Awonder Liang talks to Cristian Chirila after a draw with Niemann in Round 13 of the 2022 U.S. Chess Championship.
2022.10.19
USChessChamps.com
We are indeed with a Wonder Liang a Wonder first of all congratulations a Very tense finish for you in this game Against Hans but a successful campaign Here at the USA championships yeah I Think the tournament overall went Um really well um by my standards and I Think I started out with this loss Against elshon in round two but after That I went undefeated Um plus three with white so yeah really Way more than anything I could have Expected Um going in I just kind of want to Finish in the middle of the pack like Maybe with an even score but but yeah Somehow my opponents kept giving me These chances and I didn't even like Take all of them but yeah I mean what I Had was was my best US championships Ever and like I don't know it's just Really quite surreal at this moment and How is uh homework going on nowadays I Wonder did you catch up with your Schoolwork Um now where we had quite a bit but yeah We can talk about that at a future time Right now I'd rather really rather not Think about no confessions it's too Depressing absolutely but your Professors must be quite happy with uh The way you have performed here and you Were mentioning at the beginning of the Show when we had our first interview
That you were in close contact with some Of your professors right um I have a Professor friend that studies chess um But unfortunately he's he's not one of My professors in the classes I'm taking So I haven't been getting a lot of slack From from the professors that create my Work but uh but it's fine yeah how about Today's game uh Hans came up with this Idea of Queen to E2 did you expect this Or no yeah I mean I was I was quite Scared for today's game because I think Nepo had this observation that Hans Typically likes to announce his Comebacks before he makes them Um about three days ago he announced That he was about to make a cutback that I see he wins three in a row and I'm Like wait a minute like I played him in The last round like what's what's going On here and yeah I knew he just wanted To get a big fight like I'm lower rate Than him and like okay what I think what He got was probably not the greatest Position Um but basically he wanted to keep it Closed and avoid a lot of Trades I think Um Just like for this event like my Strategy has sort of been to keep the Positions relatively simple Um I think like in the whole term I've Probably only played like two or three Middle games actual middle games what's
My games go like straight to the end Game and I think it's helped me conserve Energy and just like I blunder less Um with you know with schoolwork and all That so it's kind of my strategy going Into the tournament Um but here like I thought like okay his Position is so bad that like I don't Even care if um if it's like a Complicated middle game but I think like His strategy really worked out because Yeah almost immediately I think maybe Yeah somewhere around the middle maybe After F4 let's take a look at what yeah Okay uh I wonder you had we were talking About you needed to make yeah I think Like this queen D7 Queen C7 was a little Sloppy first of all like probably even Queen C7 immediately because I think F5 Is not even such a big threat And then Yeah I thought Pierre maybe we're back You're back okay that was fast Um I thought here maybe yeah instead of Queen D7 like okay I can just go Queen C7 immediately instead of Queen Um all the way here yeah yeah and then Okay like she can do the same thing like Play Knight F3 but Um because I went like Queen D7 Queen C7 Yeah and then yeah okay here I have like F5 ideas or even like what I had in the Game with F6 is not so bad Um but I sort of just allowed his Knight
To come to E1 which I just missed and Yeah here yeah I definitely should have Just won Bishop F7 or something like This um after 94. at least it's more Consistent with my plan and the idea is Like F5 G5 I lock up Um or if he goes F5 then I have G5 Knight F3 B5 and I think I'm quite fast On the queen side yes at least this was Kind of my impression it feels awesome Yeah Okay it's quite complicated I was Feeling good here um but yeah after G5 Like okay he looked at me a little funny Like okay it's kind of typical for him To do it I realized like oh crap he has A style of five and yeah yeah sort of Yeah it was kind of a nightmare because Like I wasn't focusing so well Throughout this event and basically I Just immediately blundered Um yeah and here again I thought I Should go Bishop H7 instead of Bishop G6 Was probably played decent okay yeah Again like I didn't realize that one was Fine as well yeah yeah I think not a big Uh change okay I didn't see if Bishop Takes D3 that's actually a horrendous Miss but I think right yeah it's been Quite typical of my play this event Where like I think I'm quite fine if the Position is very simplified like we get Into some sort of end game Um but yeah and these games like my form
Is is really just terrible like I'm Blundering everything which you guys Kind of did at this point right but yeah Here here I kind of felt like I was fine Like there's quite a bit of compensation For the pawn and Yeah I mean it's it's a normal position Like I think with the two Bishops I Thought even I could get a little Ambitious but yeah we just trade Everything and I think he defended this Well and then okay I had to find some Background moves and it was more or less Normal I wonder congratulations uh for your Performance guys any questions for a Wander uh yes well first of all again uh Congratulations to you I wonder I Watched you struggling at the U.S junior Champion you come in as the wild card And you play like you belong What was the difference between your Play in the U.S junior and your playing The U.S Championship you played really Good here yeah no I think there's kind Of a few big differences I think in the Juniors Um I first of all I had five blacks and Like a lot of my black games were Against some of the stronger players and I really felt like I needed to push in Those games and It was it was quite difficult because Like some of these Juniors like that
They're really strong and I learned that The hard way unfortunately Um of course I had like my fair share of Blunders but I think yeah in the Juniors I sort of didn't really come in with the Right strategy Um I was playing all these very Complicated middle games Um some of them I was getting tactically Outplayed and some of them like I just Blundered Um really badly in the late stage and Here I thought like I don't really feel Like I'll have enough energy to play Really long games every game or just Like these complicated positions where I Need to think a lot and I decided like I made some changes to my Opening reporter so like first of all Um with white I had like several Contingencies just in case there was School work or I was really busy like Basically I couldn't force a draw with White against any player Um and with black like basically yeah I Wanted to make sure that like I kept it Really simple Um as I said like a lot of end games a Lot of very simple chests so that like I Knew that in these sort of complicated Positions that I have a tendency to just Blunder a lot just because I'm quite Rusty and you know like mentally I don't I didn't feel like I would have enough
Energy especially late in the tournament Um but yeah what ended up happening in This event at least was was yeah most of My I think I outprepared my opponents in Nearly every game and I got like the Simplified positions that I thought felt Like I could play really well and yeah Luckily you know I managed to avoid at Least the worst blenders I think in Especially some of the late games Um I did start blundering a little bit But yeah the positions were well within The boundary days of at least equality So it didn't end up that badly sounds Like you really did a lot of work on Your openings and you got you achieved The type of positions you wanted Anastasia any questions for a Wonder or Great performance yes yes I just wanted To ask which game you are proud of the Most after this event which gave you Like the most Yeah probably the game gets Fabiano I Think is basically my best game of the Event I mean obviously I made plenty of Mistakes but it's It's like it's probably been the most Difficult it was the most difficult game Of my life because like just the amount Of pressure that you face Um even like I got like all my Preparation basically and like the Engine said like triple zeros after it So I was like okay like uh with this pet
Drop Like It's amazing Um but but like then you start to feel Like you know these 2750 2800 guys like They put so much pressure and like just To be able to defend that position for So long and after five five six hours Like that's probably the best game I've Ever played in my life even I mean not Just not like from an objective Standpoint but just like I mean like it's hard to describe like When you're like sitting across the Board from this guy like it's just so so Intense Um it's like the most difficult game I've ever played Um and I was definitely lost at some Point or like several points Um but yeah even just to hold that like I don't know after the game I felt so Tired I like I couldn't even like move Or anything like I just laid in my bed For a few hours I had this like minor Headache oh it was just such a such a Tough game and yeah I was very glad that I managed to hold that this is when you Play against Fabiana this is what Happens actually yes but I'm so Surprised and even kind of shocked that You didn't pick up the game against Levon but we picked this game yes it Also shows something let's say about the Way you think right yeah it was a good Game against Lavon but yeah again like
Going into the tournament Um I had like four players which like I Was just trying to hold against and like You know like Fabiano Um Lavon Wesley and Dominguez and I felt Yeah against Levon like basically I Played this very solid line and he could Have forced to draw but Um yeah okay he he over pushed basically Or he really felt like he wanted to get A game so I don't feel like it's as much Of an achievement from my part just Because I don't know he like Yeah it was it was kind of a surprise to Win this game Um but against Fabiano like just Yeah I just felt so so tired after this Game like yeah it's probably really one Of the best games I've ever played okay Great thank you so much absolutely once Again our congratulations uh to you Under very very nice result indeed let's Jump uh immediately to the game of Ray Rob
