Evgenia Medvedeva Visits FIDE World Cup

The famous figure skater gave a start to the Carlsen - Esipenko game.

The famous Russian figure skater Evgenia Medvedeva was the guest of the FIDE World Cup in Sochi this afternoon. The two-time Olympic silver medallist, and the two-time World and European champion made the symbolic first move for World Champion Magnus Carlsen (Norway), in his game with Russian Andrey Esipenko.
 
Afterwards, Medvedeva shared her impressions of the competition:
 
- Thanks a lot for the invitation. This is a very interesting experience: this is my first time attending a competition of this level. It’s a great honour that I have had the opportunity to make the first move. 
 
To be honest, I was a little nervous: I will not hide the fact that I am an absolute beginner in chess. But I think everything went pretty smoothly: I really enjoyed the atmosphere here. It was very interesting; you really feel the huge prestige of this competition.
 
I sensed the tension, the "silent" adrenaline, the concentration in the playing hall. The situation was very unusual, because figure skaters like me usually do more physical work before the start of the competition: we are always in motion, we warm up, listen to music, maybe even communicate in order to relax the nervous system and muscle tension. And here in the hall before the start there was complete silence. It's a bit unusual, but now I know that such sports also exist (laughs).
 
In addition, I finally spoke in English with people from other countries, which I have not been able to, probably for two years, since the beginning of the pandemic. I am very glad that international competitions are starting to gain momentum, as it has been recently very difficult to organize them.

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