‘…There’s nothing to say about the chess aspect… One of those places that you don’t feel sad about leaving.’
IMAGE: Ian Nepomniachtchi lost to unfancied Indian GM Diptayan Ghosh on Wednesday. Photograph: Turar Kazangapov/Reuters
Grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi on Thursday sparked controversy by leaving his hotel immediately after being eliminated from the FIDE World Cup and expressing dissatisfaction with the tournament conditions in Panaji.
Soon after losing 0.5-1.5 to Indian GM Diptayan Ghosh and bowing out of the prestigious event, the two-time World Championship challenger made a quick exit from the playing arena before checking out of his hotel within an hour of the defeat.
This is the first time in five years that Nepomniachtchi, the reigning World Blitz champion, will miss the Candidates Tournament.
A video posted by chessbase.in showed the 35-year-old Russian GM leaving the venue escorted by security personnel and later exiting the hotel with his luggage before departing in a cab.
According to the chess website, a message on the Russian’s Telegram channel stated: “I’d played in India before (in 2019 in Kolkata), so I had a general idea of what the conditions would be like. But FIDE (International Chess Federation) to their credit managed to surprise me. There’s nothing to say about the chess aspect… One of those places that you don’t feel sad about leaving.”
GM Diptayan said he still can’t believe he had defeated Nepomniachtchi, ranked 19th in the world.
“I myself can’t believe that I have won the game without even going into the tie-breaks. It’s definitely the biggest win of my career so far. I’ll take it. This will definitely motivate me to go further in my career,” said Diptayan after his victory in round 2.
Nepomniachtchi’s actions on Thursday drew strong reactions from the chess fraternity with Scottish Grandmaster Jacob Aagaard saying, “The exit of World Blitz Championship Finalist Ian Nepomniachtchi, and his exit from the top 20 happened as gracefully as we are used to from his side.”
“Being Russian is no longer an asset in chess. No one wants to invite someone who smears the event when he plays badly. And Nepomniachtchi is past the age of having a promising future,” he wrote on X.
“Most sports careers ends without noise. This whimper is likely to be the last important thing we will hear from Nepomniachtchi. If he continues in the future, he will be like other former stars, who are now bit players and occasionally bring back some memories of having been good with a few good games. But I doubt he will keep a serious work ethic, and he will end his career never having won a big trophy, although he was close so many times,” Aagaard added.
While Nepomniachtchi’s premature exit sent shockwaves through the chess world, it also marked the first time in history that no Russian player will qualify for the Candidates Tournament next year.
On December 31 last year, five-time World champion Magnus Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi had agreed to share the 2024 FIDE World Blitz Chess Championship title in New York after the final ended in a tie.
The outcome, a rare event in chess history, instantly sparked controversy about whether it was right to culminate the title this way. This was the first individual chess world championship title to be shared.
In June this year, Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri had criticised Nepomniachtchi and American GM Hikaru Nakamura for protesting their loss in the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Teams event, which led to a replay of their match.
Giri had questioned the duo’s sportsmanship, suggesting their protest was motivated by the loss itself. During the event, Nepomniachtchi, Nakamura, and Alireza Firouzja were late and lost their first game.
Their team, WR Chess, filed a protest, and the match was replayed.
Giri confronted the WR Chess team on camera, asking if they would have appealed if they had won the first game. He argued that it was unjust to get a second chance and questioned their sense of entitlement.
