Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi shared his opinion on the exhibition match between Turkish GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus and former World Champion Veselin Topalov. Ian states that Erdogmus’ opponent was chosen to gain rating, and speculates on how Yagiz would perform at the 2026 European Individual Championship.

Ian Nepomniachtchi

Ian Nepomniachtchi

Russian GM

“In the case of Erdogmus’ rating, the opponent was chosen very wisely — specifically to reach 2700.

If he were to play, for example, in the European Individual Championship now, it’s far from certain that he would perform very well and improve his rating. But here, essentially, it’s a veteran who barely plays but still keeps a high rating around 2700. This is, of course, a very wise choice of opponent.

So Topalov basically donated rating to Erdogmus. Of course, you still have to play and win — that’s also important — but the situation itself looks exactly like that.

It’s like in boxing: when they want to bring a fighter to a championship fight, they first select convenient opponents for him, opponents he’s highly likely to beat. This, I think, is exactly the case.”

The Topalov vs. Erdogmus: Clash of Generations III took place from April 12 to April 17 in Monaco. Turkish GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus won with a score of 5-1, defeating Veselin Topalov 4 times and drawing with him 2 times. Erdogmus gained +22.4 points and became the youngest player to achieve a rating of 2700+ in history, at the age of 14 years and 10 months old, on April 16.

Credit: Lennart Ootes