 Okay, good evening ladies and gentlemen, we're going to start this show. It's a brand new event for us, it's a Q&A, Jim Church, you can see a question and answers with our special panel of guests. In the middle, Simon Williams is going to be in this for us. Simon, what's up, let's go! Welcome to what is a very exciting night, it's the first time we've done this, and it's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be a lot of fun, and what we're doing is question and answer. Okay, maybe you can hear me now, that probably helps. So what we're doing is question and answer, and I'm going to introduce the panel. So I'm supposed to be in control of these guys, we'll see how it goes, we'll have some good questions, we'll start on the left. So we have Mr. Handsome over here, David Howe, Grand Marshal David Howe, and of course a David. So from England of course, and we have the lovely Lizzie. Hello Lizzie! And on the right, we have Shimi from Mongolia. And last but not least, we have Neil. So good stuff. Okay, so we're going to kick it off, I'm going to ask the first question, and then we're going to take questions from the crowd. So the first question is going to go to Shimi. Sorry about that. But the first question is, if you weren't a professional chess player, what would you be? I had you to make a case there. Is it working? Since I was kid, I really loved cooking. Like when I was five years old, I watched all these cooking shows and tried to make my own food all the time. So I believe if I wasn't a professional chess player, I would be a professional chef, you know. I think I have a talent in that. And I know Neil here, I've heard you sing a meal at this tournament. Would you be a singer if you were a chess player? Right, we might need the mic again, so we'll get it over here. And now, what we're going to do is a combination of serious and fun. So now we need a bit of a fun question, and, well, this guy's already smiling. Yeah, we're going to have to go for David. So, David, the glitter is a very good hotel, lovely hotel, but in case the game was not working, and you were stuck in the lift with a chess player, who would it be? I'll give you the microphone, just in case. Who would it be? Is this on? Are you throwing me into the deep end? Sorry. You didn't want me to ask this question, but I still can't decide. I mean, if I were in a friendly mood, then... We have to cheer up Ruben here. What about Brian, who owns that hotel? Sorry, Brian. It might be the other student, actually. He speaks four languages, he can teach me. If I was feeling in a different mood, maybe a more romantic mood, then... Definitely not a student. There might be someone there, she knows that she is. So, if you're non-romantic, it'd be stupid. And if you were romantic, it might be stupid, but you're not really sure. Lizzie, I'm going to have to ask you the same question. Well, because... Lizzie, it's a lift, you're stuck in a lift. Who's it going to be? Okay, if it was for entertaining, I would definitely go for an ice and short. Ice and short? Ice and short? So, you'd be stuck in a lift and ice and short? Okay. Okay. How long would you be stuck in a lift and ice and short? I thought it was that far. Forever? Okay, we need another question. Okay, now, another great thing. We have two lovely people in the audience who stand up. We have Tanya and Stuart, who are road news reporters. So, Tanya and Stuart, do you have any questions? Tanya, do you have a question from the crowd? Yes, we have one from our online audience and it is for all of you. Has any of you ever showed up to a game smashed? Simon, maybe this is for you as well. I obviously can't answer these questions. And me, but I have to ask you this now. Okay, good. Well, let's go around the table. Okay, is it going to get worse this way? Let's see. Lizzie? I don't remember. Great answer. Great answer. I love that answer. Okay. And David, last but not least. I have to push you on this one. I have to push you. I actually play better when I'm playing. I don't think so much. I don't worry about it. Well, we are true professionals here. And of course, we don't drink much. We drink water. So we'll take another question from our Roman reporter. So I think this side, let's go to Stuart. Stuart, do you have a good question? Okay, well, I'm not sure if you have another question. Who's the next one? Okay, this is probably one for you and me. I like to put it on the spot here. I'm not sure who submitted this question. Somebody on mine, I think. If you were Fide President, what's the first thing that you would do as Fide President? First. You don't expect me to see the result. Wow, you can say what you want. No, when you don't see Cardinal, this old guy's wasn't in court for 27 years. Is it Fide President or is it Dark Building here? But immediately, you have your own organisation. So, right, what changes should we make? Really, through chess in general, I think. Well, it's getting serious. But I think, in general, we need a better image of the chess. And we need some sort of change there in the world, in the organisation, in a positive way, in the world. And not be actually linked to all sort of events which do not say chess will look good because it will be a bad end on the planet. I would prefer the chess function by being used to meeting the good old times by big companies. So, to me, obviously, quite controversial, but in Saudi Arabia, we have the world. It's the rapid chess in the Israeli place. So, what's your opinion about the game? Is it likely going on for the next two years, as well, I'd say? Well, it's simple. It's all through the chess violence and the scores that it's going by. You know, I've said, you know, the official championship in the country is not allowed within the whole country, so it's a very advanced player. But also, I would like to... I would like to mention that many players, except for Israeli players and Iranian players, who had a program in Qatar, I think we have to take a look at many players. About 40% of the top male players and some top women players refuse to go there, although they could go there. And that's even more of a sign. I mean, here we can see the players who could go there, like Ikarna Kamuro or Luzichuk sisters, who have been guaranteed to win a huge prize. They declined to go there. The consequence is really bad about that. And it should be recognized, but unfortunately the situation today is like, it's ever-repeating mantra, there is no other bid. You have to go there or no championship. The problem is that it's the very same people who created the situation that there are no other offers. There are no other bids. So it's quite simple. Just like Sincfield, who pours in millions of dollars every year, doesn't want to hold an official championship in the years. I think he would, but maybe not dealing with the present-day one. So, very good answer. I think maybe Brian could hold it here in Gibraltar. What do you reckon? A couple of years time, possibly Brian. I don't where Brian is, but that brings me to the next question. And we'll go to the left here. So, Chess has a reputation, which is changing, I think, all the time. And we want to get it into the mainstream media, I think. So how can we make chess more accessible and also popular in mainstream media? Of course, it depends country to country. In England, generally, it doesn't have a great reputation. So David, if you're in charge of the media, how would you do it? How would you make chess more popular in general? Another tough question, actually. I mean, I think the website is, I mean the plan. Okay, I think we should be highlighting the personalities within chess, not just the game itself. I mean, there's a lot of focus on analysis of moves, on variations, which maybe don't appeal to the wider public. I mean, if people could meet us, see what we like, I mean, having a question and answers like this, dinners, battle with the sexes, these kind of things, I think slowly things would move in that direction and people would see that actually chess is for everyone. I mean, for all races and genders, everything. And I mean, hopefully that would get the message across to the question. Let's move on to the question around the table. So over to you, Lizzy, how would you make it more popular? Oh, that's not a good one. Okay, we can move it around before you think if you want to. So over to you, Lizzy, what do you reckon? How do we make it more popular? Is it a mainstream? Well, I mean, I can only speak for like Germany because I don't have so much experience. I just think that in general, the advertisement about tournaments is in general not so professional in comparison to other sports. I don't speak here for cheap wallet because it's fantastic here. But a lot of tournaments actually like this kind of really user judgments that you can get in practice too. And I think this is all like some of things are like one thing which can be improved in general. Okay, making more professional. So, okay, over to you, Shami. And of course, chess is massive in Mongolia. Right. So, okay, so how do we make it more popular in general? Actually, divided into two sections. It would be like an amateur chess and then a professional chess. We're actually organizing every year the amateur chess championship of Mongolia. So, it's been organized successfully for the last five years. So, the players are getting more and more and getting interested. It's organized by the government of Mongolia. And the prime minister is actually sponsoring and funding it. So, I think it's fundamental is important. To promote more chess in an amateur level first. And also in the chess professional level together like tournaments like Drupal Terrain and other tournaments. So, I think in Mongolia it's working quite well. So, also like today in some other terms they're organizing the amateur chess championship as well. I think it's good for the chess. And also I'd like to promote chess for the women. Of course. Yeah, I mean, because... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, like buying is promoting a lot and doing good chess for the women's chess. Because a lot of girls actually play in a different country. It's like in Mongolia and all over the world. But the price amount and the tournaments that compare to men's chess is quite low. And it's like, for example, in our country the price is two times lower than the men's. So I think we actually need to improve that as far enough. Yeah. Right, I think the one thing about Drupal Terrain is it's a positive discrimination in favor of encouraging females to play here. And get your questions ready in the crowd because we're going to go to another question. I think we're going to Tanya. We also do have two boxes here hidden. And we've got a sensible box, sensible question. And we've got a kind of naughty box. But you can choose which box you take the question from. So first of all, she or Tanya, do you have another question? Okay, so this is for Liz and for Chimmy. I want to know if you had a woman Fidea president. What is the first thing that she would do? If you had a woman Fidea president. Like yourself. What's the first thing you'd do? Like yourself. If you had a woman Fidea president, what would you do? I would just equalize the system and men and women which means like also to install a candidate tournament. I mean just to have absolutely the same system like in the men's tournaments. Name system. No, I mean like the candidates tournaments which just doesn't exist. Like when we have a world championship a knockout system like a car or a system and this is about lottery. This is about lottery. This is a system like the men do have with a candidate's tournament and then the winner is playing against that current world champion. I think this system is much more fair and it's not about lottery like what we have now because the knockout system is so much also about luck because on two games everything can happen and we saw that it's not always like the payboards are winning. Okay, Liz asked the same question over here. Strawberry sweets I think. Okay, well great. Well we're going to ask now a question to each contestant. I don't know, that's the right word. Panel member and they have to come to the box and then we have a short break. So let's go with David. Okay, so David, I'm going to pass the questions over. Now David, you have a serious box and you have a fun box. What do we think David's going to go for? Knowing David, will he go serious or fun? What do you guys want me to choose? Always fun. This is a fun one, baby. So let's go for that. Okay, so the question is what was the funniest thing that ever happened to you during the chess game? Good question. There you go, David. Oh well. I don't know if anything funny has ever happened to me. I think it was pretty funny today seeing an unnamed person go to the bathroom and they're washing their hands. Okay, that doesn't sound right. Come on, David. This is another fun question. Okay, David, what's the number? I don't know. During chess I'm so focused. Good question. Oh well, I'm pretty sure. What's the worst thing that can happen to you before a chess game? Okay. I did once quite recently get an upset stomach at a chess performance and it was not a pretty sight. So, how's that? I didn't win the chess game. But you got through it? Yes, barely. It wasn't the intro. It's fine, guys. Okay, so we'll go around. Just one question. Quickly, Lizzie. Are you going to go serious or fun? Come on, you've got to go fun. For now. I can try. Stuart, handwriting. No, I'm joking. Right, can you say who is the hottest player quality times rating? Rating times hot. So, this is basically who is the most attractive player if you take their rating and you take their, I guess, physical ability as well. It doesn't have to be in this tournament, but it can be. You've got someone over here. I wanted this question. Go with the rating list, more or less. No, I think it's Alexander Motelio. Do we have Alexander in the house? Because he should be very happy now. Okay, nice answer. Okay, right, so we're moving around. I think this is the fun one, but I'm not sure. We're randomising, so yeah. This is serious. I like the way everyone is going through a fun question. This is the way chess should be. Do you want me to read the question? Yeah, it's okay. Which world-famous personality would you choose to advertise on this one? That was which world-personality would you... I think the same world would be a good personality for me. Is it for the chess or it's like your role for Astor? I think for chess. For Astor. It's the best. Well, we all love Magnus here, don't we? So yeah, he's a great, he's a great ambassador for chess. Okay, last... He does the modeling as well. I think Magnus got voted the fourth most attractive guy, my sexiest guy in the world. Okay, let's just see. Hands in the air if you think that's right. Does anyone think he's the fourth most attractive person in the world? Loads of hands going up here. Great to see. And Emil, this is serious, this is fun. And we'll take a break after the next question. Pass you the mic as well. Oh, that's a good question. Who could ever be the world champion? Well, that's a good question. And generally, if we talk about men and women and what have begun, I actually tend to disagree powerfully with Nigel Short, who considers women being wired differently. I think it's a number of reasons why women do not play, still do not play as good as men in general. It's one of the reasons might be some sort of physical or psychological reasons, but it's not only that, it's a simple reason. I would suggest it could be a great idea if some sponsor who is behind a woman's right is going to advocate increasing, enormously, prize funds for women, enormously, not likely. He is very respectful. Not like the brutal, ten times like the brutal. To have women's world champion as much as Margaret Scarce does today, to have, let's say, ten times more than they are today, and to see if there will be any impact in ten years time. Because today, as we know, many women do not have the motivation to grow up from a certain level. Let's say if a player today, she is 2500 rated, she basically has to work a lot. To delegate all herself to become 25, 80 or even 2600 without any significant financial change or status change all the time. If there will be a change, and players who are about 2500 will see that by reaching new heights, 26, 50 or 27, they will reach far, far different kind of income, prestige and everything. That would be a good call to see if it can change or not. Because if you compare women's sport and men's sport, everybody knows heroes of women's athletics or tennis, or whatever, runners. But in chess, because women and men play together, but if you don't play for the same money, it actually reflects the fact that women do not have from a certain point of motivation. If they get to a certain point, they get more or less decent income, but nowhere close to the top men. It would be, if anything can change the situation when women are much, much lower as at all, it's the fact that the price funds to be increased dramatically. Maybe for a short spot to take, okay, girls would have 20 million in chess for 10 years, and let's see how you manage to handle that. And maybe that will serve as a trigger for many younger players or for many future players that would never become a chess player to become and to work on chess seriously. And maybe it helps. And then we'll see if there are different... Okay, all right. I also think we have to ask one of the ladies his question as well. So let's go to Lizzy this time. Or... Okay, let's go this way. So what do you think? About the question. Yeah, same question. Yeah, and what MSN is... I totally agree with it because, like, for me, for example, I'm facing the same problem, because, like, okay, I'm like 2,400 now, but financially and in different ways, I don't have the group support and so on. It's for me a bit difficult to play because I have a son and not only myself, like, oh, well, just there's two kids, three kids. And we're basically playing for our passion for chess, you know? Like, I love the sport for... And the sport where I've played for almost 25 years. So I don't want to just give up right now. That's why I keep playing and trying to make my norms and so on. But it would be really helpful if we have this financial support in like manners, you know? So then we can actually motivate ourselves and dedicate ourselves fully. And yes, as Emile said, we have this emotional and, like, psychological... I mean, problems may be compared to land, but still, if we have such kind of support, I think a woman chess would make a lot for us. You know? I think we've got Nigel here who wants to say something. Okay. Surprise. Comments, which is a little bit different. If you are a man, and let's say you're living in France or Spain or somewhere and you're 2,500 and you're a professional chess player, you're almost starving. If you're a woman and you're 2,500, you are at least surviving. There is sexism there. It's in favour of the women. So acknowledge the point. Okay. We have to have an answer here from Emile. It's definitely like that, but take a look at Tennis. You remember when Barbara Taylor played corners, he played a full court, and she played only 3 quarters of a court, because obviously men are stronger, but it does not prevent, let's say, Nwimble the ball in the U.S. to have the same prizes or close to the same prizes. So did I understand correctly that you acknowledge that men are better chess players than women? Right. This is the whole point. No, you don't need such a question or a question. You can have a look on the rating list. The question was if something is possible to be done to change the situation. And my point being that if the prize funds in women tournaments become, not maybe the same, but much closer to men, it will serve as a trigger for many to work much harder and to be much better. And, well, it can help maybe to produce a women's world champion, real world champion, but it will surely produce much more strong women players because they will have an incentive and motivation to improve and to work. We've got another audience question here. A question I just want to respond to. The original question, which is, can there be a women's world champion? That's a big one. Because people have been kind of talking around that question. But I believe that's possible. I mean, Judith Porter has shown that women can get to the top 10. She has to go to the top seven. And that even if there are some factors that make women generally poor chess players than men, you know, that the one or two who who are the real outliers they can exist in either of the sexes. And I think Judith Porter has shown that. Okay, just going on that point a little bit more. So I'm going to get you busy. So do you think we can have a women's world champion? No. I think we cannot have... I mean, I read some report about it. There was a huge report on the German magazine about it, why men actually are stronger than women in chess. And this was some kind of professor. And he actually stated it's not only about chess. There is nothing in the world where men are not superior. In no field, whatever you look at. And he's basing this on the fact that men have tested their own and women don't. And he's basing it just on his own. Why men are superior in every single field in the world. So you're saying you think men are superior in every field? No, I mean, just image, like Taylor, she would think it's a woman thing, but even the best design in the world, don't that? Like cooking, you think it's a woman thing, but the best chess in the world, don't that? But even in these fields, where you think women are usually more talented, but even in these fields, men are usually at least from the top superior. Well, I'm glad you're saying that's not dangerous, because we can be in trouble then. But I think we have to ask David his question. And David, over to you. No, I'm not as qualified as most people. Approaching it completely wrong. I think it's all about participation numbers. I mean, I think we should be trying to catch this at a lower level, like at a younger age. I mean, for example, something that I know about chess in schools and communities in London, I mean, it's nearly 50% girls playing up to the age of maybe 10 or 11. And then, I mean, they drop out later on. So I think they should be incentivised at a younger age, not at the 2,500 level or not at 20. Not later on. I mean, later on as well, but I mean, they should be caught. So how would we keep the mid-trust, do you think, for the age? This is the tricky part. I mean, I guess at first, there would have to be some extra support that would possibly be possible. But strictly, I mean, they need role models as well. They need girls on the scene, so I'm hoping they'll have hands-on. Okay. Let's also shift me the same question as well, I think. Benji. I think I answered, right? But I mean, that's exactly the question. All right, I think, yes, it would be really difficult for women to become the world champion, honestly. But I think it's related to our nature of women and men, you know. And I also really think so. Unfortunately. Okay, seems a bit negative, but hopefully we'll be a bit more positive in the second half. And I think we'll take a short break now. And we'll have a change of people on the panel. I know we all have to shoot off after a very long game. And we'll be back in about five minutes, I guess. Okay. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to start the second half of the show. We've got two new guests on the panel which I'll let Simon introduce. Well, we've got the legendary Nigel Shortz. So round of applause for Nigel, please. And we have Nino. So hello, Nino. So round of applause for Nino, please. So we're going to kick off this second half with a chess question. I think we have to do a little bit of serious stuff. And I think occasionally. This is going to be asked to every single person on the panel. Who was the greatest world champion ever? Nigel's already going for the mic, so I guess Nigel, keep it quick. Emmanuel Lasker, 27 years world champion. Nigel, I've got that quick. Explain a little bit. Why Lasker? 27 years world champion. Love it. Love it. Okay. Short but sweet. Boba Fischer? Okay, why Boba? Beautiful style, very beautiful. And also without computer, one of the youngest grandmasa. At 15, and nowadays it's on his computers. Kids became so early grandmasa. Okay, great. So we have Lasker and Fischer. I wonder if we're going to pair up with any of them. Okay, I'm going to have to guess your answers. But over to Lizzie. Someone's got to say Carlson, surely. Lizzie. Okay, Lizzie, who is it? For me, Michael. Oh, okay. I'm with you there. High five. Okay, okay. How romantic. Of course, I mean, it sounds a bit strange, I'll just say, but you've really got balls, you know. I like that. We know your opinion of balls at the moment. So here he is. Okay, and last time. Over to you, David. Okay. Okay, well, some good answers there. I'm quite, okay, nice. Someone that you're going for, Magnus Carlson? I am. Well, I can't believe no one mentioned Magnus Carlson. Because Magnus Carlson's got the highest rating ever, and I'm surprised no one mentioned him. But we'll go on to the next question. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. But we'll go on to the next question. I think this will be a little less serious. Okay. So let's start again on the right, and we'll move around again. And why hasn't the hashtag me too campaign been addressed in the chess world? I haven't even read this question. Who put that in there? We could blame our... Okay, so Nigel. This is no problem. That sounded very weak. That was a very weak move there, Nigel. I want to hear it a bit louder. Back to Nigel. Come on. Come on, one more time. Oh! Sir, well, I think the right side was kind of scary, sorry. This is very timid. Okay, so the me too campaign. Lizzie, have you experienced any me too campaigns in your life? Actually, it's the first time I actually hear about this. Okay. I guess we don't actually need this because we have enough harassment in the chess world. Sorry, we have? We have enough comments, basically. I don't think we need it. What comments do you mean by we have enough? Let's hear. Do you have online comments? No, I mean, it's just not like when we're in a group of girls, we are talking, exchanging news and things, things. Okay, wow. I bet that's mad at who are doing just about the same. So it's a good environment, basically. Well, I mean, I think it's like in every kind of close environment. I think it's in every sports where you have discussions. And David, let's finish with you. I'm going to get serious. Actually, I was thinking about this question when we were talking about women in chess and why they might not have a women's world champion, especially with participation rates. I did coach a couple of female players and they said that they experienced this a lot and they were experienced what? They experienced comments, proposals, and they put them off chess. They ended up going to university and never playing again. So how do we change that? We need to address this question. I don't know how to start. At least here in Gibraltar, it's a probe discrimination. We're trying to encourage that to happen here. Okay, a bit serious there. Actually, in the end, I suppose it's supposed to be a fun question. When are they wrong? We have a question for the crowd. We've got one more question from our online audience. If you could go back in time, which chess player would you date? That's a good one. So, Nigel's getting the mic ready. Vera Menchik. Say that again, Nigel. I thought you were going to say Lasker again. Vera Menchik. She's always turned me on. Okay. Hang on a minute, you can't pass it around so quickly, Nigel. So, okay, Nigel, this is a tongue. Nigel, you have to invent a little. Actually, I'm allowed to confess something because I'm a little bit drunk. Oh, dear. Yeah, with Vera. Because I have my friend, Carl Hortman, who is very good on chess in prisons. He's done... Does he make many girlfriends in prison? Chess behind bars. He's done that. I wrote it forward to this book. But we had this idea that we could introduce a line of Vera Menchik blow-up dolls. Right. I don't know if we should move... I think we should move on at this moment. Would anyone, hands in the air, if anyone would buy those dolls? Not many hands. Okay, Nigel, over to you. Okay, Tao. Tao? We have to give a reason. Just one reason. So, why Tao? Okay, such an interesting player. So, he was good about writing books. He had finished German, I think. I think I could have a nice talk also. Interesting characters. He has a good character. Exactly. He was a journalist, but I think he was a journalist. I think he was a good narrator and a funny person. Brilliant. Okay, so we're going around. I hope this is going to get a bit more out there now. So, Lizzie, is it going to be Tao again? Well, that would be the easy answer, right? We can't go easy. We've got to go a bit desire now. Well, I mean, actually, I already gave this answer. He's not a world champion. He has to be a world champion. You know, we need a world champion, Lizzie. So, it has to be a world champion. Well, there's a Tao. Tao's a very popular guy. But actually, he was quite handsome as well. I mean, I mean... He has some amazing eyes. I mean, my father played him actually and he lost, like, in a very, very cool way. But, I mean, I never met him because he died, like, around the time when I was born, more or less. He's the unhealthiest person I've ever met in my entire life. That's why he's so interesting actually. I played him seven times in total. Wait, did you ever want to marry him? I didn't want to marry him. I didn't date him either. No. But I have this sort of a horror image in my mind from the super-teaser It was able in 1987. And I saw with him when actually he was being physically carried by Bagheera at that time. And he had a problem with circulation in his leg. And he had his trousers rolled up. And I swear his leg was completely blue. It was actually just one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen because I held him in enormous respect and admiration as a player and to see him in such pain and discomfort like that. It was actually deeply distressing. Well, I think in a commentary I've been doing here with Ivanka. Ivanka mentioned that my big talent could be called a genius. Is that fine line between madness and going over the point? He wasn't mad at all. He was not in the least he was highly intelligent and what I recall about him was his humor. He was actually just a very funny man and he could even make jokes in a foreign language when he was completely drunk. Very drunk. And that's something. It's not everybody who can do that. So, you know, I think probably I speak for most of the people in this room and just someone who I think has contributed so much to the game of chess and it's been a great honor just to have had at least that little experience. Let's get David's opinion as well. I mean, because if you were going to pick, you know, you have to do an original question first, David, so I wouldn't as well champion. I'm a bit gutted because I want to say Tal. It sounds like Tal is the male. We need to have a Tal calendar going on here. I mean, it's so well apparently. If I had to choose a women's world champion then maybe, oh, okay. Not women's world champion, but if I had to choose a women's player, then Julia Poga, which is usually a lot about chess, but also because our babies would be very high-rated. So if you did have babies, you want them to be chess stars? Of course. They could bring in the money for you. Okay. I think, okay. Now we'll take one more question possibly from the audience. So I think we have Tanya and Stuart Conquest, who have one ready. And then we go to the box again. If anyone's got a good question here, get it prepared. So the last one was a good one. Over to you, Tanya. This is for all the final members again. Who would be the toughest opponent against Magnus Carlson in the 2018 World Championships? Okay. Well, let's go left to start with. So Nigel, the toughest opponent. David. Sorry, David. The toughest opponent. It's really worrying when I look at David and I call him Nigel. Sorry, to both of you. We were even wearing this yesterday. Very worrying. So David, who do you think is going to be the toughest challenger to Magnus Carlson coming up? I'm only saying this because he's here. Or at least in Gibraltar. Left, Aronian. I've seen them so many times. So many games with their mouth playing Magnus. I mean, they have their various embassies every time. I think Magnus maybe has a slight plus score now, but I've seen them work with them a couple of times. So I'd love to see that match. I'm not sure about them. I mean, Fabiano possibly as well. So we've got one left, but you can't take Tao anymore, by the way. No. I totally agree. I would also go for Levon Aronian, because he had a fantastic year in 2017. He's a great shape. And as David said, I think his score against Carlson is more or less about even. Plus, I mean, he's not super aggressive, which means he also has a quite solid style. So it's much tougher for someone like Carlson to beat such a guy. He was so solid, actually. Yeah, I mean, obviously, it was a bit of a struggle, but you got there, and Nina, who do you think would be your biggest challenge? Well, about this question, let me be the nationalist and French journalist. I would say Maximo Schellegrau. Because I'm French, so... Unfortunately, he's not in the cadets. Yeah, but okay. I'm 18, you mean, though. I thought it was a question for next. Can I ask you another question? Okay. The wildcard went to Barnaby Kramik and he got the wildcard and he's been there before. And a lot of people were debating whether this was a bit unfair. I mean, NBL, Maximo, maybe, I think, is to the charts. I mean, maybe he should have got the charts to get at the candidates. Do you think he deserved that chance or not? First question, but still, okay. He's such permitting players and, of course, I would be happy to see he disputing one day title. Okay, and Nigel. Yeah, I would also go for Le Bon Aronia. I think he has a style which is not so well suited to events like this in Gibraltar. Because in particular with the black pieces he's very, very solid. And tournament like Gibraltar, you need a repertoire like Hikaru. Hikaru is just absolutely fantastic in this tournament. He's shown his great skills year after year. He's a very enterprising player. Quite frankly, I would say he would have no chances against Magnussie. He has a terrible score. And I don't see that changing. But Le Bon, on the other hand, this sort of very solid style with black and an enterprising imaginative style with white. I think it's very well suited for match play. And you win matches with 51%. You don't need to score very, very highly. So we've got a massive Lev vote there. Where is Lev? He's probably very excited about that. I think this might be a plus one if Lev's in the room somewhere. But let's now go to the box. The box of doom. And there's only actually two weird questions left. So where are we? I think Nigel, you have to take a funny question. OK, you've already got two. So 50-50 Nigel. You pick one and I'll read it out for you Nigel. So, OK. But you're going to read it out yourself Nigel. So get the mic. I'm sure you've got the high side. OK, so it was actually the same question before. So we move on. You have to have this one. OK, so let's have a look. So maybe this is a bit more the serious question. But how do you cope when you get struck? How do you progress in chess? What's the best way to progress? Maybe it's yourself as a grandmaster but also as an amateur. A very typical question. So you can answer as a grandmaster to prove, but also let's say as a 2000. Any advice, good advice for a 2000? Well, Gary Kasparov, he's had some various ghosted books. In his books he said some nevertheless said some interesting things. And I think the capacity to work hard on your game, that is a talent. That's where you're missing out on the side. You know. Well, I won't listen to this sometimes. But that is part of talent. That's something you're necessarily always. Work, I think, is very important. And one thing, just a small piece of advice, actually from my own career, it's a simple piece of advice. I think many of you will know this. Analyze your own games. I do that basically all the time now. I didn't used to do it. It's actually much, much easier in this day and age, because you play your game, you go back to your room, and you only need half an hour to put it on the computer. And then put it on the computer and enter the game and see what the engine is to you. Sometimes you're going to have games which are more complicated, which are worth investing more time on. So self-analysis is very important. And second to this as well. We'll go over. I'll just give you another bit of advice. If you can, a lot of the tournaments in the world, including this one, are online these days. Have a look at some of the games and a lot of them are actually very interesting. That's not even work. That's just what I would consider to be pleasure. Let's go to this. Very condensed answer. How do you recommend to improve the game quickly? What's your biggest tip to improve your game of chess? I remember how I got very quickly in Germany in the women's section or in the girls' section superior over all the other girls. The only difference I did in comparison to them was I played a lot of open tournaments and I was always trying to play really good tournaments. I skipped all the usey ones. I never played German used championships and wasted my time with them. I played two or three world championships but usually these kind of tournaments are rather a waste of time. It's much better to play strong opponents. This would be an ideal tournament to play to everyone. It's like a stepping stone. Of course. These tournaments can make you stronger because you really have to face tough opponents. When you play strong players you understand that this is not like what you're used to when you play in some women's competition like in Germany or something. You could say it's like a right surpassage playing in some of these tournaments in 60 years. You have these big openers playing against the best players is the way to go. In German languages you learn the most from lost games and there are some truths about it. We need something a bit more like I now. David, I'm not even going to ask you that question because we need something a little bit more spicy for you. I'm going to vet the question now. We're going to find a good one. Right. That one. I've got in here. Right. Let's go for... We're going to go around it now. David. That one's too long. David, I'm finding a good one. Which celebrity not a chess player because you can't take Nigel on this. He's a bit of a celebrity on Nigel. He can't be a chess player. So which celebrity not a chess player would you most like to have dinner with? And it can't be a chess player, David. OK. Again, it would depend on my mood. I'd have Brad Pitt if I wanted to, you know, like advice to cheer routines and that kind of thing. Or Neve Campbell. Neve Campbell. That's a surprise. I fell in love with her when I was about 12 years old and I watched this movie and I'd like to say I've written past that. OK, so we're going Brad's or... OK, we'll go to Nino. So Nino, which celebrity? That must be a lie. Is it personal or does it matter to you? He doesn't have to be a liar when opening. Maybe at the point where Nino is dead. Oscar Wilder, Jacqueline Denner, something like that. Well... So let's go with a lie. Let's go with a lie. I'm going to go with a lie. That's the question because I don't see it. I don't have a soul to appear in dinner. But, well... Maybe a drink. A drink in the pub. Who would you like to go for a drink with? There was two... Well, somebody who changed the world, you know? I want somebody who impacted, like... to make something important, so... Somebody... Like... Jesus. No, Nigel, would you... Maybe I go to Nigel and... I will think... So Nigel, would you pick Jesus? No. Get skull at your hands. That's a very simple answer. And I think we know why. So... Pretty good answer, but okay. So Liz, you have to answer that. I take Mickey Rook from 1986. So the old Mickey? No, actually. In 1986, he played this movie nine and a half weeks. I've seen the movie. Basically, this is the Mickey Rook I want to... Oh, okay. Did you help? Watching such movies? Or is it just chess face? It's just chess face. Okay, right, let's move on to... I think we'll take at least one more question. Simon, can I just interrupt on that? I just wanted to say that actually I saw this movie nine and a half weeks in Germany with German... It was dubbed in German. So I didn't know that. I don't know. I don't know. It's probably not the storyline. Yeah, yeah. There was probably something else that Liz was thinking about, I guess. That's what my Bundesliga days were. Let's bring our lovely Tanya or Stuart in and let's get a question from Tanya and... What's the question, Tanya? Okay, so which song would describe your life? What's the anthem? I don't know. I don't know. Which song would describe your life? What's the anthem to your life? That's a tricky one. I know this is the end it's quite appropriate by thoughts but you know, we're getting there. I'm gonna keep going. Okay, so let's go... Who's got an answer? Okay, Nigel. Sorry about where you get this question. That's a really tough question. We've got a suffering here. Nigel, I'm sure Nigel has one. That's my life. Beastie Boys, fight for your life to party. Love it, love it. Okay, let's go over to David. Sorry, David, I'm throwing you in there. I'm throwing a blank. Is that a song? I know. Okay, great. Definitely something by the Spice Girls. Okay. Can you sing a little verse from that, possibly? Maybe on the last one. When two becomes one it's okay. I'll have a little bit. I think this is an idea for next year though, karaoke. Karaoke, great idea. Okay, who would you pick as the main karaoke candidate? I would want to do a duet with Liz. We could see this. We could try it out if you want. Liz, okay, so what about yourself? What song describes you like that? You did say earlier and I didn't ask you this question and I should ask you now. You've been a professional chess player for a long time. I thought it was a very interesting answer. What would you do as a career, possibly? Okay, when I was 16 I asked my mum to get into music school and she told me it's not a good idea because she tried the same and her genetics were not good for this in terms of opera singing but that's why she told me it's no point because my lungs are not wide enough because of her genetics and I never tried and actually eventually I think she was wrong but actually I'm happy that I became a chess player. Good stuff. I'm thinking you might pick an operatic song. No? Okay, what would be your song then? Super difficult question. Very difficult. Far from any road. Which one? Far from any road. Handsome family. I should play the song. Can you sing it for one second? No. Okay, next question, let's go. We have one more question from our audience that for all the panelists here do you think that playoffs are the best form of diabetes? Okay, so playoffs in what I know kind of originated here at this open and it seems to be adopted around the world as an exciting form of finding a winner. As normally you split it, they did it recently at Tata Steel and what personally I'm going to say I think it's a great thing having the playoffs at that extra level but let's get everyone's views and let's start with Nina. Okay, let's go, Dave. I think playoffs are a great thing but I think it's the fairest way it's the best of a bad bunch. I mean tie breaks, mathematical things are random and often they do go to I mean playoffs for short, it's more fun to the fans of us. I think if we're going to popularise chess and make it accessible to not just chess players we need to make it exciting as we can, so do you agree Nigel with that one? I agree that playoffs are the fairest way of deciding an event of course they certainly didn't originate here and they've been going for decades not centuries longer than that, so the idea of having a playoff is a very old one but there are certain systems you have Sonne, Bourne, Berger and Sonne it's a spurious scientific method and I think it's probably more scientific to spin a roulette wheel than these things to be honest I've benefited from random tie breaks and I've suffered from random tie breaks over the years so I've had my ups and downs and it's actually incredibly annoying when you're on the wrong side of these things just a small example let's make a small Nigel yeah let's do that last year in Elsinore in Denmark I was in a time and you know for example I had the same Elo rating more or less as Sacha Kiran and he was losing rating points on this event I was gaining rating points and yet he made three times as much money as I did on this because he had a higher tie break and I'm not saying I've never benefited I have benefited from completely random tie breaks playing you lose a game over the board you've got nothing to complain about at the end of the day that's really how it should be okay so let's go to Nino okay I'm for play also of course because still it's more fair as a systems and just the usual conditions which is quite sometimes messy okay I'll play also play also basically first time national championship in France I won by play but the question is how well it's done because sometimes play-offs are right after the round depending on organization because okay people cannot play stay there forever right and players are tired sometimes and also in France we had this 20 minutes play-off but if it draws and directly streaming it bleeds or something like that it was really short and then if you decide to fight us on such kind of thing it's still quite unclear because you play tournament in a classic and then you suddenly go to a bleeding or something I don't think it's totally just but it's still better I think than just simple conditions okay well great I think we have Stuart can I ask a question can I pop up very soon maybe it's the last one unless someone from our organization it's better to be a good question Stuart yeah can I just ask this one first and then maybe young man you would ask if you have a question to finish with I just thought we all know chess players have well-traveled and I just travelled to about a hundred plus countries I think I don't know how many and all of our panellists have travelled a lot I was going to ask this is really my question if briefly you could just tell us each of your favorite okay let's keep it quick and Nigel Cape Town I mean when they had water Cape Town when they had water okay well I like sunny countries and also I'm open in Italy or Spain but I like really when it's really well organized tournaments like G-Bolta is really great because it's awesome with both organizations they are really fit tournaments like this so thank you Stuart what goes into this actually for me it's not about countries for me always about companies so if I would choose tournament or somewhere to play I would probably always like to play with my team of Moulous as French players because wherever we go, wherever we are it's like just always great I think that's great I mean I'm getting a bit old now but my friends and vibe as you know chess it brings community my whole life is around chess and my friends are being chess and all of my friends so it brings people closer and David where would you go I had a fantastic time in St Louis I love how they promote chess I mean everyone was so passionate about it but I would have to say Gibraltar I think it's my 12th time here and my favorite people are pretty much in this room so Gibraltar for sure I think that's a great answer that's a great answer I think that's probably now let's go for it what chess piece describes your personality that's a great question so we had a question I love that that's a great way to finish what's your name sir Christopher Hughes we have a question from Christopher Hughes Christopher's a very strong chess player he beat me a blitz in the island man and he beat David Blitz so Christopher Hughes probably come up with a question of the night so which chess piece best describes your personality and I think we're going left to right so let's go this way I would say the night because I'm a tricky little guy I love it, good answer I think it's a poem because it's the most flexible I mean it has so many different functions it goes straight it exchanges in a diagonal then it promotes in anything and it's quite chaotic and that's probably just me and it can become a queen well if it needs to yeah or a knight maybe also some kind of promoted power in something I don't know in what but as a listener I'll start with this one for sure a bishop because I like dressing up in ecclesiastical vestments well definitely a good night to end the show and and well I mean I must sort of wrap it up now and this is the first time we tried this so we're going to learn we're going to improve it's an idea of Brian's who's made this festival kind of possible along with many other people you know too many to mention here so hopefully it's gone alright we're going to improve and make better advancements next year it's been a load of fun and we've got to thank first of all round of applause to all our panel here so we have Stuart and Tanya big round of applause to them to the audience and one of the players themselves because it'd be a bit boring without you so I'll give you a round and of course Brian so thank you very much and well you don't have to do that but thank you Stuart so it's been a lot of fun so great so time to go to the bar and we have some people