– The man on the board is the one who decides – VG

Dubai (VG) Jan Nepomnyashii (31) received help from a Russian supercomputer in preparations for the World Cup meeting with Magnus Carlsen (30).

The first match between them will be held in Dubai on Friday at 13:30 Norwegian time.

The news first appeared in Russian newspapers, and then in an interview with The Guardian newspaper with the Russian competitor.

– At least it can’t hurt my chances. In particular, this supercomputer, because it is a large data center used for scientific research, will hopefully be more efficient than others, Nipomnyashi tells the Guardian.

But the world champion’s father and manager Henrik Carlsen isn’t too worried:

– I can’t say much about this, but it is the man on the board who decides first of all, he says, to jump on crutches from the games room at the Expo Center in Dubai.

“The one who should be worried is Peter.” But he seemed strangely happy, Henrik Carlsen smiled.

“Peter” is Peter Heine Nielsen, a Dane who since 2013 has been Magnus Carlsen’s second president. Feel free to call it training. Not least, he is the one who distributes the tasks to all the seconds working with Carlsen in this World Cup. Nobody knows who they are or how many they are.

“The competitor has one of the fastest supercomputers in Russia on its side, but its Norwegian competitor is still the top candidate,” says the Guardian.

You are more confident in your analysis the faster the computer is, says Nybo, but you still underestimate:

– In general, all the big players have access to something similar. And chess machines, such as the Stockfish and Leela Chess Zero, are the most important tools. Everyone has them.

The supercomputer is Russia’s answer to Silicon Valley, Skolkovo. The Chairman of the Skolkovo Foundation happens to be named Arkady Dvorkovich, also known as the Chairman of FIDE (International Chess Federation).

Steinar H. Gunderson The man behind the Norwegian “Sisi Analysis” On chess games, this is when VG asked for comment on Nepomnjasjtsjij’s supercomputer:

– I think he uses computing power in the opening preparations. Hence it helps to have computing power, but it also helps to have good people around you.

-Obviously it’s good to have access to computing power, but how much computing power will really help? In any case, it is not automatic that the person with the most computing power wins, says the man behind the famous “Sesse”.

During the last World Cup match with Carlsen, he had as many as 27,000 users on Sesse at the same time.

– There is a lot of interest during the World Cup parties, he says.