Daniil Dubov

Russian GM

“I thought: as a professional, I have to play, but I don’t want to take it too seriously anymore. It was a tough day. I decided: I’ll play from my bed, most likely lose a couple of games quickly, and then go to rest. But as it turned out, it wasn’t meant to be, I guess.

I played much worse than in the previous Play-in. But at the same time, my opponents were just blundering pieces in every game. Honestly, I rarely experience this feeling that something is being ‘gifted’ to me in every game, but that’s how it was.

It felt like it didn’t really matter what I did — people just blundered pieces, and I took them. In short, I got lucky again, I have to admit.

It’s much easier to play when your opponents blunder often!”