How difficult is it to become a world champion as a tournament organizer?
Indeed, it was quite difficult for me to divide my time and energy between two important activities – playing in the tournament and helping to organize it. Fortunately, the organizers team was quite big and effective; therefore I could concentrate on important games quite well. However, at the end of the tournament, I felt really exhausted. But the joy of winning the title and the joy of successful organizing was far more important at that moment.
Some of the sportsmen like Armstrong and Schumacher have been collecting the titles. How many World Champion titles are you going to get?
Renju game is about 5 in a row. I may not be able to get 5 titles in a row, but getting 5 titles in total would be not bad either. I will try my best to win 1 more time. Probably I will be stronger after 2 years than today, because I will have more time for preparation next time and I will not be involved with any organizing matters, but it does not guarantee my victory – some of my opponents might get even stronger than that. If I play renju until 90 years old, that means I can theoretically participate in 30 more World Championships. The chances to get at least 1 more title are not so small, maybe.
How do you evaluate the games of this championship in the scale of boring-exciting? How big was the creative part? Whom would you point out in that aspect?
I think the creative part has become really small, unfortunately. Several players did not try anything new during the whole tournament. That speaks of opening rules problem or about a tendency where the boring style can be quite effective in the aspect of score – the frequent sure-draw variants can help the player to collect nearly 50% of points even with less skill. Sushkov was traditionally quite creative. I like his style. Even though he takes unnecessary risks sometimes, he is usually successful in his decisions. Tord Andersson is creative too, because he simply doesn’t know the ordinary variants. ? My evaluation – the games were not as interesting as in previous championships, but there were still several great ones among them.
It is quite clear that it is always possible to improve oneself by increasing the knowledge of theory and experience. Do you see any perspective to improve yourself as a player?
Yes, I can improve myself still. I can learn to be more flexible, to be more unpredictable, and to sharpen my play style, which has become too “positional” recently. It is not too good to master only one style deeply, but to be able to switch on other style when necessary. I guess my problem is that I do not take too many risks because I want to avoid losses. When the opening rules will change, I must start improving my theoretical base as well.
How good do you think are the chances of Estonian team in the coming Team World Championship?
If we play with our best players, then the chances to win the champion title will be a bit over 50%. Russia about 40% (with their best team). All the other countries together – about 10%. The reason is simple – the times when Estonia could offer resistance on 2 or 3 tables are now a history. Today we are already able to give full fight on all 4 tables, and that makes a huge difference in score. Estonia will most likely win the gold finally. Of course, if Nakamura should make comeback together with all the strongest Japanese, it might make the difference, too. But this is very unlikely to happen.
What steps should RIF and the renju players make in order to make renju a recognized mind sport?
I think the progress has been quite good already. Sooner or later the game will have a great leap in popularity. We need good leaders among ourselves, with passion and energy, and love towards renju. Also, we need more teachers and more literature. And most of all, we need to bring this game to children and teach them. Only then the game can have strong roots in our society.
你觉得在连珠运动的推广、普及工作方面，RIF（The Renju International Federation，国际连珠联盟）和棋手们可以做些什么来推动这个进程？
You will soon graduate the EBS University, what are your further plans?
As my major is international business administration, I have several ideas how to relate my knowledge with renju. One of the ideas is to open my own renju school in Asia. Some years ago it seemed like an impossible plan for me, but now, having learned a lot about how to create a new organization and manage it, I am sure it is doable. I have several other ideas as well, which are not related to renju. But these are not so interesting for readers, perhaps. Anyway I will be active in the world of renju. So don’t worry – I will not disappear.
你马上就要从EBS（一般作University of Business and Law，欧洲商学院-经济与法律大学）大学毕业了，接下来的计划是什么？
原文链接请戳我。
Interview with Ando Meritee 与安度的访谈
By Ants Soosõrv, 2005 安茨·索索夫，2005年
作为本次比赛的冠军，同时又需要兼任比赛组织者的角色，这对你来说有多难呢？
说实话，在参加比赛与组织比赛这两个重要的事情中间切换，很难。它会把你的时间和精力分配分开。不过好在这次比赛的组织者很多，而且还很有效率。这使我得以更专心地准备比赛。尽管如此，快到比赛尾声的时候我还是感觉很累了，但话说回来，与赢得了比赛、成功地组织了比赛所获得的快乐和享受相比，这点累不值一提。
有些运动员比如阿姆斯特丹（Armstrong）、舒马赫（Schumacher）等，他们已经获得了多个比赛的头衔。你觉得自己要拿多少个世锦赛的冠军？
连珠嘛是种连五为胜的游戏。我不知道我能不能赢得5个冠军，像连五一样连成一排…要是能的话我觉得也不错。我想再尽力多赢一个。我觉得2年后的我应该会比今天更强大，因为下次我可以有更多的时间来准备比赛，不会再参加组织相关的事宜了。当然也不是说我就稳赢了，因为其他的选手在2年内可能进步得比我要更快。但比如说，我可以一直下棋下到90岁，那理论上讲我还可以参加至少30届世锦赛，再赢一把冠军的机会也不算小吧我想。
如果1分为非常无聊，5分为非常兴奋，你会如何为你本次冠军路上整体的对局表现打分？创造性在其中所占的成分，你认为有多少？在这方面上你认为哪些选手值得一提？
不幸，我认为创造性的部分所起的作用已经非常小了。在这次比赛中，有多名选手在开局上没有使用任何新的变化。这也反映了规则上的问题，或者说有这么一种趋势：这样一种“无聊”的棋风在打比赛时的效率反而相当高，一些经典的和棋大定式可以保证棋手取得50%的比分，而技巧的因素则被减少了。说到创造性，苏切科夫（Sushkov）是个典范。我喜欢他的风格。尽管有时他会冒些不必要的风险，但从对局来看效果都挺不错。安德森（Tord Andersson）也是有创造力的棋手，这是由于他对定式不太熟悉之故。如果说让我打分的话，我认为从对局本身来说，总体上没有上一届的对局那么有意思，但其中还是有一些不错的对局。
关于学棋，毫无疑问棋理理论与实战经验都是棋力增长不可或缺的一部分。作为一名棋手，你训练自己时有什么特别的方式方法吗？
没错，我觉得我的水平是还可以继续提高的。我想要我的棋更灵活、更多变一些，棋风上更凌厉一些。因为最近我觉得我的棋风已然有些定型了。仅仅熟悉于一种棋风，我觉得不是太好的事，无论多么精通，都不够好。我需要的是在必要的时候，我可以在不同的风格之间切换。有时我不愿意冒些风险去行棋，这是我的一个问题，因我想尽可能地避免失败。同时，当比赛规则开始改变时，我也需要继续提升对棋的理解。
世团赛（世界连珠团体锦标赛）马上就要来了，你觉得爱沙尼亚队夺冠的把握大嘛？
如果我们能派出最好的棋手，那夺冠的可能性要超过50%。俄罗斯队若也派出他们最强的选手参赛，夺冠的可能性大概是40%。剩下的一些其他国家加起来不超过10%。原因很简单，爱沙尼亚只有2~3台能战的时代已经过去了。今天我们全部4台都具备强悍的战斗力。这在比赛拿分上将和以前大不一样。爱沙尼亚是最有可能夺冠的国家。当然，如果中村茂（Nakamura）和日本最强的棋手都来参赛，那可能还有变数。不过目前看来这是不太可能发生的。
你觉得在连珠运动的推广、普及工作方面，RIF（The Renju International Federation，国际连珠联盟）和棋手们可以做些什么来推动这个进程？
我觉得目前的进展已经很好了。或先或后，这项运动一定会吸引更多的人参与进来。我们需要的是一些好的带头人，一些有对连珠有激情、能量和热爱的人。我们还需要更多的老师和教材。最重要的是，我们需要让孩子们接触这个游戏，教他们。只有这样连珠才能算是在大众中扎下了根，这根才可能发芽。
你马上就要从EBS（一般作University of Business and Law，欧洲商学院-经济与法律大学）大学毕业了，接下来的计划是什么？
因为我修的专业是国际业务管理，因此我有一些想法，就是怎么把我的专业知识应用到连珠的推广上。有一个想法是想在亚洲开一个自己的连珠学校。如果是几年前我可能会觉得这是不可能的，但现在我对如何创建并管理一个新的组织已经有了新的学习，我觉得这是可能实现的。其他的想法也有一些，跟连珠没什么关系的想法，不过我觉得这部分对于读者而言可能就不是很想了解了。不过我还会继续活跃在五子棋圈里的，所以别担心，我没有消失:-)。