KARLOVICH: Dear ladies and gentlemen, let me welcome the guests of our first press conference for today: the second board of the Womens’ Team of Kazakhstan WGM Maria Sergeeva and the head of the Kazakhstan delegation GM Nurlan Ibraev. My first question is to both of you: how do you feel here in Istanbul and what are your impressions on the organization of Istanbul Olympiad.

SERGEEVA: This is my 6th Olympiad and I must say that I like it being here. The organization is very good, the food is perfect. One more important thing is that the hotels where the participants stay are in close proximity to the playing venue. I participated in 2000 Chess Olympiad which took place in Istanbul as well and I also played in Elista Olympiad. If to compare the two Olympiads in Istanbul, this Olympiad is much better in respect of organization of course. In 2000 all the hotels were located very far from the playing venue and it took us about an hour to get there.

IBRAEV: This is also my 6th Olympiad and I am happy to see that the organization is on a very high level. The accommodation is perfectly located as far as the distance to the playing venue is concerned. And as the FIDE President mentioned in his interview, this Olympiad is having the record number of the federations participating this time.

KARLOVICH: Nurlan, we know that this time you are here as the head of the delegation but you used to play before representing your federation. Don’t you have sometimes a wish to sit down at the board and play?

IBRAEV: Sure, as every chess player sometimes I wish I could play and show good performance. Nowadays in my federations there are many professional chess players who play much stronger than me. So, I have to take the reality. As for the chances of our team at this Olympiad, the main task is to be in the top 30 list. If we would manage to make it in the top 20 that would be fantastic.

KARLOVICH: Maria, you are having rest today. Tell us about yesterday match. And how do you estimate the chances of women’s team at this Olympiad? Also, we know, Maria that you now live in Qatar coaching their women’s team. Please tell us about chess in Qatar, how do you estimate their chances and how do you feel living there.

SERGEEVA: Well, yesterday we made a big effort to outplay the team from Kyrgyzstan 4-0. Today we are playing against Canadian team. The position is very good so far at all boards and I hope that our girls will do their utmost to show good result. As for Qatari women’s team, I of course grieve about my girls and I hope they will play well.

KARLOVICH: Nurlan, tell us about the chess development in your country. You recently held the World Blitz Championship; the men chess is well developed. Are you going to organize something big for women as well to give them a chance to play on an international level?

IBRAEV: We do plan to organize the international tournaments for youth in the nearest future as well as the tournaments for women with the possibility to fulfill the international norms. Our new chess generation is very promising. We have a kind of breakthrough of women’s and youth chess.

We have one ex-World Chess Champion under 14 Dinara Sadvakasova who participates in the Istanbul Olympiad. Also we have the World Chess Champion under 12 Abdumalik Zhanasaya and another World Chess Champion under 8 Salybaeva Bibisara. I am sure they will be in the national women’s team in the nearest future. They have national and international coaches. But the main coaches are their parents.

Also, I must say that the sporting leadership of our country follows the performance of our players. I would like to mention that in the recently ended Olympic Games in London Kazakhstan took the 12th place in the world ranking and this makes us all happy. The leadership of our country would be also happy to know about the good performance of our chess players at this Olympiad.