All posts tagged: chess controversy

How Javokhir Sindarov brushed off a chess prep leak — and why it’s not the first time

How Javokhir Sindarov brushed off a chess prep leak — and why it’s not the first time

Published by Parlour News

4 min readApr 7, 2026 11:11 PM IST What is a big-ticket chess event without whispers of a player’s meticulously-concocted preparation being out in the open? On a day the rampaging Javokhir Sindarov ended his round 8 Candidates match against the bottom-placed Andrey Esipenko with a 24-move draw in Cyprus, he was asked repeatedly about his opening prep leaking. The rumours came from the fact that an account belonging to Sindarov on the chess platform Lichess had opening ideas left unguarded in its study feature. Soon after the discovery spread on social media — Reddit in particular — the studies were made private. In a sport where grandmasters go through extraordinary lengths to hide their preparation — protecting even the identity of their seconds — a player’s opening lines being visible to the world, including their opponents, is the chess equivalent of a wardrobe malfunction. Months of work rendered unusable overnight. The 20-year-old Sindarov, however, was nonchalant. “It was not a big deal because I don’t remember the last time I opened those studies,” he …

‘A loser talking’: Dutch GM Loek van Wely on Ian Nepomniachtchi’s criticism for FIDE World Cup conditions | Chess News

‘A loser talking’: Dutch GM Loek van Wely on Ian Nepomniachtchi’s criticism for FIDE World Cup conditions | Chess News

Published by Webster

Plenty has been said about two-time World Chess Championship contender Ian Nepomniachtchi’s criticism for the conditions at the FIDE World Cup in Goa. Nepo had changed hotels twice before getting eliminated by Indian GM Diptayan Ghosh at the tournament where he played just one round. The Russian had then left the country immediately with a parting shot of a post on his Telegram handle saying India was ‘one of those places that you won’t be sad to leave’. The defeat had essentially shut the door on Nepo’s chances of qualifying for the prestigious Candidates tournament, which will shortlist a contender to challenge D Gukesh at the next World Chess Championship. Now Dutch grandmaster Loek van Wely, who was in Goa as the coach of Max Warmerdam and has coached the Triveni Continental Kings to back-to-back titles at the Global Chess League, has also weighed in on Nepomniachtchi’s comments. Story continues below this ad ALSO READ | ‘Excellent, excellent, excellent’: After Nepo’s criticism, chess legend Vassily Ivanchuk praises FIDE World Cup’s organisation When asked in an …

Anish Giri shuts down ‘exaggerated and ridiculous’ criticism of FIDE World Cup with trademark sarcasm | Chess News

Anish Giri shuts down ‘exaggerated and ridiculous’ criticism of FIDE World Cup with trademark sarcasm | Chess News

Published by Webster

There has been some scrutiny of the conditions provided to players at the ongoing FIDE World Cup in Goa ever since two-time world championship contender Ian Nepomniachtchi grumbled about conditions after he was eliminated early in the second round by Indian grandmaster Diptayan Ghosh. Now, Dutch grandmaster Anish Giri has shut down these claims, branding some of the complaints as ‘exaggerated and ridiculous’. Having been eliminated in the third round, Giri made an appearance on the ChessBase India and Chess.com India livestream for the third round tiebreaks on Sunday where he dismissed some of the claims with his trademark humour. Story continues below this ad “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,” Giri, who is on his fourth trip to India in 2025, pointed out. “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 …

‘Removing women-only events would kill Women’s Chess’: FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky

‘Removing women-only events would kill Women’s Chess’: FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky

Published by Webster

The debate over the relevance of women-only titles and tournaments in chess has been ongoing for several months, with various grandmasters voicing their opinions. Most recently, FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky defended the continuation of such events, claiming that removing them would deprive women players of critical development opportunities. “If we were to remove all the possibilities to compete in women-only events, if we were to remove the possibility to support travel and so on, I think we would deprive many of these talents of opportunity under a false pretence that we will try to prove that women can grow in open tournaments better than they can by competing in women-only events,” Sutovsky said in an interview on FIDE’s official YouTube channel. According to Sutovsky, while top women players previously reached a rating of 2500 at ages 15-17, today only a few are rated above 2400 by that age. Currently, no female player apart from Hou Yifan has crossed the 2600 mark in recent years. “It is also important to rely on real data and not …

Why the three-year-old Magnus Carlsen vs Hans Niemann cheating scandal is making waves again

Why the three-year-old Magnus Carlsen vs Hans Niemann cheating scandal is making waves again

Published by Webster

“If I started cheating, you would never know,” Magnus Carlsen, one of the greatest players in the sport, tells Joe Rogan on his podcast with a smirk. It’s not just a throwaway line about cheating either. On a two-hour-long podcast, where he touches on mostly everything under the sun, Carlsen fixates on cheating in chess. He also details how a player of his calibre would need very little to cheat in chess. “I would just get a move here and there (from an aide). Or maybe if I am playing in a tournament I just find a system where I get somebody to signal to me when there’s a critical moment: a certain moment where a certain move is much better than the others. That’s really all I would need to go from being the best to being practically unbeatable. There’s so little you need in chess (to cheat). It really is a scary situation,” Carlsen said before pointing out how in 2010 the captain of the French chess team was helping a teammate decide …

Hans Niemann slams Magnus Carlsen, calls him ‘arrogant, entitled, unaware and cowardly’

Hans Niemann slams Magnus Carlsen, calls him ‘arrogant, entitled, unaware and cowardly’

Published by Webster

American GM Hans Niemann reignited an old feud with Magnus Carlsen after launching a verbal attack on the world no 1 on X. Responding to a post from Carlsen on X, Niemann attacked the Norwegian. “Arrogant, entitled, unaware, and most importantly: cowardly. Your childish ego continues to distort reality at the expense of chess. You’ve defeated yourself off the board, only a matter of time until you face the same fate on the board,” Niemann wrote. Story continues below this ad He was responding to Carlsen’s own attack on FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich, where he accused FIDE of “coercion of players, misuse of power and broken promises.” After talks between FIDE and Freestyle Chess had collapsed, Carlsen had posted on X a direct attack asking the FIDE president if he would resign. READ MORE: Arkady Dvorkovich exclusive interview with The Indian Express where FIDE president reveals one clause that became sticking point between both parties, what FIDE could have done better, whether players still need to sign waivers and more “FIDE President Dvorkovich, to convince …

‘Cannot deal with a partner who has such business culture’

‘Cannot deal with a partner who has such business culture’

Published by Webster

FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich has accused organisers of Freestyle Chess of leaking personal texts sent by him during the terse negotiations over the past few months. Dvorkovich told The Indian Express in an exclusive interview on Tuesday that messages that he had sent Jan Henric Buettner, the man behind the freestyle chess tour, were being shared with players ‘within seconds’ during the negotiations. FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich speaks at an event during the FIDE World Chess Championship in Singapore last year.(PHOTO: FIDE/Maria Emilianova) After talks between FIDE and organisers of Freestyle Chess collapsed on Monday, Buettner posted a long open letter addressed to the FIDE president where he also made public personal messages sent to him by Dvorkovich. Soon, this was followed by Magnus Carlsen sharing on X messages sent by Dvorkovich to his father to convince the world no 1 to play in the FIDE World Blitz Championship in December. Soon, Carlsen’s trainer Peter Heine Nielsen also shared private messages sent to him by FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky in 2018. Story continues below this …

FIDE president reveals one clause that became sticking point and more

FIDE president reveals one clause that became sticking point and more

Published by Webster

A day after talks broke down between FIDE and organisers of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, Arkady Dvorkovich, the president of the global chess body, has revealed the clause that became a sticking point in negotiations between the two parties. Just days before the bitter fallout, FIDE and organisers of the Freestyle Tour had been confident that an agreement would be reached. There was even a press release drafted and kept ready to announce that both parties had found middle ground. But on Monday, FIDE announced that there was no agreement. This led to open letters from Freestyle Chess’ main organiser Jan Henric Buettner and a post on social media from Magnus Carlsen where he demanded that Dvorkovich step down. Now, Arkady Dvorkovich had revealed to The Indian Express what had gone wrong, why FIDE Council had no faith in Freestyle Chess organisers, what FIDE could have done better, why FIDE are not perfect and more. Excerpts from an interview: What went wrong? Story continues below this ad Arkady Dvorkovich: We had very intensive …

As FIDE vs Freestyle Chess war intensifies, Magnus Carlsen, trainer share private text messages from FIDE president, CEO

As FIDE vs Freestyle Chess war intensifies, Magnus Carlsen, trainer share private text messages from FIDE president, CEO

Published by Webster

The FIDE versus Freestyle Chess war intensified late on Monday after peace talks collapsed between the two parties. In the immediate aftermath of the feud reigniting, there were open letters from both sides with fresh allegations. Members from the Freestyle Chess camp also aired private messages from FIDE officials like president Arkady Dvorkovich and CEO Emil Sutovsky. World No 1 Magnus Carlsen posted a couple of texts that Dvorkovich had sent to his father Henrik Carlsen on his X handle before asking the Russian to resign. Story continues below this ad Carlsen posted on X: “Coercion of players, misuse of power and broken promises. FIDE President Dvorkovich, to convince me to play the Rapid & Blitz in New York, you wrote Dec 19th to my father: ‘Just want to pass a message to you and Magnus that whatever happens between FIDE and Freestyle in terms of recognition, players will NOT be affected in any way. They can decide on their own and FIDE will not take any negative action.’ The Norwegian added: “You added later …

As peace talks fail, Freestyle Chess and FIDE blame each other

As peace talks fail, Freestyle Chess and FIDE blame each other

Published by Webster

Peace talks between FIDE and Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour collapsed on Monday, with the latter calling on the world body’s president Arkady Dvorkovich to “resign immediately” and threatening to take legal action. “You will have to resign immediately from your position as President, because you have now proven for the third time within two months that you cannot even speak for FIDE,” Jan Henric Buettner, the man behind the Freestyle Chess Tour, wrote in the letter shared with The Indian Express. Talks seem to have broken down due to a lack of mutual trust, with both parties claiming the other was to blame for the continuing impasse. Freestyle Chess has also threatened to take FIDE to court in this matter. Story continues below this ad Buettner claimed that while negotiations were still on, FIDE had chosen to post a press statement on their social media handles that there had been no agreement between the two parties due to the “other party’s refusal to acknowledge FIDE’s status as the sole regulator of World Chess Championships …