Interview with Yasser Seirawan

Interview by Anna Matnadze for Chessdom.com. More interviews from Magistral de Barcelona and other events in the interview section.

Hello Mr. Seirawan, welcome to Barcelona. Could you please, describe to us your preparation process for the Magistral Casino Tournament? What chess analyzing program do you use?

Thank you very much. It is a pleasure to have been in sunny Barcelona as I live in Amsterdam where it was windy and chilly when I left. I use three programs Rybka, Fritz 12 and Houdini. I like Houdini best.
The majority of the players in Barcelona were unknown for me. My preparations were mostly to review their most recent games (last two/three years) and to get a feel for their style of play. What types of positions they excell in and to see if they have favorite openings that I like to play as well.

Whom were you expecting to be the most difficult opponent? Are you happy with your play here? Which was the best and the worst game and why?

Again as I wasn’t familiar with the players. Before the start I thought that Smirin was the clear favorite.
Overall, I’m satisfied with my play. It was consistent.
My game with Smirin was my worst for sure as I made a howler (a bad blunder) when I missed his Nf4-d5 stroke, which wins on the spot.

My best game was versus Peralta. We played a main line Pirc and I played a very powerful strategic idea Nc3-b5, which my computer doesn’t find but gives me a long-term advantage of the two Bishops. I kept a grip on the position and played very well throughout. Really, Fernando was never given a chance to get into the game.

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