With an undefeated score of 11/15, Daniil Dubov won the $60,000 first prize at the World Rapid Championship in St. Petersburg. With 10/12 Ju Wenjun also remained undefeated, retained her world rapid title and earned $40,000.
“Sometimes you play well and you win thanks to it, but sometimes you can just be lucky. I think the latter thing is more about me in the tournament. It was not that I was playing very well actually,” said a modest Dubov after he won the biggest prize of his career.
This success came only a few days after Dubov’s grandfather had passed away.
Asked about this by the Norwegian channel NRK, Dubov said: “My family obviously supported me and we had a short talk; everybody told me I have to go and play. I did it. I can’t say it affected me dramatically. It wasn’t like I was in my hotel room crying; not the case.”
It was also revealed today that Dubov had been part of Carlsen’s team for preparing for the 2018 world championship match. “I was in his team, so probably he gave me too many lessons!” Dubov said.
