 "Both world No 5 Anish Giri and two-time Candidates winner Ian Nepomniachtchi made early exits from the 2025 FIDE World Cup, but only one of them put the blame on conditions and facilities. Image credit: FIDE")
Russian Grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi courted controversy recently after his dramatic exit from the ongoing FIDE World Cup in Goa. Following his second-round defeat at the hands of Indian GM Diptayan Ghosh , Nepomniachtchi stormed out of Resort Rio, the venue in Arpora where the tournament is currently taking place, proceeding straight to the airport and flying out of the country right away.
And in a video posted on his Telegram account after his exit from the World Cup, Nepomniachtchi slammed FIDE as well as the local organisers for their choice of venue in his native Russian language.
As per a loose translation provided by ChatGPT, the two-time Candidates winner not only criticised the amenities provided at Resort Rio – slamming the lack of meat options and describing the five-star property as ’three stars at best’ – but also cited other factors such as heat and mosquitoes as the reason for his early exit.
Indian players also face challenges in the West, says Dutch GM Giri
His claims however, have since been debunked by other leading players who have been part of the ongoing World Cup – the biggest chess event taking place in India since the 2022 Olympiad in Chennai. After Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk defended the tournament organisers and blamed Nepomniachtchi’s exit on his performance, world No 5 Anish Giri laughed off his claims as “funny”.
“I’d be lying if I said that it was not a challenge to play in India for Western players. But it’s the same, the other way around,” Dutch GM Giri said on Chess.com India’s live stream.
“Obviously I knew there will be some challenges playing in India. Things like jet lag and different food. But it’s fair, because when I play in my cold city of Wijk aan Zee (Tata Steel Chess), there are Indians playing there and suffering without Indian food. It’s too cold for them there. It’s the same situation, but the reverse.
“But it was not too hot here. The food was reasonably diverse with Western dishes too like pasta etc. The spice level was not as high as I was fearing. My main issue was jet lag. Now I have completely recovered from jet lag. I have mosquito repellant too. I’m completely ready. But now I have a flight back home,” added Giri, who crashed out of the World Cup after a third-round loss against Germany’s Alexander Donchenko.
Giri responds to Caruana and Chirila’s ‘bedbugs’ claim
It’s not just ‘Nepo’ who had complained regarding the conditions and facilities in Goa. World No 3 Fabiano Caruana, who had skipped the World Cup having already qualified for the Candidates, was discussing the tournament with Romanian GM Ioan-Cristian Chirila on the C Squared podcast, and claimed some players told them there were bedbugs in their hotel.
“People who are not here, they said that there are bedbugs here. It’s kinda funny because they’re not even here, they’re there (in the US)! They’re telling us that ‘you guys have bedbugs’. And now we’re in a state of panic: ‘where are the bedbugs?’ Some American guy is telling us that we have bedbugs here,” Giri continued, responding to Caruana and Chirila’s claim.
“And they’re saying that multiple sources have told them. I am like maybe it’s just one person who told many others and that’s why they’re hearing it from everywhere. I don’t have bedbugs in my room as far as I know,” he added.