Ian Nepomniachtchi

Russian GM

“Regarding Erdogmus, yes, he’s talented. But then again, it seems to me that it’s much easier to organize and present information these days than it was 10-15 years ago, let alone 20-25 years ago.

That is, Erdogmus essentially had special conditions from childhood: I think he was already being trained by world-class specialists, like Mamedyarov, from the age of 11-12. Still, not everyone had such opportunities…

For example, my first top-level coach — a man who himself was in the Top-10, if not Top-5 — Peter Leko, started working with me when I was almost thirty. And here, someone has been training systematically since he was eleven — of course that’s incredibly beneficial.

Now, information is certainly much easier to absorb. This, of course, doesn’t diminish his enormous abilities, one might even say his talent. But we’ll see how things unfold.”