“I have been playing in ICC (Internet Chess Club) for more than a year and, for the recent time, I did quite successfully there – my personal rating reached as high as 3300 (though sometimes I drifted below to 2800 due to excessive playing). Well, I did not hesitate too much when an opportunity of taking part in such a big competition arose.
I managed to pass through the most troubling part of the competition – the qualification phase – quite easily, having scored 8.5 points out of 9. The following schedule of the elimination tournament looked extremely horrible, featuring Kobalia, Grishchuk, Sakaev, so I decided to play without any needless strain, simply for the sake of playing.
After having passed Zviad Izoria, my regular opponent in junior competitions, I faced the match with Mikhail Kobalia. Perhaps, it was the most difficult match for me in the tournament and it was decided in a “sudden death” blitz game. Meanwhile, Alexander Grishchuk (ICC nick Depressnyak) was knocked out by Vitaly Golod. I suppose he would rather add the prefix ‘anti-‘ to his nick which would result in an improved performance on his part. I met the winner of that match once in Linares when he enjoyed his good luck. This time I took a rather convincing revenge in the semifinal.
The final was extremely intriguing. After I had obtained a big advantage my computer simply got disconnected from the Internet! Then I restored the connection, but immediately made a couple of weak moves and spoiled my position completely. I staked all my hopes on bluff and sacrificed a queen! Zarnicki got relaxed by that time, he underestimated my threats and lost.”

Game commented by GM V. Potkin