All posts tagged: Nepomniachtchi

Ian Nepomniachtchi says Praggnanandhaa became ‘completely different chess player after losing to Javokhir Sindarov’ | Chess News

Ian Nepomniachtchi says Praggnanandhaa became ‘completely different chess player after losing to Javokhir Sindarov’ | Chess News

Published by Webster

3 min readUpdated: Apr 20, 2026 10:25 PM IST Two-time World Chess Championship contender Ian Nepomniachtchi has said that India’s R Praggnanandhaa, who ended seventh in the recent Candidates tournament, became a “completely different” chess player after losing his game to eventual tournament winner Javokhir Sindarov. One of the pre-tournament favourites, Pragg eventually managed to win just one game in 14 rounds. “Despite the fact that he won a very good game against Anish Giri in the first round, the tournament didn’t go well for him. Why? Because he lost to Sindarov. After that, it was as if he became a completely different chess player. He seemed to be trying to put up a fight with both white and black. He changed openings like gloves, playing extremely risky schemes, but in the second half of the tournament, his luck ran out,” Nepomniachtchi said on his YouTube channel while analysing the Candidates. Nepo continued: “Pragg failed to win two completely winning positions—I believe against Wei Yi and Matthias Bluebaum, each was around +4 or more. Against …

Ian Nepomniachtchi clarifies controversial Chess World Cup criticism: ‘One of the worst hotels. Unacceptable conditions’

Ian Nepomniachtchi clarifies controversial Chess World Cup criticism: ‘One of the worst hotels. Unacceptable conditions’

Published by Parlour News

Ian Nepomniachtchi has cleared the air on his controversial criticism of the 2025 Chess World Cup, which was held in Goa. The Russian GM lost to Diptayan Ghosh after getting a bye into the second round and was left fuming after his defeat. He criticised the hotel conditions for players, calling the venue (Resort Rio) substandard, with poor rooms, bad food, and poor service. Nepomniachtchi recently appeared on Greg Mustreader’s YouTube podcast, where he compared the 2025 World Cup in Goa to other tournaments, and in a less harsh tone than before. “Goa is a great place, first of all, with a good climate, it has everything. It’s a beautiful place, but they chose probably one of the worst locations, one of the worst hotels. I said with officials from FIDE. They said: “Well, yes”, but when we arrived, it was too late to change anything.” Of course, the hotel leaves something to be desired”, he said. “Well, really, it leaves much to be desired. I guess you could compare it to… I played in …

Ian Nepomniachtchi names Praggnanandhaa among 2 favourites to win Candidates in his tier list | Chess News

Ian Nepomniachtchi names Praggnanandhaa among 2 favourites to win Candidates in his tier list | Chess News

Published by Webster

Two-time world championship contender Ian Nepomniachtchi has named India’s R Praggnanandhaa as one of the two favourites to win the upcoming Candidates tournament in Cyprus. The winner of the Candidates will earn a shot to challenge world champion Gukesh later this year. “I would say there are two main favorites (at this year’s Candidates). They are Praggnanandhaa and Fabiano Caruana. It seems to me that Praggnanandhaa, who plays very well in general, he’s a very good player, he is quite versatile, he has a large choice of openings. That is, he is not an opening specialist, but he has lots of options what to play. I think he will have a good team,” Nepomniachtchi said in an interview on the Chess with Mustreader YouTube channel. India’s R Praggnanandhaa thinks about his next move during a game in Tata Steel Chess India in Kolkata. (Express photo by Partha Paul) “The same can be said about Fabiano (Caruana), who is just a very strong chess player. Caruana says there is definitely one more cycle ( in him) …

‘How many pineapples can you eat?’ – Ian Nepomniachtchi’s littany of complaints including no meat except chicken, power cuts affecting A/Cs… | Chess News

‘How many pineapples can you eat?’ – Ian Nepomniachtchi’s littany of complaints including no meat except chicken, power cuts affecting A/Cs… | Chess News

Published by Webster

When Ian Nepomniachtchi offered excuses into his exit from the FIDE Chess World Cup ongoing in Goa, it had come off as his inability to adjust to Indian conditions and jet lag havocing with his game. But a Russian language video from his Telegram channel, translated loosely by ChatGPT on the chess icon sub-reddit offered additional details into how things panned out. It offered context of the conditions Nepomniachtchi was mentioning after he was eliminated from the World Cup. However it must be noted that FIDE and the local organisers had told The Indian Express that the player had not raised his issues in an official complaint with them in writing. Story continues below this ad The Russian said the World Cup was the main reason for the video, where he elaborated on the problems he endured at a specific venue in Goa. “The World Cup was in India, and you have to say—it’s a very specific place. I wasn’t at the Olympiad there two or three years ago, which was held in Chennai. They …

Ian Nepomniachtchi loses to Diptayan Ghosh in Chess World Cup, leaves in a huff after elimination | Chess News

Ian Nepomniachtchi loses to Diptayan Ghosh in Chess World Cup, leaves in a huff after elimination | Chess News

Published by Webster

He came, he saw, he was conquered. And he left India by raising a stink. But no one knows exactly what about. Ian Nepomniachtchi’s FIDE World Cup campaign was over in two short days, after a draw in the first game and defeat in the second game of the second round of the FIDE World Cup against Indian grandmaster Diptayan Ghosh. Precisely one hour after his defeat to Ghosh, while many of the second round games were still going on in the playing hall at Resort Rio, Nepo was seen checking out and leaving the hotel, where he was staying. But not before he launched a vaguely-worded parting shot. “I’d played in India before (in 2019 in Kolkata), so I had a good idea of ​​what the conditions would be like. But FIDE, to its credit, managed to surprise me. There’s nothing to say about the chess aspect. One of those places that you won’t be sad to leave,” a disgruntled Nepomniachtchi posted on his Telegram account on Wednesday. Story continues below this ad FIDE …

Chess World Cup: Diptayan Ghosh, who once took a 2-year break to work in a bank, beats 2-time world championship contender Ian Nepomniachtchi | Chess News

Chess World Cup: Diptayan Ghosh, who once took a 2-year break to work in a bank, beats 2-time world championship contender Ian Nepomniachtchi | Chess News

Published by Webster

On a day when he achieved his greatest result on the chess board, Diptayan Ghosh looks back at the two years he lost during the prime of his career with a hint of regret. The year was 2021 when Ghosh emerged from the Delhi School of Economics with a degree and a job at a corporate bank in Mumbai. But taking the job meant Ghosh’s chess career took a backseat. With COVID having reduced the number of tournaments to a trickle, and with no sponsors to back his ambitions, Ghosh decided to put his once-promising career on hold and become a corporate employee. It was a gig that lasted two years before Ghosh quit his job to play chess again. Story continues below this ad “I was just bored (working at the corporate role),” Ghosh said with a grin when he looked back at those years in Mumbai on the day he sent home two-time world championship contender Ian Nepomniachtchi in the second round of the FIDE World Cup, the biggest upset of the tournament …

FIDE World Cup 2025: Diptayan Ghosh stuns Ian Nepomniachtchi; Gukesh, Arjun advance

FIDE World Cup 2025: Diptayan Ghosh stuns Ian Nepomniachtchi; Gukesh, Arjun advance

Published by Webster

Grandmaster Diptayan Ghosh pulled off a major upset with black pieces, stunning two-time Candidates winner Ian Nepomniachtchi at the 2025 FIDE World Cup in Goa on Wednesday. The experienced Pentala Harikrishna also produced a near-flawless performance to outplay Arseniy Nesterov and advance to the third round along with the reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Arjun Erigaisi. Gukesh, who was held to a draw with white pieces in the first game, defeated 2024 world junior champion Kazybek Nogerbek of Kazakhstan in 59 moves to reach the third round. Arjun was the only Indian to grab full points in both games as he defeated GM Martin Petrov of Bulgaria in 48 moves with white pieces to make it two wins in two games. But the day undoubtedly belonged to Diptayan. Having drawn the first game of Round 2 against Nepomniachthi with white pieces, the Indian Grandmaster took advantage of a slight error from the Russian in the opening exchanges and made the most of it to win in 47 moves. “Defeating Nepo in a match is …

Diptayan Ghosh upsets two-time Candidates winner Ian Nepomniachtchi in Round 2

Diptayan Ghosh upsets two-time Candidates winner Ian Nepomniachtchi in Round 2

Published by Webster

In perhaps the biggest upset of the FIDE Chess World Cup 2025 in Goa, Indian Grandmaster Diptayan Ghosh defeated Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi, a two-time Candidates winner and two-time World Championship runner-up. After holding Nepomniachtchi to a draw with the white pieces in their first classical game on Tuesday, Diptayan followed it up with a dominating performance on Wednesday to eliminate one of the event’s heavy favourites. Playing with Black, Diptayan was guided into the “Morphy Defense” of the Ruy Lopez game by Nepomniachtchi. Out of the opening, it was the Indian who blitzed out his moves and began to build pressure on the Russian with his accurate play. WATCH: IAN NEPOMNIACHTCHI RESIGNS VS DIPTAYAN GHOSH 🚨 UPSET ALERTIan Nepomniachtchi (2732) loses to 🇮🇳 Diptayan Ghosh (2573) in Game 2 and is eliminated from the #FIDEWorldCup! pic.twitter.com/Ar2z3fWjpm — International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) November 5, 2025 On the 18th move, Diptayan sacrificed his dark-squared bishop to gain a tempo and chop off White’s knight on d2. By the time the contest entered the endgame, with the queens …

Hans Niemann blunders mate-in-1 vs Ian Nepomniachtchi after winning 1st game in 18 moves

Hans Niemann blunders mate-in-1 vs Ian Nepomniachtchi after winning 1st game in 18 moves

Published by Webster

Hans Niemann and Ian Nepomniachtchi played out a spectacularly dramatic quarter-final in the play-in tournament which is being held to book the final slot in the 10-player Weissenhaus leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025. Hans Niemann won the first game of the two-game quarter-final and then allowed Nepo to equalise. This pushed the contest into a two-game blitz tiebreak. The first blitz game ended in a draw. In the second blitz game, Hans Niemann blundered a mate-in-1 to lose in the quarters. In recent weeks, Hans Niemann has been a vocal critic of Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi agreeing to share the FIDE World Blitz title in New York. Even before their quarter-final in the play-in tournament, Hans Niemann was taking digs at his opponent on social media site X. The qualifier tournament will have its semis and final today. The winner of the event will earn the 10th and final spot to play in the Weissenhaus leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025, which will be held in Germany …

Magnus Carlsen on allegations against him: ‘Not trying to influence FIDE… was a bad joke given gravity of situation’ | Chess News

Magnus Carlsen on allegations against him: ‘Not trying to influence FIDE… was a bad joke given gravity of situation’ | Chess News

Published by Webster

Magnus Carlsen issued a passionate defence of himself early on Thursday morning after the chess world slammed him and said he was trying to arm-twist FIDE into accepting his will. Before FIDE agreed to let Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi share the World Blitz Championship title, the two players played out four games in the final, winning two each. Then three tiebreak games were drawn before Magnus Carlsen suggested the idea to share the title. A video showed Magnus Carlsen joking with Ian Nepomniachtchi that if FIDE did not agree to let them split the World Blitz title, they could just keep “playing out short draws until FIDE give up.” The joke raised temperatures on social media with players like Hans Niemann and Srinath Narayanan and chess legend Susan Polgar calling it out for impropriety. There were comparisons made to Nepo and Daniil Dubov playing out a short draw last year at the same event and getting penalised for it. “I’ve never prearranged a draw in my career. In the video I’m joking with Ian …