is the Ukrainian player Mariya Muzychuk. She defeated Monika Socko and is first to win a tie-break match today. Mariya, let us start with your first match.
Mariya Muzychuk: The start of the championship was quite tough. My opponent in the first round was the Canadian player of a Chinese origin. I lost the first game despite having a completely winning position, because I made a single inaccurate move in the time trouble. I just miscalculated and made a losing move, unfortunately.
– How did you come back in the second game?
– Of course, it wasn’t easy. I was overwhelmed with emotions right after the first game, but we are professionals and must be able to absorb losses.
– Then you won the first match on the tie-break and got paired with Monika Socko. What was your plan for the 2nd round?
– Monika is a renowned tactician. I wanted to play a more strategic game, not sure if I succeeded, but I won and am happy.
– Your position in the first classical game with Monika was rather unpleasant, was it hard to hold it?
– Unfortunately, I forgot the variation we played and failed to get any advantage. And then in an equal position I completely misplaced my knight, and got a worse game. Then I equalized gradually and made a draw.
– You were very tense today despite having a completely winning position for most of the time. Why was that?
– I was very afraid to miscalculate, to blunder something. Also the fact that Monika had won an absolutely lost position in the first round tie-break also affected me. Of course I felt very sorry for her opponent, who failed to deliver a mate in one, but this is chess, this is sport, what can you do?
– Who is your next opponent? Is there a chance to meet your elder sister at some point?
– My next opponent is either Antoaneta Stefanova or Inna Gaponenko. And I can meet my sister only in the final.