“The champion has won, but my conscience is clear” — Vladislav Kovalev on the game against Magnus Carlsen

“In the beginning, I deliberately made my moves slowly in order to let my opponent recover and catch his breath after his delay, and thereby reduce the resulting time advantage. I wanted fair play. And then, when the time was evened out, he played at full strength. In principle, the game was equal. But this is blitz. And in seconds, of course, errors are natural. And in an equal endgame I made a mistake. But well, the champion won. But my conscience is clear.”