Alexandra Kosteniuk: Nothing is over until it’s actually over

Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia) won the match against Ni Shiqun (China) and gave an interview to Eteri Kublashvili.

– Alexandra, how was your encounter with this Chinese player Ni Shiqun?

–  It was quite tense actually. In the second game of the classical part, I have already said goodbye to this Championship because I missed 39.b4, and after 39…d5 the endgame that appeared was very unpleasant. And I was so disappointed because there was so drastic change from an absolutely equal position to an unpleasant one that I made a few more inaccurate moves. Then I was on the verge of losing but somehow I managed to survive. So the day of tie-breaks was already good for me because I was still in the game, and it is a good sign in knock-out championships when you still fight. Nothing is over until it’s actually over. So today it was a bit easier for me because I got a very pleasant position with White – we continued our theoretical battle in the Petrov Defense – and I managed to outplay her. In the second game, I was completely dominating but somehow on seconds I gave her some counter chances but I managed to find a very nice trick. All in all, it was a very tense and interesting match.

– Do you know your next rival?

– I’m playing with Harika.

– What is the history of your matches with her?

– I don’t have a very good history. But every game is a new game so we’ll see how it goes.