Nepo’s white shirt – a candid interview with the Candidates leader

Ian Nepomniachtchi defeated Alireza Firouzja in the 11th round of the FIDE Candidates Chess 2022 to almost secure the first place in the event. Replay the game here

In the post-game interview with WGM Dina Belenkaya, Nepomniachtchi spoke about Firouzja’s decisions during the game: “It’s hard to say what he (Firouzja) was doing. It’s hard to describe.“. Nepo was surprised by the question about Alireza’s preparation as he didn’t know the latter spent 5 hours playing the 250 games hyper-bullet match vs Naroditsky: “As far as I know, maybe Magnus plays (online) during tournaments. But for me, it wouldn’t be so great because I believe when playing online you get involved and you spend some energy. And it’s not that obvious if it helps you or not,” he added.

Being asked if his goal is to reach the rating of 2800 Nepo shortly answered: “Well, surely so far it’s not 2900“. Speaking about chess players having superstitions Dina asked “We have always seen you wearing white shirts. Are they all different or you believe in one winning shirt and you do it with vacuum cleaning?“, and Ian explained: “We have laundry here so, on the rest day I give it to laundry and I receive it back. So yes, chess players are superstitious. It’s something which somehow fits me and yeah, I try to wear it here (the White shirt)“. See the video below.