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Ian Nepomniachtchi, the Russian Grandmaster and part-time content creator, returned to YouTube (33K subscribers) to discuss a recent controversy involving him and fellow Grandmaster Daniil Dubbov. For those who missed it, the arbiter stated that Ian and Daniil "pre-arranged" one of their games during the recently concluded 2023 World Blitz Chess Champions. The duo executed 12 moves in the game, only moving their knights (before agreeing to a draw).
On his YouTube channel, Ian expressed remorse for his actions. He acknowledged that he is not proud of his on-board antics, and fully accepts the decision made by the arbiter, stating:
"I'm not proud."
"It was never meant to be like this" - Ian Nepomniachtchi speaks on his match against Daniil Dubov
Ian Nepomniachtchi and Daniil Dubov came under scrutiny when they surprisingly completed only 12 moves in their matchup during the recently concluded 2023 World Blitz Chess Champions. The tournament's chief arbiter, Ivan Syrovy of Slovakia, decided to deduct 0.5 points from both players due to their actions.
Responding to the drama, Ian took to his official YouTube channel to say this:
"First of all, I'm not a fan of this game. I'm not proud or something. I don't find it too shameful but it's like, something I would not be glad to remember. So to those of you, there's like, I think some part of chess fans who found this disrespectful, I guess then I'm just sorry."
(Timestamp: 20:45)
He added:
"It never meant to be like this. It was obviously a form of protest which I also find too much, but basically, what is done is done."
Speaking on the arbiter's decision to penalise the two players, Ian Nepomniachtchi said:
"I think this (arbiter's decision) is quite fair. I have no problem. Obviously, when all those moves are played, there's a good chance of you being fined in this or that way."
What did the fans say?
The clip was shared on X, which garnered quite a bit of critical comments from the chess and online community. Here are some of the notable ones:
For those interested, Magnus Carlsen secured victory once again in the 2023 World Blitz Chess Champions. Interestingly, Daniil Dubov could have been in contention for the top spot, potentially leading to tiebreaks, if he hadn't incurred point deductions for his unconventional match against Ian Nepomniachtchi.
