Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen told who was on his team in the match for the chess crown against Jan Nepomniachtchi, which ended in an early victory of the Norwegian after 11 games.

At the same time, for the first time since 2007, the champion won four of them at once.

Dane Peter Heine Nielsen, Frenchman Laurent Fressinet, German Jan Gustafsson, Dutchman Jorden van Forest and Daniil Dubov helped the Norwegian prepare for the competition.

Describing the role of the Russian, Carlsen noted his curiosity, ingenuity and creativity.

Late last year, Dubov even beat Magnus in the quarterfinals of the Champions Chess Tour Airthings Masters online tournament.

Then Daniel won two games with white pieces, and ended the opposition in a draw with black.

Now @MagnusCarlsen reveals his team!

@PHChess "the adult in the room", @FressinetL "I wanted someone French & MVL & Bacrot were not available", @GMJanGustafsson "the go-to guy for medium & low-culture references", @jordenvforeest, "the new guy "& ideas man Dubov!

# CarlsenNepopic.twitter.com / I45fFzLPn2

- chess24.com (@ chess24com) December 10, 2021

This is not the first time the Norwegian has worked with 25-year-old Dubov.

The 2018 world champion in rapid chess has helped the grandmaster before, but there was no information about his work in Carlsen's team in the title confrontation with Nepomniachtchi.

After the publication of the video about the seconds, many criticized Dubov.

In particular, grandmaster Sergei Karjakin, who fought Carlsen five years ago, noted that he would never have done that himself.

“I wouldn't even think of that.

I would not even consider this, nor would I try to entice any of the Norwegians.

I would never do that in my life, but let it be on his conscience.

Danya is a strong grandmaster, but I don’t understand his actions.

It's hard to say how much this affected Carlsen's victory - he has a large team.

But Dubov was in it and made a contribution - that's for sure, "- quotes the words of the chess player" Championship ". 

The former executive director of the Russian Chess Federation, Ilya Levitov, was also surprised.

The specialist noted that Dubov talks a lot about his patriotism, but at the same time he acted against his compatriot.

“Last night it became known that Daniil was helping Magnus at the match.

To be honest, I didn’t believe it at first, but it turned out to be true.

Somehow I can’t put it in my head.

Daniel is so fond of telling how proud he is to play for the Russian national team, that we have a great chess power and we must always win, "Levitov wrote in his Telegram channel. 

Grandmaster Sergei Shipov, in turn, suggested that Dubov no longer be included in the Russian national team.

“Eh, Danya, Danya ... Well, why? How much? Why it was impossible to relax one match or comment on it on any Internet resource - bright and talented! And now the seeds of discord have been thrown into the national team. It turns out the classic situation "stranger among friends." For example, imagine that Duda is playing a title match and Wojtaszek is helping his opponent. How will this case be viewed in Warsaw? Or Mamedyarov is fighting in the match of his life, and Radjabov is in another trench. Do you really think that everyone in Baku will take this situation calmly? PS I think that now Dubov will not play for the Russian national team. And rightly so, "Shipov wrote on the Crestbook Chess Telegram channel.

Daniel himself reacted calmly to criticism in his address and noted that this was not the first time he had heard such discontent. The grandmaster suggested looking at the situation from a different angle: the experience of working with Carlsen will help him in his future career. 

“The fact that someone might not like it is not news. This is not the first time I have encountered this. I take this relatively calmly. This is not a problem for me. I think for Jan too. I don’t know where it comes from that a Russian should not help a foreigner prepare for a title match with a Russian. Not from a big mind, probably. There are some imperial ambitions - everyone is against us, everyone is enemies. Especially if something doesn't work out for us. In general, logically, you can look at all this differently. From the point of view of the national team, one of the best Russian chess players, relatively young, worked with the best chess player in history. I gained experience that will help me in my career. For example, after my previous collaboration with Magnus, I won the World Rapid Chess Championship. This is also how you can look at the situation. And you can see it in the context of yours - strangers ",- said Dubov.

Nepomniachtchi himself has not yet commented on Dubov's work in Carlson's team.

Earlier, he said that he worked with Daniel, who later began to cooperate with the Norwegian.

“Danya and I watched something together some time ago: in 2015, 2016 and, possibly, in 2017.

I have successfully applied some of his ideas.

In 2018 he started working with Magnus, so I don’t know.

The main thing is how comfortable he will be.

Everyone defines these boundaries for himself, ”the grandmaster noted.