 Good evening everyone and welcome to the second masterclass of the 17th Gibraltar International Chess Festival And here with me tonight to give the class is Sara Sara Sara Catamel Chariot from Iran who's having a fantastic event So tell us about your tournament here so far. Well, first of all, I'm very happy to be back again I remember two years ago. We also had a masterclass with my friend Otusa. That's right Yeah, and I'm very happy to be back here, but yeah, so far my tournament has been going on very well and I think I did more than I expected so I'm quite happy with my results But in general your form has been fantastic in recent months. Yeah, I can say last year. I didn't have a good year I lost probably around like 50 rating points, but In my previous tournaments, I got it back somehow. So now I'm having my best Rating you're up to something like 24 98. Is that right? 94 I think Well number 12 something like this. Yeah, yeah, unbelievable. I mean fantastic. Thank you You also did really well. We can talk about this later Maybe but you did fantastically well in St. Petersburg Sara won two silver medals and a gold medal Yeah, yeah in the women's blitz the women's rapid These are the world championships and the combined you got the gold Well, actually that tournament is one of my favorites because I really like their rapid chess I mean, it's more fun. I think compared to the standard tournaments, but We missed the previous one because it was in Saudi Arabia So we couldn't play because of the visa but this year I tried my best to play there and actually it went out very well Okay, so you're in great form. We don't know yet who you're playing tomorrow because I think there's still some games Yeah, I think so So it's a bit early for the pairings, but anyway three and a half out of four now You've chosen a game from this tournament to show us. Yeah, first. I wanted to show a game from the Bundesliga that I recently played I Played with Kostin you she was actually one of my idols when I started playing chess So it was very interesting for me that I could beat her So first I wanted to show that game But I think the games from this tournament are more fresh and I like them more So I decided to show one of the games. Is that the first time you've beaten Alexander in a classical game? Yeah, yeah, right another great result. Thank you So here we are so tell us about You're playing Alexander don't shank her. Well, yeah here. It was round three. So I was on two out of two This is yesterday's game. Yeah, I got double white like So here I played with him. He's I guess a very strong player from Germany is very young So, yes, he's been here many times Alexander and this is told So I always start with D4 and Before the game I saw he played some Ben Oni. So I was kind of prepared for that, but It actually got into Which in fact you heard you heard about it, right? Yeah, yeah, it happened in the game So C5 here and it goes to Ben Oni Your name was preparation. How much what you can tell us as you go ahead in the game. Yeah, sure. Yeah No, I didn't really Prepare a lot. I just wanted to get some games. So I'm a bit lazy to work on theory. So I just decided to play night D2. I think it's more Like a position that I can play on board. So I decided to go for that. All right So the idea is simple to play E4 like we usually do and Ben Oni so I think till here is the main position of the opening and A4 is one of the moves that is played It's actually useful move to prevent A6 B5. It doesn't matter if black plays A6 or not So and also the white rook sometimes come to A3. Yeah, right. It happened later in the game So here in this moment, I saw some games of I think it was 3F's game that he played night D B1. Wow, it's a strange looking move. Yeah, it's very strange but it's quite interesting because the knight goes to A3 later and Also, it has some plans to play with F4 and then when knight comes to G4 E3 squares. Right. Yeah, so you can play H3 later So it's interesting move, but I didn't remember exactly because I had to prepare for other lines So I just decided not to go for this one because it looks like a computer move Yeah, sure. I think computer is quite happy here with white's position But I was not really sure what was going on So I just decided to play with the more natural move, Queen C2. So here Yeah, I went with this idea, which was I don't know maybe not the best here Maybe RQ1 was a better move Because I think after Bg4, black is getting what he wants from Benoni I don't know. I don't see any advantage for myself here. Tell us why Bg4 is so good I mean if you play F3 F3 then Bg7 goes to D7 Then black has some ideas to play knight H5 So I don't really... I mean, it's a bit weakening. I was not really happy with this So I just decided to take on G4 And here I think black is doing fine Looks like an equal position. I mean, I'm not worse, but I'm not getting something with white I wonder if something strange like knight H6 was possible with F5. Last move. A bit too strange maybe But maybe now I can go with F4 and knight c4 later on Yeah, that's extra So maybe black is not in time for doing this So here he went knight F6 And here we can... You played A5, yeah? Yeah, I played A5 Because here I could not see any ideas. I thought I can just play A5 and if the queen moves I can play knight A4 as I played in the game And A5 is... I mean, one of the moves that is always played in Benoni I mean most of the times to stop the B5 idea. So I thought it's quite useful Right So he played queen E7 You didn't mind B5, no? If he played B5 last move you have the better spawn structure Yeah, I think so because after B5 I can take if the queen takes, for example Still here maybe I can go F4 If check I can just move the king, so I don't know And if knight d3 you didn't take it, yeah But I mean last move, I mean last move Before c4 check Before c4 check? Probably just a blunder Yeah, knight d3, I will play knight c4 here Knight b4 Hey I can take maybe and then I can take, take, take You can take And then knight c7 No, but I might get myself stuck here Yeah, maybe, I don't know No idea, yeah But the Benoni is that kind of opening The Benoni is some ridiculous variations often Yeah So here I played knight a4 with the idea to play knight b6 and he played knight ed7 And here I didn't find anything better than just repeating the moves Okay, so what would you have repeated if you had to come back with knight c5 What do you say? Yeah, I think here it's just completely equal I don't have anything to try for So I was okay with the draw here Because this pawn is hanging So if I go, for example, I don't have rook e1 because he can take on d5 Of course, yeah And if f3 you don't like, that's horrible f3, you know Yeah, f3 is not a good move And if, for example, rook e3 to defend Then maybe just bishop a6, I don't know Then if f4 knight d5 again So here I thought I have to just And if you don't play knight a4 What is here? Is there anything else you could do for white instead of knight a4? Yeah, it's this position so Rook e1 or something, I don't know Yeah, but he always can play this idea with c4 and knight d3 So I think black is doing fine here So I was happy with, I mean repetition But he wanted to play on because he was higher rated So maybe he thought he had something So we repeated here and here he played rook c8 I played knight c4 which is I think normal So here I improved my position a bit compared to the other one My knight is on b6 So I think now I'm doing a bit better maybe So here I played bishop g5 because Actually this morning Serret, sorry to interrupt With Lyoncio Garcia, we do a little thing in Spanish every morning We do like a 10 minute, 15 minute slot in Spanish And he chose this game as one of his two games I started to recognize it from this position And according, I think he probably looked with the program or something With an engine and he felt that rook c7 wasn't the right square for the rook Yeah, sure Is that correct? Can you tell us about that? Yeah, because after rook c7 this rook is just stuck here So maybe rook d8 was a better move Yeah, probably, I didn't think of this during the game but I think it's right So here I played bishop g5 with the idea that Okay, I want to have some f4 ideas So here he played h6 which is I think normal reaction to bishop g5 But here I could take on f6, I missed that And if queen takes for example, I go f4 and then e5 is coming It's just much better for white Well, let's have a look, all right But I didn't see it, so I go e5 here, it takes Oh, because of d6 at some point? Yeah, then d6, I think here it was f5 something like that I didn't check it with computer actually But it was showing plus 2 or something Really? Really big advantage? Yeah, but it didn't look to me like a big advantage Yeah, actually after an a4 queen f5 is not possible because of g4 We're in the queen? Yeah, so queen d8 is the only move and then maybe d6 rook here and then something like f5 Yeah, so I didn't think of this at all And if black took on f6 with this bishop, would it be the same? Instead of the queen? So here it's fine because after, sorry I will show that, but after e5 computer shows 95 as the best move Really? It's the best move? Yeah, well So here I guess it's going to be very similar Yeah, it should be Bishop takes, yeah Yep Or maybe even 94 here is that possible? Perhaps So I think d6, yeah That might be strong move, 94, what does black play? Now we see why the rook will be better on d8 Yeah, sure Then c7 Yeah, that's probably the key move, 94, yeah Very strong So here I just didn't think of bishop f6 because it's, I mean if you don't see this idea then It's a non-natural move, isn't it? Yeah, it's not a natural move So I just played quickly bishop h4 but I was really surprised after the game to see this When you checked it, yeah So here he wanted some counter play Sometimes they lose this c-pound to get some counter play on c-file But I don't think it was a good decision Plus he could play g5, right? g5 and then knight h5 or something? No, but g5 and knight h5, I thought I could go knight e2 Oh, okay And f5 square is weak, so I thought I was doing quite fine here Well, okay, so I'll just go back there, sir Let's use f5, knight e2, of course black doesn't take on g3 Yeah, sure But knight g6 maybe or I don't know Is that possible? Knight g6? Knight g6 maybe I can go knight c4 also Can I take on e4 or maybe I don't know if I can, I'm not sure if I can Yeah, you can because both knights are hanging, yeah But also g5 is typical, but no any move, isn't it? Yeah, it is, yeah I know we can say f5 Yeah, but usually they played when the bishop is there Right, without having exchanged, yes Yeah, but maybe rook e3 But still, yeah, black gets some play maybe knight f4, for example Or bishop d4 also Bishop d4, bishop d5, I didn't know there's some Anyway, it looks Yeah, it looks better than Yeah, maybe that's the Oh, you could play bishop b2 after knight h5 and you don't have to play knight e2 maybe Yeah, sure But he played c4 Yeah, here he played c4 And I want to play f4 and take the pawn Rook e4 for us, right? I don't see any defense for that Any defense? Do you get nervous during games, by the way, in the middle games? Not really, I mean I just try to enjoy the games here So sometimes when I get better positions, like today's game, when I was playing with Aronia And I got really nervous because I was having a good position And somehow I just missed something So I got nervous because I thought I missed my chance, but later on I managed to defend that Have you ever worn one of these heart monitors you know that we're using here in some of the games? No, I didn't, I really wanted to try it on, yeah Okay, you heard that Wear a heart, yeah, maybe tomorrow Yeah, sure Oh, that's great, okay Sorry, so where were we? So you played rook e4 Yeah, so here he didn't, I don't know, I didn't see anything for him because I will take this sooner or later, yeah So he just decided to give it immediately, which was a bit strange to me So I took it with the knight And here knight c5 is not possible because of e5 And again this d6 move? Yeah, this e5 idea was just so annoying the whole game So here he played rook ec8 Okay And here probably I should have gone queen e2 to defend my knight And probably I don't see any compensation for black, I don't know You have bishop g3 coming, don't you as well? Yeah, d6 is a bit weak, I have always this e5 idea and I have some scores here So it doesn't look to me like a compensation So here I played knight b6 move, which I don't think it's very accurate to play Because I give black some play So here I play f4 with the same idea to play e5 And here what he should have done is rook c4 Oh I thought you were going to say rook b5 when you went to play on the rook Yeah, rook b5 is that possible? Rook b5, I thought of that, but I thought of queen f2 during the game And now I have, now I want to take the rook And for example if the rook moves to here, then I can go e5 Oh dear Yeah, so here, maybe he played rook c5 to play this, but he saw it later on, I don't know But here he played a mistake, he played rook e8 You see, still he could have maybe played g5, the move before you played f4 Oh I have to go back now Yeah, he didn't have time for that He didn't have time Yeah You mean here maybe, yeah Yeah, but here it's not possible It's not possible It's too late for that That's right, yeah Yeah Okay So this is a blunder, I play e5 anyways Like he's doing everything to stop e5 and still it's working So now I have this double attack Oh this is right, I remember this moment when Yonsha showed the game Queen f2 So here he thought for a long time and probably, because it's just winning for white, maybe he wanted to resign here, but he decided to play some moves Bishop g5, yeah It's a tricky move, but here I mean I can just take on f7, king goes here and rook e4, it's just over Is this the game? No, this is not the game It's not the game, right, yeah It's over Yeah, I did something that I was very upset about, I mean still it was winning, but Were you in time for trouble? No, I was, I had like No, I wonder why you're here I don't know, I just, I will show you what I missed I played rook e4 here and I thought okay, bishop e3 I will just take, I didn't calculate Rook takes c3, oh okay, this is a nice trick, this is a nice move, bishop e3 Yeah Very nice But here, luckily I had this idea to play queen f2 Still it's winning for me But I don't know if I didn't have this move, it wouldn't be so easy It's a strange tactic for black, bishop e3 and then rook takes c3 So now everything is hanging, but yeah So he has to take the rook, I take check And here I take, and I think rook is 7 Here, I mean still white is winning because I'm taking on b7, so he played this move And here I wanted to make the decision to play queen f8, king h7, rook f7, which I played it But it took me a bit long to calculate Right, right I just wanted to be sure about this Yeah, of course This is move 39 as well, you're just coming up to the first time for sure So here, rook f7, I think this is just winning D6, yeah Yeah, here maybe he has to go queen So if queen e1 check, oh that's what happened in the game Yeah, queen e1 check Of course Here maybe he has to go queen e8 Still it's winning, I have to give a check, king h7 is not possible because of queen e7, king g8 And then I go c4, probably later I can play queen e7 with the idea to c5, c6 Yeah, it's clearly winning isn't it Yeah, but here he took on c3, so with checks I can force him to exchange queens Very nice And queen e7 check Yeah queen is, he can't prevent that Very clean win, I would say After he played c4, well after black's place, probably that was the mistake, c5 I mean if I had played queen f7, I would have been so happy with my game but playing rook e4 was a bit upset, I mean it could go wrong It could have done, yeah, but okay If I didn't have queen f2, it could have gone wrong I mean against the strong young, 2,600 plus player Yeah, of course, I was happy with my game So Sarah, tell me a little bit about, maybe we have time to look at another game as well I'll pause another game A little bit about your status, if you like, your celebrity in Iran Because you're a very famous sportswoman, I suppose, you mean celebrity, you know People follow your career, they follow your games People usually, I mean before they didn't really follow chess But I can say nowadays they follow chess more than before So we are kind of, I can say known in Iran But it's also because of our boys which are doing fantastic Yeah, also we are not doing a bad job in, so I think You're organizing lots of events Yeah, that's true, we had the world championship And before that we had the Fide Grand Prix Which was for the first time So they're doing what all they can to promote chess and it's working Do people stop you in the streets and ask for your autograph? I'm more known with my name, not by my face So when usually they hear my name they would recognize me But with my face, I don't know why, they don't remember And also this event for example, actually I was sure They are operative from Iran as well here for the first time And she said that many or if not all newspapers in Iran Will be covering your results in this event Yeah, that's true, I mean even in the San Peters book For example, as you mentioned before when I got medals It was also on some front pages which was very important to me Because they pay a lot of attention to chess now So being on the newspapers front page I mean as a chess player is something I think very important What about in magazines or on TV or radio, this kind of the media Yeah, we were also invited to some national TV programs But we also went there When you say we, you mean the national team or? With the federations president also sometimes our boys get invited Sometimes I do, so yeah, I mean as chess players I say we I know that Ivan Sokolov is now coaching a lot of time in Iran And he's spending a lot of time more with the men Or also coaching you, how does that work? When he started working with our team he started with men But also for the women world championship he was helping our team as well But we also had a coach Mirosh Nichenko I think wherever he is with me in tournaments I do well So I should thank him from here Of course And also Matthew Kornet I believe was one of your coaches or? He's my only private coach He was or he still is? He still is Right, okay Yeah, we started working one year ago where I didn't have a good result I told you, I mean I was doing so bad but I think he helped me a lot Maybe when we started it didn't work that well It wasn't his fault, you did badly No, no, it's my fault No, I mean when we started I was not in a good mood But I can say my shape was so bad but now I think he helped me a lot So Matthew comes to Iran sometimes? Or you do it online? Is it online? No, we do it online but I really hope to have him in Iran as well Because I think he will like it and working in person is quite different than working I mean apart, yeah So these coaching opportunities are obviously funded I mean they're funded by the Federation No, the private coach is not But I mean I don't mind when I get some prizes in chess tournaments I don't mind spending it on chess because that's what matters to me I want to improve so it doesn't matter if I don't get the fund as well I'd like to spend it all I have on chess Tell us also and then we'll look at another game please That I know you were married not too long ago Tell us about that You know? Yeah, it was two months ago so we've been together for two years And he's very supportive, yeah He's here, I think he's live on Instagram there I can see it Lovely Yeah, so he's very supportive I can say I'm very lucky to have him Because putting all his work aside and coming here with me And not only in this tournament in most of the tournaments It's And tell us about his work, your husband's career He studied film production Yeah, he's I think more famous than I am in the audience So he studied film production If you win to Rosa you'll be more famous than him And he worked in that field like he had one TV show Which got the award for the best program of the year Really? As producer? No, he was the host there A host? Yeah, he was having some interviews with the celebrities So Is that how you met? We did interview you on the show No, actually I was I mean with my previous coach Robin van Kempen He was in Iran so I was showing him around And we accidentally meet on the street And before that we knew each other from Instagram I mean we were both known so we knew each other But we never talked So famous people meeting So then he invited me to one of his friends' concert So I went with Robin because I thought it would be interesting for him And that was where we met for the first time It started from then And you had a very nice honeymoon in the Maldives Yeah, it was before the St. Petersburg So I think it was the best preparation And then you got two tables in a row Fantastic Okay, we'll maybe have a little chat after this And maybe take some questions from the audience Or from online If you're watching online and you'd like to ask Sarah a question Sarah, you're at the end of the show Yeah, sure If you still have the energy for it Of course If you take questions from the audience watching So I have one more game Yeah, please do Of the second round But it's a very long game So maybe I could show some parts of it Absolutely, as you like Yeah This is against Jules Moussard One of our French friends Similar rating Almost exactly the same rating as Alexander today I didn't really want to play with him Because he's also one of my friends But it's- And what he says, you play chess You play your friends, it's okay Yeah, I know But I'm a bit emotional I don't really like to play with my friends But still So So He always wants to play chess So he doesn't really care about the openings, I guess So we played this Which transferred to Dutch Here In a great Dutch Yeah And again, as I said, I don't like to work on theories here I knew some idea from One of our coaches, Aloisa Skvenis Which he passed away Oh, that's why it's here So I would be able to say But I've used this idea many times in my games With U3 Was he- Again, I have to ask, was he coming to Iran? Or was- Yeah, he was working with the national team So he was- When I got into the national team, I was 12 years old And we were working with him for three years So it was really heartbreaking for me to hear the news Oh, yes, yes I was actually playing in Ancient Nations Cup then When I heard it He was quite young, wasn't he? Yeah, he was B3, yes, okay So the idea is to play, of course, Bishop b2 And then knight d2, rook e1 with the idea to If black plays e5, we play e4 So that's how we react For example, if knight d7 here Go knight d2 And for example, queen e8, rook e1 e5 and then maybe directly maybe taking then e4 So this is the idea Yeah But in the game, he went c6 I used to play the Leningrad judge for black Really? Lost some bad games It's like the Bernonis, one of those openings that can easily go wrong Yeah, that's true So a5 here, maybe I should have played c4 And in case of a4, I can go b4 But I just didn't want to react to it So I played rook e1 Maybe it wasn't so good Because now a4 gives black a bit of a counter play But he didn't play a4, he takes 6 So I played a3 too If a4 I can go b4 maybe Because here, for example, b5 is not a good move Because c6 would be weak So then I can go c4 And I think white is doing okay And also stop his knight coming to b4 Yeah, that's true When you go e4, bishop f5 or something So he stops e4, knight e4 Yeah, knight e4 But knight e4 is not a very big deal here, I think Because I go c4, queen c2 And then d5, again, is not a good move So he has to probably exchange the knight later on Here he went queen b6 with the idea to take a pawn Now if I don't defend it, he will take And if I take with the knight d4, he's hanging If I take with the queen b3, he's hanging So I had to go e3 And that's why queen b6 is not such a good move Because now knight c5, for example, is not possible Because I take and I attack the queen So here he saw that his queen on b6 wasn't really useful So he took here and played queen c7 Here I went b4 anyways because of the pin here So I think white is better in this position So b5 And here I found I think it was a nice idea to play c5 So if black takes here, I can give a check and then take on b5 I think I'm doing fine here Well, you have full developments in black's pieces So here he took c5 Check was also a good move After queen f7, I made a mistake I could have taken an e5 But I didn't see this idea That after c4, I have knight c5 And b7 is hanging But now still Would you mean b7 is hanging, sorry Like if it takes on, I can take on b7 I thought after c4, I will lose a pawn But I didn't see knight c5 here So I think I could take here Black's pieces were also having some difficulties to get out So here I made a mistake I took on c6 And after e4, black is back in the game So here what I wanted to show was this position Where we got into endgame So here he made one I think it was interesting He played bishop f8 to try a bit He didn't exchange Again, like the Don Schenker game Did you feel that your pawn, Jules, was trying to play for wind from an equal position? He was trying for wind A little bit too hard maybe Yeah, because here I don't think black has anything to play for But yeah, he tried to win here And I will go quickly to the So we exchanged And here we played this position for a long time Yeah, it's very cool So I will just go to this position Because it kept going, we just played on And I think special Oh, I saw him showing this game in the bar I think, or some of the, what the mistake was So here after h5 probably Here I could get a bit better by playing rook c7 And rook b8 probably Right I give a check here If I move the bishop, then he can take on b5 And I would lose a piece But I can go rook a7 And white is a bit better I mean, he should, he's the one who should try for equality here Right What should he play in fact here? I don't know, I was a bit afraid If he can get something afterwards For example, to take here later on And then I don't This past April Yeah But it was, I mean, I shouldn't have been afraid of that So I just decided to wait And here it's completely equal, I can say So we repeated again Nobody offered a draw? No Just by repeating, but not as he offering a draw No, I mean, I knew he was trying to win Because he is not a person who likes to go for a draw So here he made a blunder He played bishop b3 And I take a pawn like this Because of h4 and a5 hanging So we got into one interesting end game This one And here what I'm not happy with myself Is the decision I made, I played king g3 Which is very unusual Because I should bring the king to this side Right Because it's very obvious that if I go king g3 Then my king can stuck here And I don't really have anything by coming to h4 Should you be playing bishop e2, king f1 and bishop e2 At some point Yeah, later, but I mean now he can't But I can't go After king f1, I mean, if you played king f1 Yeah, I can go king Okay, I played some moves I played king g3 And I got stuck here for a bit But he could wait on this diagonal And it would be equal, I think He could hold this Yeah He could still hold this Yeah, he could hold this Because of the mistake I made by playing king g3 Because you can't play bishop b5 You're too slow, yeah? So I just realized my mistake I came back with the king So I will show you the winning plan So now I just... The plan is to push h4 of course And then at some point you come back with the king And play bishop e2 in the right moment And then h5 So if the king... It feels like it should be winning You've got an extra... Yeah, this is winning I mean, now it's winning, yeah, yeah Yeah, he should keep the bishop on e2 On e2, right? Yeah, so I couldn't come with my king And here I mean, we just had to play some moves Because I was not sure about my plan But I found it later on You were torturing him Yeah So here it's not possible to exchange Because he's in time to come with the king He can just take and then come here So I was not in time Right So here if he goes with the king to, for example, f6 I go bishop e2, bishop e8, I go bishop d1 And then I push And I come with my king to take this pawn So... Right So he went king... Oh, sorry That's a long game Yeah, no, I just showed this part Because it's very interesting, I think So here I managed to get this pawn But the position I want to show you is this one Because we got into this position And now if I don't play the move I played He wants to take an a4 And then take with the king on... And then it's just equal For example, if I play any move it would be just equal So I found this h5 idea It's the only winning move Is it? Yeah Takes and then king b6 So here he can't stop this Because I always have the plan to play Bishop b5, bishop c6 And he doesn't... He's not in time to come Oh, bishop b6, bishop b7 Yeah Is this a theoretical win? Yeah, it is So here you just... He didn't have time because he's king to d6 Yeah, yeah Yeah, that was the point But also I think if he comes to d6 It should be winning for me Like here If he comes here I come here For example If I don't play bishop c6 And bishop f3 Maybe I have this idea to play bishop f5 I mean, if I'm in time I can play bishop f5, bishop c8 And then come from there You can play a6 first, bishop b7 Yeah, also a6 to b7 So it doesn't matter if he controls this Must be a theoretical win Yeah, yeah Yeah, I think what he should do is If he's in time he can put the king on b4 And then play bishop c8 at some point And then I can't improve Because in our game when he... When if he comes bishop c8 here I'm in time to play king c7 But if the king is on b4 then I don't have that So probably that's the only defense here Okay, so those are two strong grandmasters I mean 2600 plus young players To pretty convincing wins, no? Spend it to the first one we saw And today you played last year's winner, Levon Aronian Without showing us, but how does it feel to have drawn with him? Well, when I saw... You had a better position you said You had the advantage at some point No, no, I didn't have advantage But I mean, when I saw the pairings I think I was with you So I was very happy because I thought whatever happens to the game I would just enjoy it Because we don't really get the chance to play with such kind of players in other tournaments So I was really happy about my pairing And I thought I would just try my best And at some point it was... And you had black Yeah, I had black I was happy with my position in the middle game But then I just blundered a pawn So I was thinking to myself that I just missed the chance Of making it draw with Levon Aronian So I was a bit upset with myself But then I managed to defend it Anyway, fantastic, yeah Thank you And your first round game here, was an easy win? No, actually it wasn't so easy I was playing a guy from Madagascar Oh yeah, shoot out, yeah And that game was also I think equal at some point But he made some mistakes so I managed to win in the end But it wasn't so easy Tell me about a little bit about your trip here I know you had an unforced one Something bad happened with your trip You want to tell us quickly about that? What happened on your trip here? Something happened that I've never seen before This is really a sad and amazing story Yeah, my husband's luggage got stolen at the airport Tell us about what happened today Yeah, first day when we arrived my baggage came So I was quite happy and then we saw that his didn't come Which was your route? You went from Tehran to? Tehran to Vienna To Vienna to Malaga Okay, right And we thought it was delayed And it's a normal thing When you have some connection flight Sometimes it happens that it comes after two, three days So we waited a bit And nobody was answering from the airport So they were saying they were searching for it They didn't know if it had arrived to Malaga or not But I mean it has been five days So he decided to go to the airport himself And he went to the police and they checked the cameras And some guy stole the baggage Unbelievable Yeah And they don't know who this guy is Or anything, no? Well, you'll do it about it His face was clear But I don't know, I hope they find it Right Well, I hope you can still play it Whether it's done, what's done is done When it sits Maybe get some compensation or something I don't know what will happen That's one thing, okay Very unlucky Then also tell us about backgammon Because this is also interesting for me Because that's maybe some people watching know We do, and certainly Martin I know you know this Here in the hotel we do have a backgammon festival Been going for three or four years now Following the chess, a few days after the chess Three or four days afterwards we move into backgammon And I believe your husband Well, you also play backgammon, right? No, I don't know how to play backgammon But in Iran I think we have more fans of backgammon than chess Like not professionally doing it But as a hobby you can see it in most of the families That they play since they're young For example, my husband is playing since he's five So that's what they do when they at family meetings They usually play backgammon So when you said that there was a tournament here I think he's still thinking about it How does he think of it? Yeah, to attend the tournament And I think it would be very interesting How about if you win that you brought a chess festival And your husband wins that you brought a backgammon festival I mean that might be unbelievable, you know Yeah, that's true Okay, I don't want to have high expectations in this tournament Because it will make me have more pressure So I just want to Enjoy it day by day I don't really think about the result Who in our studio audience has a question for Serna? Any questions on the games that you're showing or anything else has come up? Or maybe online? We'll have some questions And what are your plans after? What, we have a question? No, Chefs? Can you speak to the microphone? At the back? At the back? I can't hear you And then you come up here, I don't have to How do you need to come up here, sir? Thank you A question from a member of our audience So we can hear the people at home can hear Thank you How did Sara get interested in the game of chess in the first place? That's a very good question Well, I was eight years old And nobody in my family played chess So one of my classmates was a chess player And she told me about the tournaments and all So I got interested I went to the chess academy in Tehran And I can say I started professionally from the start Like I was not playing at home or anything I didn't even know the rules But I started in an academy Thank you Thank you And sorry, I was falling on from that question As you went through school and your chess studies Was it like a chess school or a chess academy? Did that mean you didn't have a normal, normal? No, like I had some classes there No, it was not a school It was like after school, was it? Yeah, it was after school Actually, the guy who run the chess academy He was the first international master in Iran And he used to be our coach for a long time I think most of the players owe a lot to him Because he helped us a lot He was playing in the interzones before What was his, what's his name? Harandi Oh, I've heard of him Yeah, but unfortunately he just passed away a few months ago Like one month ago So I should also thank, I mean, I think I owe a lot to him Right, yeah, yeah Let me ask you, is Iran, I know you're going to say yes Iran is changing in many ways as far as we know Yeah, that's true Also for women particularly Can you tell us something about that? Yeah, I think so Because we are having more opportunities to play everywhere To take part in, I mean, in important events And I think generally everything is changing So we're hoping for the best You have another question? Question from the chat Is, do you have a favorite chess player of all time? Good question Of all time? I think Kasparov is, I mean, he has been my legend for a long time But from the players, now I can say Magnus I have a question I did an interview about a year ago with your former countryman, Doris Adorek Shani She claimed that she was able to read at the age of one and a half And there's also a cute video of her on national TV in Iran Singing at the age of like five or six So do you have any hidden talents that we don't know about? No, actually not Because, I mean, when I was younger, I just tried some things apart from school It was, I used to play guitar, which I don't remember now And I used to play tennis, which, I mean, I can't do it now But I can say when I started chess, I just put everything aside So it was chess the whole time Nobody in your family plays? Your parents? You have brothers and sisters? No, but they all follow my games And for example, Ardeshir, he loves chess 24 because he can see it goes up and down Evaluation, no? Yeah, he doesn't like to see the moves But he likes chess 24 because it's easier for him to follow my games Okay, nice Please, sir Another one from the chat, what do you think of Alireza and Parham And their chances to become a super GM? Well, I think we have many good players now Alireza, Parham, Muhammad Amin, and Puyya, I think they are so young And about Alireza, I think everybody knows that he's very talented But Parham is also working a lot and he improved so fast I think both of them have the potential to be in the top 10 in the future But it depends on the support they get if they are in the right direction I think they can easily do it Interesting So some of the events that we cover, we ask people like Hikaru and Maxim and Magnus What they would do with the 100 grand that they just won And of course they give very boring answers because they don't need the money But if you win the top women's prize, you could win the top prize overall Let's just stick with the top women's prize That's 15,000 pounds, something close to 20,000 US dollars You're still quite young, is that like a life-changing amount and what would you do with it? I think I would just spend it on chess Actually in St. Petersburg, I got a lot of prize because it was almost 70,000 But still I would try to use it on chess to improve more I mean, I don't think about the money How much have you spent so far on that 70,000? I haven't received it yet My honest answer You haven't received it yet? No, yes It's just three day events, come on, what is this? Yeah, because we have some problems because of the sanctions Our banks are blocked, so it has to go So if you had to spend quite a bit of money on getting training by like a really famous player Who would you like to receive some training from? Well, that's a good question Because right now I'm very happy with my coach, Matio Kornet Just for one night You don't have to answer that No, I think because far off just, yeah You're obviously very ambitious You've set your sights on just improving and you'd love to be a women's world champion and maybe more, I mean just What does it go from here? What are your plans for the next three, six months? I mean And how do you project that forward? I remember even two years ago when I got this question in this massive Yeah, I wanted to be in the top 10 and now I'm very close to it I had one year that I played so bad but I think I made it okay this year so I'm like 12 now I think First I want to get into top 10 and I don't know, I just want to see what happens next I don't really want Because for me after the Grand Prix I had a lot of expectations from myself and I think that was the reason why I didn't play good in the next events because after the World Championship I felt so stressful during the game You got knocked out early on there Yeah, I don't really want to feel that again so I just want to see what happens next in my tournaments Right Yeah, yeah Do you have any other hobbies? I mean you're not studying chess 24 hours a day you must be doing Is there anything else you love doing? Actually if I tell you I'm not working at all I'm not lying But nowadays I just play in many tournaments so I don't really get to do anything much but I don't know, I'll see what happens You've traveled a lot there You've been to I don't know, 30 more countries now I think so, yeah If we get some time we would like to have some vacations for example in summer when I had some free time we went to Russia for the FIFA World Cup and then we had some free time we went to our honeymoon so You've been to Venice, you told me Yeah With your husband, yeah, you had a nice time Yeah, it was great Any final questions or anything else from the audience or online? No, a little bit quiet tonight, the audience Mike? Right, it's a rise by the play I would guess So, okay well So anything else you'd like to share with us before we wrap up? No, just thank you for organizing this event it's one of my favorites and I think it's very great to be here What did you like? You like it being tough, you like playing I mean you like playing the chance to play somewhere I live on today It's my fourth time here and I think everything also I mean not only chess also the side events that you have for example the Battle of the Sexes that we have tomorrow Let's finish with that, yeah So it's very interesting I mean for the audience for the chess lovers for the players it makes it I mean wonderful to be here So You're going to play in the battle tomorrow? Yeah Yeah, good, we look forward to watching that Yeah, me too And Sarah, thank you very much Thank you Thank you Thank you