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The European Chess Championships, reported by ;
original interview in Russian from
Teimur Radjabov: We all hate Armenians
12.11.2007 – Recently, at the European Championship, the team of Azerbaijan
got Bronze, behind the Russians and Armenians. The latter are historical
enemies of the Azeris, politically, culturally and in chess. One of the
stars of the Azerbaijan team, Teimour Radjabov, gives vent to his personal
feelings and how it affected the play of his team against the enemy in this
startling APA interview.
Teimur Radjabov: The enemy is the enemy – we all hate Armenians
The head of the Azerbaijani national chess team that won the bronze medal at
the European Team Championship, behind Russia and Armenia, Teimour Radjabov,
gave an exclusive interview to the Russian sports news agency APA. It
contains some very startling comments.
On the Bronze Medal win at the European Championship: This is of course a
great success. I think our players competed well – we should not forget that
European chess is the strongest in the world. I am sure that we will achieve
more success in future.
On the clash with Russia, after leading until round five: We lost to the
main favorites of the European Championship, the Russian team, and it had a
bad influence on me. We lost three games in round five, and one ended in a
draw. But this score does not reflect the potential of our players at all.
Before competing with the Russians we were thinking about defeating our
rivals. We were scoring well until that round. The Russians defeated us and
won the gold medals.
On the loss to Slovenia in round six: We did not think about losing to them.
We took risks and that led to our defeat, an unexpected defeat. I think we
are to blame, as we did not assess our opponents correctly. We thought that
we would win without any difficulty.
On the draw against Armenia in round eight: Of course we had chance to win
it. But the situation changed gradually. Vladimir Akopian offered me a draw,
after Shahriyar [Mamedyarov] and Rauf [Mamedov] had finished their games
with draws. I did not accept, because by then Vugar [Gashimov] had a bad
position. He lost, so I had to defeat Akopian to draw the match, and I
managed to do it.
On the team’s feelings before this round eight match: I will not deny that
we were very nervous. Regardless of where we meet, the enemy is the enemy.
We all have feelings of hate towards them. But you must try to suppress
those feelings and not let them interfere. Chess must be played with a sober
head.
On the atmosphere in the hall at the time: The Armenians had a lot of active
fans. The Armenian Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian had arrived there, and I
saw him in the hall during most matches. The President of our federation,
Elman Rustamov, also attended our match with the Armenians and supported us.
We understood the importance of the match and adhered to the principles of
the encounter.
On the roots of this first historical success for the national team: First
of all collective fight. Friendship in the team was one of the main factors.
We thought about the team first of all. None of the sportsmen fought to
improve his personal rating. This is very important. Our failure in the
previous competitions worried us, as we felt that we had the capability to
win medals.
On whether the team is capable of winning greater victories: I believe in
it. Though our team has been composed of teenagers, we are known in the
chess world. All teams fear and respect us. We are in the list of the
strongest national teams of the world. For the first time, we have two
Azerbaijani chess player is placed in the top ten in the world, which shows
that our chess occupies a high place. I do not doubt we will win greater
victories in future competitions. The world team championship is being
discussed at the moment. Our team is the bronze medalist of the European
Championship and so should also participate in this competition, which will
involve the ten strongest countries in the world. But I heard they want to
give the right to organize the competition to Armenia, and in this case, our
team will not be able to take part. If Armenia is commissioned to organize
the competition, our federation will appeal to FIDE.
On his your target at the World Cup in Khanti-Mansiysk, Russia: The
competition will start on November 24. I am still trying to rest after
European Championship. That’s why I will not participate in the Mikhail Tal
Memorial. As the World Cup is held according to the knockout system, one
defeat is decisive. That’s why I will do my best to be very careful and move
forward step-by-step. If I achieve it, I can expect success there.