"For this move, Magnus needs to see a doctor..." — Nepo on Carlsen's Performance at GCL

Ian Nepomniachtchi

Russia's No. 1

“In the game against Sindarov, he even went with the f6 pawn.

For this move, it seems to me, Magnus needs to see a doctor. He later explained that the idea was that even this can be played. I don’t know, here the position is theoretically difficult afterward, but on the other hand, the move does not lose. But I do not advise you guys to repeat it.

It must be said that at some point Magnus stopped working at the board the way he used to. Not that he always blundered something, but he was never a super-strong calculator. He relied more on a general understanding of how the pieces should stand, general chess culture, so to speak, and intuition.

Of course, he calculates variations well, but he simply does not want to work at the board and calculate them to the same extent as before. And, it seems to me, he was too lazy to calculate the variation with the capture.”