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Chessville
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Interview with IM Igor Zugic By Goran Tomic
Goran Tomic: Congratulations on your fantastic achievement, winning the Canadian Championship. What are your impressions of this tournament? IM Igor Zugic: The tournament was very difficult. It was Swiss System event with nine rounds and 65 participants - many strong players among them. I am pleased with my play and result, and I can see some progress when I look at my previous tournaments. I took a bit too much risk in the last round, but it all finished well. I was leading after the 5th round and I felt strong pressure because there was a huge group of players a half point behind. I had to win constantly to keep the distance and it was very hard. At the end I had 7.0/9 and performance rating of 2687. G.T: How and for how long did you prepare for the Championship? IM Igor Zugic: I started to prepare 1-2 months before the tournament. Those were not specific preparations for the championship, but something more general. I was studying the games of my competitors trying to find weak spots in their play.
G.T: Which tournaments are you planning to play until the end of this year? IM Igor Zugic: I'm not sure yet. I’m trying to get an invitation for Chicago closed so I can fight for my 3rd GM norm, but this is still unclear. G.T: Are you going to play in Europe? IM Igor Zugic: I have nothing planned, but it is an option. Last year I played in a Zurich tournament, it's possible I will play in Europe by December. G.T: How do you manage your obligations with Siemens with chess competitions? IM Igor Zugic: My colleagues have full understanding and support for my chess activities, and I am trying to justify that by working well. Certainly, the number of tournaments that I can play outside of Toronto is very limited with my vacation days. This Canadian Championship was played in Toronto, so I went to work every day in order to have more free days for travel. On the other hand, my job gives me financial independence, so I can choose to participate only in good tournaments. It's not always easy to harmonize with all obligations, but I think I can be successful in chess and work at the same time.
IM Igor Zugic: I think this Canadian Championship was my best achievement, particularly since it was zonal tournament. I had some good results earlier, like 1st place tie (with GM Shipov and GM Kunte) in a very strong Guelph Open 2005. G.T: Can you tell us how you started to play chess? IM Igor Zugic: My father taught me to play chess when I was like 4-5 years old. By the way, he is strong candidate master. He used to play a lot when he was younger; he was even the Sarajevo junior champion. Today he is like my manager; together we decide which tournaments I should play. I started to study more seriously when the war began. My first tournament was in Toronto when I was 11 years old. G.T: Do you play on chess servers? IM Igor Zugic: Not too often. A couple of weeks before the tournament I played some blitz to get in shape. G.T: Which chess book do you consider to be the best? IM Igor Zugic: I started with Dragoslav Andric's books "Chess - Game of the Millions". Those books are still my favorites. For endgames, I recommend Ruben Fine's "Basic Chess Endings". G.T: There are many chess players from former USSR and Yugoslavia living in the USA and Canada. How do they influence chess in North America?
Private chess schools have become quite popular and those are mainly organized by players from Eastern Europe. This way, a large population of kids and youth have access to chess. Many of them will develop a love for the game and give their contribution when they grow up - through playing, organizing, sponsorships etc. G.T: Can you tell us something about our players (from the former Yugoslavia) in Canada? IM Igor Zugic: There are many players from the former Yugoslavia. I couldn't name them all without forgetting someone. Quite often I meet with FM Goran Milicevic (his wife Natalia is current female champion of Canada) and then we analyze some games together.
G.T: What are Kramnik's chances in his match against Deep Fritz? IM Igor Zugic: I don't know which version Kramnik is using in his preparation. If he has the same version of Deep Fritz that he will play against, then his chances are higher because he can find weak spots in the program. If not, then Fritz will probably win, but only with a slight edge. G.T: Can you give us a list of best players ever? IM Igor Zugic: I will say three names before any others: Fischer, Kasparov and Karpov (in this order). After them, it's very hard to pick, but let's try: Alekhine, Tal, Korchnoi, Capablanca, Botvinnik, Topalov and Anand. G.T: For the end,
I'd ask you to present some of your games to the readers. FM Robert Hamilton (2333) -
IM Igor Zugic (2467) [D15]
IM Igor Zugic (2467) - IM
Tomas Krnan (2399) [E94]
G.T: Thank you for the interview! I wish you good luck in your final GM norm chase. IM Igor Zugic: Thank you! (Interview was translated from Serbian language)
This interview is compliments of the
World Chess Network
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G.T:
Which result do you consider to be your biggest success?
IM
Igor Zugic: These players have had huge impact on popularization and
development of chess in North America. With strong players coming from
abroad, young local talents have better chances for development. The best
example is GM Hikaru Nakamura of the USA.
G.T:
How do you evaluate Kramnik's chances in the World Championship unification
match against Topalov?
IM
Igor Zugic: I think the chances are equal. It seems that Topalov
is the better player, but that doesn't mean he will win the match.
Kramnik is a specific threat because he can win one game and draw the rest
to become World Champion. I think for the image of chess it is better
for Topalov to win, so I will root for him.
