Unique | ‘An enormous step ahead for girls’: World No. 8 Anna Muzychuk on equal prize in Norway Chess | Chess Information

Anna Muzychuk (FIDE Chess Photograph)

NEW DELHI: Ukraine’s top-ranked Anna Muzychuk, eighth on this planet, is ready to compete in Norway Chess Girls 2025 (Could 26–June 6), decided to construct on her sturdy runner-up end from final 12 months.
Born right into a chess household, Anna learnt the ABC of the 64 squares early, guided by her dad and mom, Oleg and Natalia, each chess gamers. A younger prodigy, she dominated youth competitions, incomes her WGM title at 14, profitable six European Youth gold medals, and claiming each the World U-16 and World Junior Championships.
A 3-time World Fast & Blitz Champion, Anna’s 2016 double victory positioned her amongst an elite group of chess legends.
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Additionally, she has remained a constant drive in classical chess, narrowly lacking the Girls’s World Championship title in 2017 and competing in a number of Candidates Tournaments.
With Norway Chess Girls main the best way in equal prize cash, Anna is now wanting ahead to being a part of a revolution in search of to negate stereotypes.

As she gears as much as face a stacked lineup that includes reigning Girls’s World Champion Ju Wenjun (World No. 2), Lei Tingjie (World No. 4), Koneru Humpy (World No. 6), Vaishali Rameshbabu (World No. 18), and Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (World No. 21), TimesofIndia.com catches up with the 34-year-old GM in an unique interview. Excerpts:
Q. What are your ideas on the ladies’s line-up in Norway Chess this 12 months?
It is fantastic, tremendous sturdy. Final 12 months’s lineup was already very sturdy, however this 12 months, it is even stronger. So, after all, it’s extremely thrilling to compete in such a subject and attempt to do my finest.
Q. This 12 months’s lineup can also be very sturdy, and we now have two girls from India taking part. How do you charge their sport?
Sure, we now have Koneru and Vaishali. However moreover them, we even have two sturdy Chinese language gamers, together with the Girls’s World Champion. There aren’t any simple opponents — each sport is hard.
Talking about Indian chess, each women and men maintain enhancing. Within the open part, we may also have Indian gamers, together with the World Champion, Gukesh. So it is nice to see that.
Vaishali is youthful, however with Koneru, we now have been competing for a really very long time. I’ve performed essentially the most video games towards Harika (Dronavalli) as a result of she’s only a 12 months youthful than me. We began competing after we had been round 9 years previous in youth world championships.
With Koneru, we didn’t play in the identical age group since she’s three years older, however we’ve each been on the high of ladies’s chess for a very long time, so we’ve confronted one another many instances. With Vaishali, I’ve performed fewer video games since she’s youthful, however she’s enhancing quickly. So, in a means, we now have a little bit of a “conflict of generations”. Lei Tingjie can also be youthful, and Sara Khadem is youthful as nicely. Vaishali is the youngest.
Q. For those who needed to decide one, who could be essentially the most intriguing opponent for you in Norway Chess?
It’s troublesome to say as a result of we’re all high feminine gamers and have performed towards one another many instances. But it surely’s all the time particular to play towards the Girls’s World Champion. We’re unsure if she is going to defend her title (towards Tan Zhongyi) in April, but when she does, she is going to nonetheless be the champion when enjoying in Norway Chess.
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Q. This time, the ladies’s part has equal prize cash because the open one. What are your ideas on that?
For us, as girls, we’re very enthusiastic about it. It’s essential and a giant step ahead for girls’s chess. As you realize, basically, there are extra open tournaments, that are primarily for males, and the prize funds in these tournaments are often increased. So we might like to see extra girls’s occasions with increased prizes. That may be an amazing motivation for us and for the subsequent technology, exhibiting them that such tournaments exist and what they’ll aspire to attain.
Q. You completed as a runner-up final 12 months in Norway Chess. What labored so nicely for you again then?
Sure, final 12 months, I completed second after the Girls’s World Champion. I thought-about it an excellent outcome as a result of, based mostly on the scores, I used to be perhaps fourth. However in sports activities, you by no means know what is going to occur. I’ll attempt to put together in addition to I can this time and purpose to attain the very best outcome potential.
Effectively, this match has a singular level system. There’s the classical portion, but when a sport ends in a draw, you play an extra speedy sport, the Armageddon format. That’s very uncommon — we don’t have it in most different occasions. This format requires a barely completely different method to preparation.

Additionally, the scoring system makes classical wins rather more beneficial. For those who win a classical sport, it’s value considerably greater than drawing after which profitable Armageddon. So gamers put most of their efforts into classical video games. Nevertheless, you additionally need to be ready for the speedy sport as a result of, on the high stage, attracts are quite common.
When it comes to preparation, you concentrate on your technique prematurely. You already know all of your opponents and that you just’ll face them with each colors. So that you analyze their video games, examine their openings, plan the place to shock them, and anticipate their methods. Moreover, in case a sport ends in a draw, it’s good to have a plan for the speedy sport as nicely.
Q. How did you get inquisitive about enjoying chess?
My journey began very early as a result of each of my dad and mom are chess gamers. They launched me to the sport after I was a little bit child — about two years previous. By the point I used to be three, I had already realized all the foundations. Chess was all the time current in our dwelling.
Q. Relating to Armageddon, what’s your focus throughout these video games? And when you’re enjoying with White, do you’re taking extra dangers?
Often, in my case, I simply play the sport, however I all the time take into account that a draw favours Black. So if I’ve a alternative between simplifying or going for one thing extra advanced, I’d desire the easier choice.
Then again, if I’m enjoying with White, I might seemingly desire a extra difficult sport. Even when I’ve a profitable place, if I see an opportunity to drive a draw with perpetual examine, I’d take it as a substitute of risking a blunder whereas looking for the win. However general, you don’t assume an excessive amount of about these items through the sport since you don’t have a lot time.
Q. What are your ambitions for this version of Norway Chess? And can you be enjoying any tournaments earlier than it?
I’ll attempt to do my finest. It could be fantastic if I might win it. I will likely be enjoying a Grand Prix occasion in March and one other one in Could earlier than Norway Chess. So these are my subsequent occasions.
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