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Natalia Pogonina is always happy |
 In a brief interview after the first game of the second round grandmaster Natalia Pogonina revealed her positive attitude towards sporting results and shared her thoughts about players from China.
Anastasia Karlovich: Dear friends, our first guest is the Russian grandmaster Natalia Pogonina, who just finished her game, making a draw with the Chinese player Ju Wenjun. In the first round Natalia also faced a player from China. Natalia, could you please tell us about that match?
Natalia Pogonina: That's right, in the first round I played with Guo Qi, who is the World U20 Champion. It was a very interesting match, both games lasted for more than four hours, and we made more than 60 moves in each. In the first game I had an advantage, put a lot of pressure, but it ended in a draw.
In the second game I obtained a comfortable position in the opening, created positional pressure and got a significant plus. I didn't play perfectly, but still managed to convert my advantage into a point in a very long game.
– Are you happy with your today's result?
– I am always happy with the result, I accept them all. The opponent played a somewhat surprising opening. I will have to check later with the computer whether I reacted correctly. Then we traded some pieces, the position equalized, and Ju Wenjun offered me a draw. And I thought, why not?
– There are many clashes between Russian and Chinese players here. Does this fact help you in any way?
– I honestly don't know. We are so used to playing the Chinese girls already! Even when new players appear, it still seems we are playing our dear friends. Many years ago, when Chinese women were winning almost everything, I tried to play more cautiously, but by now we don't have any psychological problems facing them, for we had more than enough practice. I guess they are feeling the same way.
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