The strongest Russian grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi in an interview “Sports Express” He explained how he evaluated his performance in the second half of 2023.
“I haven’t had a very important tournament other than the 2023 World Cup. I went further than the previous ones, but in any case there is nothing special to boast about. Other tournaments were mostly quick and blitz. I would describe them as “Tottenham” from the famous movie “Lie Down in Bruges”: They weren’t completely terrible, but they didn’t come out on top either.
Once again, you must understand that my main tournament will take place in April. Basic preparations will be made for this (2024 candidates tournament to be held in Toronto from April 2 to April 25. – socialbites.ca).
In the 1/8 final of the 2023 World Cup held in Baku on August 15, Russian grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi lost to Vidit Gujrati from India and was eliminated from the tournament. Russian and Belarusian chess players competed in neutral status.
On April 30, Nepomniachtchi lost to Chinese representative Ding Liren in a tiebreak in the chess crown match.
Nepomniachtchi managed to win the last two candidate tournaments in Yekaterinburg (2021) and Madrid (2022).
Former Olympic champion supported Gymnasts rejecting 2024 Olympics.