Ivanchuk's mouth cap

When Vassily Ivanchuk appeared in the playing hall for his round 5 game against Magnus Carlsen, almost all participants of the Tal Memorial couldn't resist a smile. This unique moment, just before the games started, was captured and uploaded to YouTube.

The following video shows the start of the 5th round in Moscow. At the end Ivanchuk is briefly interviewed - visitors who master the Russian language are welcome to add a translation in the comments!

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Update: as Amos writes us, the clip is from the "Chess Review" program that runs on the NTV-Sport TV channel.

First Vassily is asked about the solid opening variation he used in the game and says that he wanted to place the emphasis of the battle on the middlegame, but the game quickly transposed to the endgame and a draw is a logical result.

Them he is asked about his mask - if he was afraid to catch the virus from Magnus. Ivanchuk answers that "Well, yeah... I was kinda told that Aronian got ill after the game against him... So I decided... In any case."

At last he is asked about his play in the tournament and he answers that there are still four round to go and a lot can happen.