Airthings Masters SF: Carlsen and Nepo reach the final

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
2/25/2022 – It has been a tough day for everyone. Vladimir Putin’s appalling decision to invade Ukraine has shocked the world, and his actions have been condemned by most world leaders. At the Airthings Masters, three out of four semifinalists hail from Russia, with Ian Nepomniachtchi confessing after beating Andrey Esipenko, “I can’t think”. Nepo will face Magnus Carlsen in the finals of the online tournament, in a rematch of the recent contest for the World Championship title. | Photo: Niki Riga

ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024 ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024

It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.

More...

Clouded minds

We could not have asked for a better pairing in the final of the Airthings Masters, but the whole semifinals of the online tournament were overshadowed by the crisis in Ukraine. With three out of four players hailing from Russia, we cannot but attribute — at least partly — what was seen on the matches to the sombre situation in Eastern Europe.

Ian Nepomniachtchi, who got a clear 2½-½ victory over Andrey Esipenko playing from his house in Moscow, later lamented:

My play is very, very bad. I can’t think, I only rely on intuition, and I can’t calculate any lines. [...] Every day is challenging, and today, yeah, I would say especially.

Meanwhile, his 19-year-old opponent shared on Twitter:

Very much hoped for a peaceful solution to the situation... It’s horrible to know that all this is happening...

Ian Nepomniachtchi

Ian Nepomniachtchi in Moscow

The remaining Russian in the semis, Vladislav Artemiev, also lost his match after only three games, as he was defeated by world champion Magnus Carlsen by the same 2½-½ score.

Now that world leaders have announced sanctions against Russia, and other sporting organizations have been resolute in their condemnation of Putin’s actions, the chess world is waiting to see how FIDE reacts to the situation. The International Chess Federation, headed by Russian Arkady Dvorkovich, planned to hold this year’s Olympiad in Moscow. As per their tweet, they will “review holding of all the planned FIDE official chess competitions and events in Russia”.

Peter Heine Nielsen, Carlsen’s main coach, concisely shared what is currently the general sentiment among chess enthusiasts on social media:

We can only agree.

Nepomniachtchi 2½ - ½ Esipenko

After a draw in which both players missed chances to get ahead on the scoreboard, Nepo took the lead by outplaying his young compatriot in a tactical skirmish.

 

Esipenko could not resist attacking the invading rook with 26.Nf2, which turned out to be the losing mistake. Nepo immediately found the refutation — 26...Rxd2 27.Bxd2 Nxg2

 

Black has crashed through, with his queen and bishop ready to infiltrate on f3. Esipenko tried to defend with 28.Re4, but soon realized there was no way to stop Black’s forces from wreaking havoc on the kingside. Resignation came four moves later.

 

Carlsen 2½ - ½ Artemiev

The world champion kicked off with a win, and then showed his usual stupendous endgame technique to convert a knight endgame a pawn to the good.

 

As our in-house expert GM Karsten Müller shows in his annotations (see game 2 in the replayer below), 72.Nd6 drew for White, while Artemiev’s 72.Ng5 is actually the deciding mistake. The problem is that after 72...Nd8, the white knight has been fully neutralized.

 

The conversion from this position was no easy task, however. Artemiev only conceded defeat after move 102!

 

Links


Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register

oxygenes oxygenes 3/6/2022 03:56
@lajosarpad
Can you here write reasons, why would russian side trust NATO, if leaders of NATO breaked promises about not expanding NATO to the east? Russian side promised allows unification of Germany as exchange and kept her word.
lajosarpad lajosarpad 3/3/2022 02:41
@oxygenes I can perfectly understand your Russian patriotic concerns about NATO's expansion right into the Russian borders. I also understand that you detested to see that Russians were brutally oppressed by Ukraine and the fact that self-determination was not granted to them. But even though these concerns are understandable, depriving Ukrainians from self-representation and killing many of them is even worse than what Ukraine did with Russians. I see Ukrainian young people willing to sacrifice their lives for their nation and country. I admire them, even though Ukraine was a Hellhole for minorities in the last 8 years. Also, to be frank, before Russia annexed the Crimea, Ukraine was much more lenient with its minorities. The oppression we have seen in the last 8 years against minorities was directly caused by Ukrainian fears that more territories will be lost.
lajosarpad lajosarpad 3/3/2022 02:35
@oxygenes the Hungarian minority was brutally oppressed by Ukraine in the last 8 years. Ukrainian chauvinistic people created death lists with Hungarian names and addresses on them, openly terrorized them (the most reprehensible example is when the KMKSZ's (Transcarpatic Hungarian Cultural Association) building was attacked with molotov cocktails). Official Ukrainian politics banned the use of the Hungarian language on the streets and passed a law that forces Hungarian schools to teach math and other materials using the Ukrainian language. So, something had to be done. Hungary's response to this was to block any Ukrainian attempt to join NATO or the EU until Ukraine stops oppressing Hungarians. That's a peaceful solution. Russia has large gas reserves. It could have pressurized Ukraine to respect the rights of the Russian minority via using the gas pipe as a geopolitcal pressurizer. It would have been a peaceful measure that would have inevitably led to success. But mister Putin decided to solve the issue in the most destructive and primitive means possible. It is clear that the goal was much more than solving the minority issues. The very existence of this war proves that Russia wants to obtain territory.

I strongly oppose communism. It was enforced on my region by the Red Army (after raping all the women they could find) and that system did not work at all. People in the west, who never had to deal with communism might underestimate the destructiveness of these ideas. When I see red flags in the hands of Russian soldiers, the new republic in the Donbas is calling itself "people's republic" and Putin speaks about his comrades, it is clear to me that this is Soviet imperialism. The very fact that formerly Hungarian territories can be found in the Ukraine was caused by the first communist terror-regime in Hungary in 1919, which decided to disarm Hungary when hungry neighbors were about to attack it.
oxygenes oxygenes 3/1/2022 01:39
@lajosarpad
4. building these memorials for SS members is another symptom for russian side, that EU is going by wrong way.
5. i did not followed Putin spech visualy, had another job to do. For red flag. just one thing. Actual russian three-colour is flag, what gave Hitler for forces, which took fight against soviet army. You can find such fotos. So this can be sign for russian nation to decide, which side will support.
6. For comrades - word, similar like name of political system capitalism, socialism, is just name. Whole matter is in behavior of peoples, which have power.
7. and now (if you follow russian news, you can see background of this), when eventualy russian army attacked, whole world is shocked. I agree with you, war is bad solution, my country is in danger too, but what do you expected? There was just bad options for Russia. Allows Ukraina go into NATO or take preventive measurement. First unacceptable for national security of Russia, second take responsibility for military opration.
8. Starting military action follows goals like demilitarisation, denazification, debenderisation, finish civil war in Ukraina. Still, there will remanis wrong memories for long time.
oxygenes oxygenes 3/1/2022 01:38
@lajosarpad
well, i wanted close my attention to this theme here and not anwer more, this whole lead nowhere.
Still you have some good points, instead of some others.
1. If promises about expanding NATO were broken, logicaly (members of) EU is untrustworthy partner for Russia.
2. 8 years we can hear from Ukraina and our news, that russian army started war. From very start of conflict in Donbass there is dislocated mission OBSE, no one proof of this they gave.
3. you can easily find speech of Poroshenko about that, how russian minority will live in cellars. it is open expression of nationalist hatred. 8 years lives rusian minority under fire, still not enough for you?
How long will wait Hungary, if hungarian minority will live in such terms?
And what did EU? Started some sanctions against Ukraine?
arzi arzi 3/1/2022 11:31
To lajosarpad: The first time ever I agree you. Am I changing in something strange and neo?
lajosarpad lajosarpad 3/1/2022 11:23
@Oxygenes I would like to first react on what I agree with. I think you are right that from Russian perspective it is unacceptable that the West wanted to include Ukraine into its military alliance, despite the fact that it was promised that states east from Germany will not be included into NATO. It is also understandable that Russia will not sit idly. But Russia invaded the whole of Ukraine in an aggression unprecedented since WWII in Europe, threatens to use nuclear weapons and killed many civilians. So, while I do agree that Russia had to do something about the situation, in almost all situations, war is a bad answer. The resistance shown by the Ukrainian people is showing that they view the Russian army as occupiers. Also, Putin uses the word "comrade" and I see red flags in the footage. Seeing all this, I strongly disagree with Putin's aggression, even though I understand that Russia viewed the current situation as a threat. But in this war none of the sides will be victorious. It is quite possible that Russia will occupy Ukraine. And what then? There will be tens of millions of people hating Russia there, millions of refugees, destroyed buildings and infrastructure. I really hope that the civilized Russian nation will tell mister Putin that this is too much. I share your concerns about the minorities in Ukraine, but they will also have to pay the price of this war, so this is a really bad solution. So, while I agree with your problem statement, I disagree with Putin's solution.
arzi arzi 3/1/2022 10:07
To oxygenes: "I hope, that you are right for common peoples. For most of politics i can not express here my oppinion, because i do not want be banned for roughness. :)"

Neo roughness because you said that with the big smile.
arzi arzi 3/1/2022 09:58
To oxygenes:"Just trolling again? You cry upon wrong grave."

You should use the word - neo trolling. New meaning to the old saying. Are you neosomething? Maybe you tell me -"then you better keep closed your mouth." with smiling emoticon - Neo closed. :)
oxygenes oxygenes 3/1/2022 08:09
@arzi
Just trolling again? You cry upon wrong grave.
arzi arzi 3/1/2022 06:51
To oxygenes: "Neonazis"

Jeee, it is always a great thing to learn "new" words and their meanings. Like Neo in the world of Matrix. If you are bored with ordinary words you can use your own neo words. Neonazi, neostalin, neotrump, neoputin, neocuba, neothis, neothat,... Why do we have to talk about Russia and USA at all when we can use the much elegant word like Neo Soviet Union or Neo Trumpland? Neo Earth is also great for neo animals and neo flowers. There is no Warsaw Pact anymore but we can change that situation. Let`s call it Neo Warsaw Pact and let`s have there also Neo Nato. All those fallen statues of Stalin and Hitler, let`s have them back, as Neo Stalin statue side by side with Neo Hitler statue. Ooh, what a great image that would be! Two great neo heros shaking hands with each others. Let`s change the whole world to Neo World! The developing countries are now neo developing countries, as ndc. To each of us something neo.
oxygenes oxygenes 2/28/2022 07:48
@lajosarpad
It is nice, that you understand Russia feelings, and you can imagine, i understand such too. And it would be very strange, if Russia faced danger just stay passive and waits, what happens. It is not very right place for such discussion, but ok. I do not like, when leadership of EU silently agree with building memorial for SS members and you can believe me, that Russians do not likes it too. How can be EU trustworthy partner for Russia, if allows such things? How can Russia understand march neonazis in Kijev? There is just only explanation, ukrainian goverment support neonazis. So, though i do not like this situation, can understand effort of russian side do not allows NATO membership for Ukraina. There is such example, when USA did not allowed disclocation of soviet rockets for Cuba. It was matter of national security for USA and Ukraina is matter of national security for Russia. 7 years ignoring of Minsk agreements and effort of ukrainian president acquire nuclear weapons was probably last step over. If you have other view, it is normal. You can thanks to these politician, which allowed or silently agreed with these neonazi provocations. As you could observe, Putin in his speech in Munchen 2007 said very clearly, that Russia take own way for independece and do not allows dictate to her. These ignorants in EU did not understood nothing, no one received it seriously, result is here.
lajosarpad lajosarpad 2/28/2022 03:17
@Oxygenes I understand that Russia felt itself to be in danger. However, this invasion threatens the globe with WWIII and kills many innocent people, it also violates the right for self-determination of Ukrainians. I strongly believe that the nation of Solzhenitsyn, Tchaikovsky, Dostoievski is a civilized nation and I really hope that this civilized nation will strongly express an opinion that opposes the current war and that will force Putin to avoid starting a nuclear war, which is his latest threat.
oxygenes oxygenes 2/28/2022 08:51
@Ellrond
During last 50 years there were enough conquering wars for grabing resources, when one state (or group of states) attacked another country, claiming, that defend his national interests, human right, ... Still, as i understand, you consider these countries as civilised. So you can keep your view one for all. I expect, that you read Minsk agreement from 2015 year. Here is very clearly wroten, what must do particular singnaturers. And you can easily check, what was done. I still cannot quess, which part of body thinked presidents of Germany, France and Ukraine, when signed these agreements. Because fulfilling of these agrements means full defeat of Ukrainian regime. Other posibility is, that they intentionaly planned not fulfilling these agrements.
Why bother itself for some agreements, they are however civilised.
If you followed situation before Minsk agreements, probably you know, there was real possibility, that resistance after Debalcevo was ready go to Kijev by force. Minsk agreements gave chance to Ukrainian regime solve whole conflict by peaceful way. How it ended, you can see by yourself. Ignoring these agreements by Germany and France too was not very civilised, or on the contrary just civilised?
arzi arzi 2/28/2022 07:08
adbennet:"Anything written by arzi. -- I don't understand *what* he is saying, so I don't know whether to agree or disagree."

It is okey not to understand. Even I don`t understand myself. I didn´t start this war in Ukraine, not even the WW2, but still somebody else started this conversation about WW2. Somebody started talking about nazis and also mixed the facts at the same time. Hitler, Stalin, who cares. The same shit in the different packages. But you, me, all should know the history of the WW2. To know about the WW2 we should also know why did the WW2 start. What did cause WW2. To know what happened when WW2 started we might prevent the WW3, maybe.

USA started few weeks ago the information war against Russian. They published the information that Russian is going to start the attack against the Ukraine. Why did they started to publish that thing? They did it on one purpose only. To prevent the Mainila happening again, In Ukraine. Still in vain because people have too short of memory. They also think they know better than others. They make false accusations to prove themselves right. "Perimeter conclusions", as Lajosarpad would say. "Troll!" as oxygenes would shout in a loud voice. Would you say this way, adbennet? "If you are NOT with us you are against us? Are you a troll?"
Ellrond Ellrond 2/28/2022 07:03
Hi Oxygen, it's also great that you distinguish between the leadership and the people, which is a complex relationship and goes beyond we can analyze here. I think the the Russian is people is very civilized, however their leadership left civilization and they represent the state. As long as they do this, the Russian state has left civilization
oxygenes oxygenes 2/27/2022 01:41
@lajosarpad
I hope, that you are right for common peoples. For most of politics i can not express here my oppinion, because i do not want be banned for roughness. :)
lajosarpad lajosarpad 2/27/2022 01:24
@Oxygenes in my opinion member nations of the EU and Russian people are both civilized people, even though the political leadership may act in an uncivilized manner.
oxygenes oxygenes 2/27/2022 12:19
@Ellrond
Are you sure? I have feeling, that you are just another troll. You try put your own thinking into my comment. I reacted for theme civilised nations. If you consider behavior of european states in Africa, America, Asia against native tribes as civilised, then you better keep closed your mouth. What are members in EU, if they silently agrees for building memorials for SS members? Is such behavior civilised? If yes, there is high time ask: Quo vadis, EU?
Ellrond Ellrond 2/27/2022 07:48
Hi Oxygene, its good that you compare Russian assault on Ukraine to WW2, we could add Holodomor. Because this Russian civilization break is of same oder
oxygenes oxygenes 2/27/2022 06:55
@lajosarpad
I agree. Arzi is intentionaly troll.
lajosarpad lajosarpad 2/26/2022 06:02
@adbennet Arzi is a commenter from Finland and English is not his main language. However, I have bad experience in discussing several things with him, because I have the impression that he purposely misrepresents what others say. For example:

Oxygenes: "So see just Stalin is very democratic from you, because many Russians like Stalin. "

In the above, Oxygenes wants to point out that even though Stalin was a dictator, he is very popular in Russia (because he was the leader who successfully defended them against Hitler). Yet, Arzi's response is

"Hah, that was the best. The democratic Stalin? Did you mean autocratic? "
so he misrepresents the original comment, as if Oxygenes was an admirer of Stalin or anything of the like. Quite the contrary, Oxygenes pointed out that even an absolutely reprehensible person, such as Stalin can be popular. I may add, Hitler was also elected... I'm convinced that Arzi intentionally misrepresented Oxygene's comment and then attacked his own misrepresentation. This kind of logical fallacy is called the straw man argument.

This kind of dishonest behavior from Arzi made me realize that he is not worth my time. Disagreements should be discussed in honest debates, trying to hear the arguments of the other side, maybe they have a good point or two.
lajosarpad lajosarpad 2/26/2022 06:01
@adbennet self-determination is difficult in Eastern-Europe where several nations live on the same territory, each wanting its own interest to be fulfilled. There is no solution that would be supported by everyone. Yet, if a nation cannot live in its own country, (like Hungarians in Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romanians in Ukraine, Russians in Moldavia, Latvia or Ukraine etc.), then the second best solution for these groups of people is that they could have autonomy, like Catalonians in Spain, Germans in South-Tirol, Scotsman and Welsh people in Great Britain, etcetera. That would provide a level of national freedom even for minorities, so radical movements would be less likely to gain momentum.
adbennet adbennet 2/26/2022 02:59
Some things I agree with here:

oxygenes: "... is ripping little part from big content." -- Agree, context is everything.

lajosarpad: "... akin to the missile crisis in Cuba in the 60'ties." -- Yes, but really the West is _always_ faced with an inherent contradiction because self-determination is too complicated to form the foundation of foreign policy. See also the point about big content.

Quanber: "Putin and Trump together could lay the entire planet in ruins." -- That could still happen.

Some things I disagree with here:

Whataboutism in general. -- Leader of nation A cannot criticize leader of nation B today, because of something else that happened decades ago between nation A and nation C ???

Some things I don't know about here:

Anything written by arzi. -- I don't understand *what* he is saying, so I don't know whether to agree or disagree.
arzi arzi 2/25/2022 12:38
There are always the whom to blame. Never I and my thoughts and actions. I did bad things for the good reasons. The world is full of good intentions and poor outcomes.
arzi arzi 2/25/2022 12:22
I am 100% convinced that the cause of this crisis in Ukraine is related to the war caused by Nazi Germany 80 years ago, which in turn was due to the outcome of the First World War. World War I, on the other hand, was the result of the Franco-Prussian War ... Let`s hope that chess will continue forever without casulties.
Quanber Quanber 2/25/2022 12:19
I completely agree with lajosarpad. Perhaps also with Arzi if i understand his comments.

I know very well the history of the division of Poland. A secret pact for the division of Poland should never be called non-aggressive ! Prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, there is no secret pact between NATO and Russia to divide Ukraine. This does not mean that NATO has behaved wisely towards Ukraine. Which has a border of 2,300 km with Russia located down to 600 km from Moscow. It does not require any official examination in history to realize that it will give Russia paranoia to have a large military power located on this border line.

NATO could have acted with understanding for this, but has instead trampled around Ukraine like an elephant in a glass shop, putting pressure on Ukraine to become a member.

My point in comparing Putin to Hitler was only to point out that invasions are not started by nations. The transition from peaceful negotians to war are started by few people with nations as hostages. It takes a self-centered powerful person with a narcissistic personality disorder to cross the line. Putin and Trump together could lay the entire planet in ruins.

Chess is a means of bringing people from all parts of the world together in peaceful struggle and friendship. My proposal is therefore that FIDE this summer holds an alternative Olympiad only for politicians. Perhaps with teams of mixed nationality. It could be conveniently settled in Kiev if there are any buildings left.
lajosarpad lajosarpad 2/25/2022 11:47
I really hope that somehow a peaceful solution will be found. I would disagree with people who call the Russian nation "uncivilized" because of the actions of the current political leadership. Yes, the attack against Ukraine is a shockingly aggressive step committed by Russia, however, if we look at the reasons for this action, we see that NATO wanted to include Ukraine, which would endanger Russian security at its own borders, akin to the missile crisis in Cuba in the 60'ties. Also, Ukraine treated extremely badly its minorities, Russian, Polish, Hungarian, Romanian people ever since it has lost the Crimea. So Putin speaks about protecting the Russian minority in Ukraine, which I'm sure contributes to the reasons for which Putin attacked Ukraine, but I think the main reason is Russia's geopolitical interest. But putting geopolitical aspects aside, it is clear that the price for the grand political scheme will be paid by civilians. Sadly. Also, if parts (or the whole) of Ukraine is annexed to Russia, then I wonder whether the new host would treat its Ukrainian minority any better than Ukraine treated its minorities. I'm sure FIDE will not allow Russian players to represent their country for a while.
arzi arzi 2/25/2022 11:11
Me? Do you mean the word democratic as an insult? I accept that insult with gratitude. Thanks.
oxygenes oxygenes 2/25/2022 10:59
@arzi.
"Hah, that was the best. The democratic Stalin?"

Not. I was meaning you. :)
arzi arzi 2/25/2022 10:58
You started talking about WW2, not me. You also mixed the facts "20 millions dead russian civilians anihilated by "higher race" in WW2". That was Stalin doing. If you want to be proud of Stalin that is fine for me.
oxygenes oxygenes 2/25/2022 10:52
@arzi - The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
why you forget Poland-Germany pact 1936? and GB, FR- Germany pact 1938, where GB-FR alliance betrayed Czechoslovakia? when you see it all together and add situation from.WW1 end, you can see situation "All against USSR". Nothing unusual, just little detail. Pact Molotov–Ribbentrop in its consequences turn Germany against west Europe, they were not unified more. And USSR got little time for war preparations and GB were forced somehow coperate with USSR. If you turn back into history even more, you can ask yourself, who was responsible for keeping Germany demilitarized WW1 after. Just little hint, the same countries, who betrayed Czechoslovakia in 1938.
So saying, that Pact Molotov–Ribbentrop was responsible for WW2 is ripping little part from big content.
Yet you can here explain behavior FR-GB armies, when Germany attacked Poland, two months without single shot, waiting on Germany borders. What for were they waiting?
arzi arzi 2/25/2022 10:51
Oxygenes: "So see just Stalin is very democratic from you, because many Russians like Stalin. And just one thing, try use own brain, do not blindly believe propaganda."

Hah, that was the best. The democratic Stalin? Did you mean autocratic? The winners have written history. If Hitler had won the WW2 Stalin would have remembered as a great devil himself. No, I`m not a fan of Hitler or Stalin either. They both have started holocaust. There is no need propaganda of it.
oxygenes oxygenes 2/25/2022 10:12
@arzi
i am glad, that you not questioned my comment, just tried add some more theme. That means, you silently agree with me.
i reacted for theme "civilised nations". I you consider behavior civilised nations in Africa and America(Asia) as normal, the same for building memorials for SS member, then you have no right judge, who is civilised and who not. Even more, if you agree with these things, i must consider, that you are the same type, as these, who did these crimes.
And yes, i remember all these things about Stalin, from different sources. Here is intentionaly created dense fog, not all, what is shinnig, is true.
German employer at my work gave me Alexander the Great as example of men, who reached his goal. I agreed, just added, that by price of tragedy and death many peoples. Napoleon, the same usurpator and still are proud of him in France. So see just Stalin is very democratic from you, because many Russians like Stalin.
And just one thing, try use own brain, do not blindly believe propaganda. :)
arzi arzi 2/25/2022 10:01
To Quanber:"The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that enabled those two powers to partition Poland between them. The pact was signed in Moscow on 23 August 1939 by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov[1] and was officially known as the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Soon after the pact, Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin ordered the Soviet invasion of Poland on 17 September."
arzi arzi 2/25/2022 09:54
The shots in Mainila were an incident in the village of Mainila on November 26, 1939, staged by the Soviet Union, which led to the unilateral termination of the non-aggression pact between Finland and the Soviet Union. Four days later, the winter war between Finland and the Soviet Union began when the Soviet Union invaded Finland. The Russians have later admitted the artillery strike in question, staged by the Soviet Union itself, was intended to make Finland look like an attacker in the Winter War. This proven tactic has now been used in Ukraine as well.
Quanber Quanber 2/25/2022 09:48
I hope Russian chess players have the courage to express solidarity with the Ukrainian people. It will really matter if they refuse to represent Russia in this situation. They are victims too.

We should all agree on Magnus Carlsen's coach Peter Heine Nielsen, who has expressed the view that the Olympics can not be held in Moscow 2022.

Putin's invasion of Ukraine is a gruesome copy of Hitler's invasion of Poland in 1939. With the same motive, ancient territories were to be reclaimed.

The attack did not trigger any world war because solidarity with Poland was on paper. It came later, as Hitler obviously could not stop with Poland.Exactly the same thing will happen here and the end result will also be exactly the same. Before that, it will be five dark years for humanity.
arzi arzi 2/25/2022 09:32
To oxygenes: Maybe you can also fresh your memory about millions dead Soviet Union "comrades" because of Stalin? Stalin began genocide in the Soviet Union long before Hitler invaded the country and continued the act after the WW2.
oxygenes oxygenes 2/25/2022 09:06
@Ellrond
May be you can remember behavior of civilised nations in Africa or America against original nations. About 20 millions dead russian civilians anihilated by "higher race" in WW2 and civilised nations have no problem with building memorials for these SS war criminals. So who is civilised?
arzi arzi 2/25/2022 08:28
This is just a new version of the the russian opening, so called Kiev-Putin variation. How to mate lonely King in 200 000 moves without pawn captures.