 "Resort Rio owner Anup Shah hit back at Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi over his sensational claims regarding food and service at the venue of the 2025 FIDE World Cup. Image credit: YouTube screengrab/FIDE")
The FIDE Chess World Cup that had taken place in Goa recently was largely a successful event, but had made headlines for the wrong reasons for sometime. Russian chess star Ian Nepomniachtchi, after all, had pinned the blame for his early exit from the tournament on Resort Rio in Arpora, the venue for one of the biggest chess events on Indian soil in recent years.
Nepomniachtchi, who had suffered a second-round exit with a defeat against Indian Grandmaster Diptayan Ghosh, had accused the resort of offering sub-standard rooms, food and service . ‘Nepo’ added that the resort’s shortcomings, together with other factors such as heat, humidity and mosquitoes and jet lag, had affected his sleep and prevented him from getting enough rest.
Also Read | ‘Loser talking’: Dutch GM slams Nepomniachtchi for critical comments on Goa, FIDE after World Cup exit
World No 3 Fabiano Caruana and Romanian GM Ioan-Cristian Chirila had also discussed bedbugs being found in some of the rooms in their ‘C-Squared’ podcast. While neither player had featured in the 206-player tournament, they claimed to have heard it from those who were in Goa.
‘If I decide to go to Siberia and complain about the cold’
Resort Rio owner Anup Shah, however, rubbished Nepomniachtchi as well as Caruana’s claims, painting the reigning world blitz champion and two-time Candidates winner’s claims as absurd, stating it is something that he did not expect from a rational, logical thinker that chess players are supposed to be.
“It surprised me, because people should not be commenting on things. Not Grandmasters reacting like this, emotionally. Chess players are supposed to be rational, logical thinkers, and here we have people who complain about humidity. I mean it’s a bit like if I decide to go to Siberia and complain about the cold. There will be mosquitoes here. We’re in a tropical country,” Shah told ChessBase India.
“To be complaining about, ‘Well I’m getting pineapples everyday’. That’s not true, because the standard buffet that is there, that’s for everyone. We’re trying to please everyone. We can’t just please the Russians or the Iranians or the Turks. We have to create a menu that suits everyone.
“The point is Nepo talking about, ‘Well I’m not getting calories through pineapples’. But I can prove him wrong, because I did research that point, and actually pineapples have more calories than meat. Pineapples are better for your brain. It makes you think better than having too much meat. That is the research I’ve done
“It does affect us, because we are doing our level best. But we can’t please everyone. We can’ t put 90 per cent meat (in the menu). Non-vegetarians can eat vegetarian food, but not the other way round. That’s not possible. So that affected us,” he added.
Shah, who is a practicing lawyer in the United Kingdom who spends the winter months looking after his resort in Goa, added that ‘Nepo’ could have ordered meat-based dishes for himself instead of having to contend himself with pineapples from the buffet, but chose to complain about it on social media instead.
‘Nepo could have ordered steaks, lobsters, caviar’
Shah added that instead of angrily reacting to the Russian GM’s claims, they chose to respond with a touch of humour. He also claimed to have got a pat on his back from All India Chess Federation president Nitin Narang as well as from Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand.
“I thought chess players are intelligent. He could have put his hand in a pocket, and he could have had a steak. He could have said, “Look, I’m going to ignore the buffet. I’m going to order a steak. I’m going to order lobsters. We even have caviar, if he wanted Russian caviar, at an extra cost. But he didn’t want to do that.
“There are negative people, and there are positive people. You can find excuses, you can complain about everything. Or you can actually move along, take things positively. So it did affect me positively, so I started writing boards about pineapples. There was a day when I had about three pineapples on the floor of each board
“But then, we started having fun about these things, and that was the best way, rather than reacting, rather than attacking. I said, ‘Look team, don’t worry about it. That’s his opinion. You do your best’. Them doing their best actually turned things around. Today I’ve heard from everyone – Mr Nitin Narang, even heard it from Vishy, who said ‘Brilliant!’. And those are the people I should listen to rather than these stupid comments being bandied about on social media,” he added.
Also Read | Ivanchuk praises FIDE World Cup in Goa after Nepomniachtchi’s criticism: ‘I have no complaints’
The FIDE World Cup had concluded with Uzbekistani GM Javokhir Sindarov defeating Chinese No 1 Wei Yi in the final on Wednesday by a 2.5-1.5 margin to become the youngest champion in the tournament’s history. Both Sindarov and Wei qualified for next year’s Candidates Tournament along with Russian GM Andrey Esipenko, who defeated Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Yakubboev in the third-place playoff.