Raffael Mystery solved! (sort of.)

In the Chessbase show Ask The Experts on 17th February 2011 with GM Jan Gustafsson (host) and GM Peter Svidler as the guest in the first show, the question if whether Svidler is Raffel or not is finally solved. If you don't know about the Raffael mystery yet: Raffael is the best blitz player on the playchess server but his or her identity is yet unclear. Some people claim it is Svidler, Morozevich or Kasparov (Article: Who is Raffael?). Finally we can remove the name Svidler from the list. The person who Svidler describes as "someone significantly stronger" is Kasparov.


Svidler: "I've answered that question more than once on various forums, but let me do it maybe the final time properly on chessbase. No, I am not Raffael on chessbase."

Gustafson: "Allright"

Svidler: "And I am not lying on this one."

Gustafson: "So, who is Raffael? I have no idea."

Svidler: "Someone, as far as I know, someone significantly stronger than me."

Gustafson: "[laughs] Wow, that narrows it down."

Svidler: "That does narrows it down. But I have no confirmation and I can't offer any proof but as far as I know that is a compliment to me."