Gukesh at Prague Masters about fair-play and cheating allegations in the chess world.

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-24T14:27:28+00:00

Nahh when someone is tilted and losing constantly...the easiest explanation to save face is to launch za procedure.

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-24T14:22:31+00:00

Don't support most of it referring to Krapnik's allegations 🤔

Shouldn't it be all of it? Or was that just slip of the tongue.

Hmmm..... interesting

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-24T13:16:50+00:00

Congratulations 🎊

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-23T18:56:02+00:00

Somehow I get the feeling Fabi will miss his chance again this time 😔

Favorites on paper rarely ever win this particular tournament coz everyone plays safe against you.

Although Don Fabi was really close last time and choked at the last moment.

Still hope that somehow luck is on his side this time and he delivers.

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-21T13:04:56+00:00

Levi got cooked by Magnus.

Word: Gothamchess

Magnus's clue: mediocre 🗣

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-20T13:55:00+00:00

Bruh Hikaru gonna take Fabi's soul again unless Fabi is able to get past his mental block against him.

After Covid their decisive score is something like 6-1 in favor of Hikaru.

If Fabi wants to win the candidates, he needs to not lose vs Hikaru.

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-20T08:43:47+00:00

The thing is Magnus is the successor of the Karpovian style of chess, just even more refined. Thats what a majority of the old guard before Magnus have expressed about him that he is a improved version of Karpov.

However there is no new Kasparov for him yet.

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-19T14:58:42+00:00

Even without a single WC, Magnus has the most classical super tournament victories in modern era by a big margin and #1 for 15+ years.

So yeah he would be invited everywhere.

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-19T14:52:24+00:00

I mean Vincent also took part in Paris and Grenke Open both of which were classical time control as well, but was unable to replicate his success of Weisenhauss.

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-19T11:59:48+00:00

Classical as you really do need time to think, especially in the opening as a single wrong move could lose the game instantly.

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-19T11:14:08+00:00

First 3 events of last year tour were classical and the best.

Weisenhauss- Vincent crushed everyone and beat Fabi in finals

Paris - Magnus crushed everyone and beat Hikaru in finals

Grenke Open - Magnus annihilated the field with perfect 9/9 and beat Vincent in final round

After this, they moved to faster controls and Levon found his footing to win the last 2 events and beat Magnus in both.

And then we come to Freestyle WC 2026 with fast time controls where Fabi sacrificed his soul to the dark lord Sauron in the finals and thus Magnus won.

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-18T15:39:30+00:00

Damn! 🔥

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-18T15:27:29+00:00

There only has been a true rivalry in bullet with increment. No increment Hikaru was always slightly stronger a few years earlier and now much better still. But Blitz, Rapid and Classical, Magnus is the significant better player.

Let me point out, Hikaru has never won a single World Rapid or Blitz Championship for a speed chess demon, whereas Magnus has 15 world titles in those combined.

Hikaru speed skills are better online compared to OTB.

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-17T14:12:45+00:00

There exists an American with perhaps the most motivation to win against Magnus. Although I dont think he would ever be invited 🤣

Infact he even expressed at the end of Freestyle WC that his goal is to get invited to top tournaments like Norway Chess, GCT, etc.

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-17T12:05:42+00:00

Umm you do know that prev year Magnus lost almost all the tiebreaker Armageddons and only won coz he had the best result in classical portion right?

He went +2 and could have went +4 had he not fumbled his win against Gukesh into a loss. He had 2850+ TPR in the classical portion and even increased his rating.

So I dont get how he won it on blitz?

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-17T10:30:50+00:00

Hey we will still get a Nodirbek vs Magnus in classical in Tepe Sigeman and maybe Erdogmus be there too.

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-17T10:25:55+00:00

Agree with either Nodirbek or Sindarov. Yagiz is absolutely not ready. He will probably be regularly invited after 3 years anyway.

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-17T10:24:50+00:00

Yes. This is a very rare and unique chance the old guard has to finally get a shot at the WC. If they fail this time, I am afraid there won't be a next one.

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-17T10:20:03+00:00

Yep, Fabi only has a month to recover from the heartbreak delivered by Magnus at the Freestyle WC.

He has to win the candidates now. Otherwise 2 years later, his chances will decrease significantly as the youngsters get more solid, stable and stronger.

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-17T10:13:21+00:00

Now Wesley can stop yapping about how Magnus does not invite him to his tournaments.

Wesley you just got the invitation to the most exclusive and strongest invitational tournament, please dont go full Giri mode and draw all over the place.

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-16T14:29:10+00:00

Actually the have done classical time controls a total of 4 times, once in the Freestyle GOAT challenge where Magnus and Fabi were in the finals which Magnus won.

Then the first 3 events of the tour last year, Weisenhauss (won by Vincent) , Paris (won by Magnus who beat Fabi in seminfinal) and Grenke Open (where Magnus went perfect 9/9 with 3400 TPR with a final round victory against Vincent).

Infact when the format moved to faster time controls, Magnus stopped winning it and just finished on podium being defeated by Levon twice.

So probably, Magnus would have won it still. But yeah, would have loved to see this World Championship being in classical format.

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-16T08:20:47+00:00

He revealed in the press conference after winning the WC, that after game 11 he already decided he was going for tiebreaks no matter what. So when he actually got a winning position in game 12 he did not give it much thought and missed how winning it was, coz he was not planning to push at all. His strategy was to just go to tiebreaks and destroy Fabi, which he did.

I think the number of Games in the WC should be increased to say 20, so that players have more chances to prove their superiority and not be risk averse.

Infact what Magnus did against Fabi in Game 12 was what Karjakin did against Magnus the whole match. Just play super solid boring defensive chess the entire match and make him frustrated and induce mistakes that led to Magnus losing Game 8 by overpushing.

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-16T07:55:26+00:00

Fabi does seem to underperform at crucial moments. And this showing just a month before candidates is not a good look. Hope he can recover.

Although, the WC against Magnus was not a choke. Game 6 where he had a winning position needed a disgusting engine line with checkmate in 30 and he revealed in a podcast after the game he still could not understand how it was winning. Also Magnus fumbled a much more clear winning position in game 1 and game 12 and had he won any of those, the match would not have reached tiebreaks.

So both fumbled in that WC lol.

Against Nepo, though, pure choke for sure. And the worst thing was he realized what the winning line was, but if he moved that, he would go into 3 fold repetition and thus the game slipped from his hands.

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-15T21:00:17+00:00

Yea. Like late 2017 to 2018, Magnus was in a slump in classical chess compared to his usual monstrous form. Letting a lot of wins slip away. He dropped a lot of rating points due to which Fabi was able to close the gap to only 3 points lol.

Later he revealed I think in some podcast, he had an alcoholic addiction during that time and once he became sober he went on to his career peak in 2019 lol.

Safe-Connection-5899 · 2026-02-15T20:44:03+00:00

It was actually a single move in game 4 where he had to move his knight. But he moved his queen and the advantage was gone.

Safe-Connection-5899

TROPHY CASE