<Having lost the first game of his first round match to Alexander Grischuk, the Brazilian grandmaster Darcy Lima faced a difficult task: beating a supergrandmaster on demand in the second game. He didn't manage it, and was eliminated from the World Cup. As it turned out at the press conference, Lima had the same pairing at the World Championship 2000 in New Delhi – and the result was also the same.

Q : Dear Colleagues, we proceed with our traditional press-conferences with the players. Today we're happy to introduce Darcy Lima ( Brazil ). The first question will be the traditional one – how do you like the city and the organization of the tournament?

A : First of all I want to thank Khanty-Mansiysk. It's the second time I'm here and it's colder than the last time, but I'm very happy and the conditions are certainly very good.

I played with Grischuk, who is one of the best players in the world, and the first game, in which I played Black, was very tough. I defended, but then he got a good position and he was winning in the ending, however, I made a trick that he missed it, but then we both suffered some kind of hallucination, missing a stalemate, and I eventually lost. Today I played with White and I chose to play the King's Pawn, an aggressive opening, but Grischuk chose a very good defense, Marshall Attack. I didn't know what he was going to play, because now he has a broad repertoire, whereas in 2000, when I played with him for the first time, he used to have a very narrow one. So, when we played the first time I drew the game and it was much easier, because at that time he played only a certain amount of openings and I could prepare, but this time I couldn't. I didn't know he was going to play Marshall , but when it occurred, I played the line suggested by one of my Brazilian friends. I offered an exchange, but he rejected it and defended very well, so I had to content with a draw and go back to Brazil.

Q : We can see now that Alexander Grischuk must be considered the main obstacle on your way to winning the World Cup, and it is obvious that you'll be playing against him in the next World Chess Cup. Did you manage to improve your chess since the first match with Grischuk, and is there any kind of preparation you are going to have for this next meeting with him?

A : I don't think I progressed too much since 2000 as I was the president of the Brazilian Chess Federation at that time and had a lot of administrative work to do, I also had a small company and organized tournaments, so it was really tough. But even when I left the Federation it was very difficult to prepare. I tried to keep up with the game and practice a bit, but it was really tough to play this match. And as I understand, you wish me luck in the next match with Grischuk. But I'm very happy that we played with each other this year and I really tried to give him hard time.

Q : Considering the way you are dressed and the fact that Grischuk devotes half his time to chess and the other half to poker, what would be the result if you met not over the chessboard, but in a game of poker?

<Q : Whom you consider to be the favorites of the World Chess Cup?

A : I think there're about 10-15 players with very good chances, like Aronian, Grischuk, Ivanchuk, Ponomariov. They are all in the same conditions. Today chess players are closer, there's no such difference as some years ago, when there were one or two really good players. Even if Anand and Kramnik were to play here I'm not sure they'd win.

Q : The last question would be about the current situation with chess in Brazil . Did you manage to change something while being the President of Brazilian Chess Federation?

A : The most important thing I did was spreading chess in Brazil , which was not so popular, there were only several tournaments. So we started organizing other tournaments, but popularization of chess at school was my main objective and contribution. Besides, I started the governmental project in chess which continues now. It's known that there're a lot of poor people in Brazil , and we decided it was worth a try to teach the children how to play chess. It was very tough, but I'm sure there's future for chess among the young people.