Anastasia Karlovich: My first question is about the atmosphere: were your comfortable playing in an empty hall?
Mariya Muzychuk: Yes, it felt normal, everything went as usual. Nothing has chanced.
Natalia Pogonina: It was unusual in the beginning – too much attention, too many cameras. In ten minutes it went back to normal.
AK: Speaking of the game, were you satisfied with the outcome of the opening?
NP: I was generally satisfied. Don’t know what else can I tell, bearing in mind that later I will play White again.
MM: To be honest, I did not expect 20.Be3. Of course I repeated everything during my preparation, but there were so many variations, they all got mixed, and I could not recall the exact response.
AK: I am interested about the position after 16…Be6. Could White take on f6 and double black pawns?
MM: As far as I know, this move is not dangerous for Black, so I was not worried about it.
NP: I did not see any good way of arranging my pieces after that move. The bishop on f3 is blocked by my pawn, and I have some weaknesses on the dark squares.
AK: What were the critical moments of the game?
NP: I was told I could play 27.Nd4 instead of 27.Nf4. I saw that move but evaluated the resulting position incorrectly.
MM: I was short on time. After 27.Nd4 I planned to play 27…Qd7, but cannot say I studied it deeply, because it was unclear what move Natalia chooses. My idea was to carry out …Bb6 and …с5.
AK: At what point Black equalized the game?
MM: I think after 32…Qa5 33.a3 Be6 it became completely equal.
NP: I agree, there is nothing White can do there.
Kirillos Zangalis: For both of you this is a first match of such importance in your career. Do you feel any extra pressure or you treat every game like a regular game in a regular tournament?
MM: Of course the pressure is very high, but I wasn’t nervous too much today, don’t know how to explain it.
NP: I got focused on the game rather quickly. In the beginning it was kind of stressful, but stress went by as soon as I concentrated on the game. I did not think that I was playing a World Championship match.
Goran Urosevic: Natalia, you won many medals with the Russian team. Is there a difference between working with many coaches during the team events and playing here, being assisted by only one coach?
NP: I can only note that I know Pavel Vladimirovich Lobach, who helps me here, since 1998. We work together for a very long time, we are a very good team, and I feel very comfortable.
AK: Mariya, do you know anything about coverage of our championship in Ukrainian media? Did anybody try to contact you?
MM: I saw some information on the net and I know there are many articles about the championship. As far as I know, some people tried to contact me, but right now I want to concentrate on chess, and my sister takes care of everything else including contacts with media.
AK: So Anna in fact works as your manager here, right?
MM: Yes, it appears so.