The last representative of China in this championship defeated Bela Khotenashvili and advanced to the quarterfinals. Zhao Xue appeared in the press center where she impressed the journalists with her fluent English. She analyzed in detail the causes of protracted failure of the Chinese national team in the Chess Olympiads.
Anastasia Karlovich: Our next guest is Zhao Xue of China, who defeated Bela Khotenashvili and went on to the next round. Xue, it was not that easy from the very beginning. Your first game was very tough. Can you tell us about it please?
Zhao Xue: It was very strange starting from the opening. Bela doesn’t play this line, so I tried to play something different from what she plays. I think I was a little worse, but I was lucky, she made some mistakes. I think 15.Kxe4 was not a very good idea.
Anastasia Karlovich: So, you won the first game because of her mistakes?
Zhao Xue: I think yesterday I played much better than today. Today I made a lot of mistakes. Huge mistakes. Yesterday I played not very strong, but still better. Today I played bad moves, like 22…Nxe5 for instance. I should have thought a little more and then I would definitely find 22…Rfe6, and after 23.f4 g4 it could have been a totally drawish position. It would have been a clever choice from my side.
After 23…Rxe5 the position was still equal but I gave chances to my opponent, who needed to win. But then I had a winning position and I had so many choices how to win here, though I could have forced a draw as well. I don’t know why I did not play rook ending and I played queen ending instead. I was worried that it was not easy to win here and I chose queen ending.
Anastasia Karlovich: In queen’s ending there are always so many checks. Where do you think you missed your victory in this game?
Zhao Xue: Yes, as I said it was a winning position, but I still don’t know how to convert it. Why I didn’t play 67. Qe6+ Kf3? Oh, so easy. It was absolutely winning. Ok, what to do.
Anastasia Karlovich: It was such a long game. We wanted to ask you actually about your two previous matches.
Zhao Xue: I think I did not focus on important moments in my second game against Argentinian player. In that game I was black and I had a huge advantage, some pawns up. My pieces were better placed on board. I think I just lost my concentration. And I played a very bad move and lost.
Anastasia Karlovich: Was it easy for you to play tie break?
Zhao Xue: In tie breaks everything went good for me. But imagine, I am about 300 elo points higher than her. How was it possible to play so badly? I am very lucky to win all those matches. I think other Chinese players were not as lucky as me.
Anastasia Karlovich: By the way, to your mind, how did it happen that so many Chinese players participated in the championship but were eliminated so quickly and you are the only one left so far?
Zhao Xue: We also wonder why. We have many good players. Many of them were supposed to have good chances in this championship. Apart from everything, I am sure we need to have more experience playing in knock out championships. That could be a reason of our bad luck too.
Anastasia Karlovich: You have visited Russia so many times, do you understand some Russian? Can you say some words for us please?
Zhao Xue: Of course. I know some Russian words. Ocheny horosho for example.
Anastasia Karlovich: Whom are you going to play?
Zhao Xue: I am playing against the winner of a pair Pogonina vs Sebag.
Anastasia Karlovich: What is your motivation for the next round? If I remember well in the World championship 2010 you tied for the third place. What are your goals in this championship?
Zhao Xue: I want to go to the semi finals, at least. Then I want to qualify for Grand Prix. And I also want to go for the next World Championship. My rating now is not as high as before. So, I need to be qualified from the tournaments.
Goran Urosevic: You have several high rated players in your national team. But yet Russians are winning Olympiad after Olympiad. How do you think you can break this dominance?
Zhao Xue: Good question. I also wonder why. I don’t know what was the reason we could not win three previous Olympiads, where we took only silver medals. In 2012 we had so many good chances to win. In 2010 frankly speaking Russian players were much better than us. In Norway we also had big chances. But what I want to mention is that now Russian team is more united. They are all almost the same age, maybe 4-5 years difference. That is good for understanding, communications, etc. It’s very important. There are so many Russian female players, and almost all of them are very strong players. In China there is a big difference in age: we have many young players.
Anastasia Karlovich: But you can share your experience with them.
Zhao Xue: Yes, we do. But to have a great team is not enough. Sharing is one part, but another important part is a team spirit, team communication. Also I am sure that it’s important we have young generation players. I am sure we can get all back in future.
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