photo: Ilya Levitov, with Russian team members Grischuk, Nepomniachtchi and Svidler

The Russian head coach, Evgeny Bareev, summed up the second round match against Hungary at the World Team Championship for his column in “Soviet Sport” (from where the photos are taken):

We prepared for the games very carefully, and this time it paid off. The openings went well: the players with Black equalised, while those with White applied pressure. Black on board one against Karjakin was the impenetrable Peter Leko. He stayed afloat without difficulty. But Judit Polgar didn’t have it so easy. Ian [Nepomniachtchi] summoned up his courage and played a smooth game. Black had a weak pawn which Ian could have taken, but in that case converting the win would have taken hours, and then it would have been goodbye to his evening billiards.

Team captain Bareev looks on at Nepomniachtchi - Polgar

But Ian, like an exceptional commander, tempted his opponent’s pieces over to one side of the board and then sacrificed a piece on the other, opening up the king. Polgar, who didn’t get up from the board once, nevertheless ended up in time trouble and couldn’t cope with her defensive problems.

Almost a more pressing issue in Bareev's diary was the issue of hotel catering limiting the players to two scoops of ice-cream a day. Bareev described it as a "real catastrophe" for Peter Svidler, and even added he'd considered offering an extra scoop of ice-cream for every win...