Chess can be brutal at times. Especially when you are playing in an online tournament and have a technical issue like a mouse-slip. That’s exactly what happened to Jan-Krzysztof Duda at the ongoing Esports World Cup in Riyadh. Duda, who had helped Gukesh become the youngest world champion in chess history last year, had to resign in the Armageddon game against Nodirbek Abdusattorov after the fifth move because he pushed his pawn to d6 instead of the d5 square. Both players had drawn their first two games, so the Armageddon was meant to be decisive for who would progress to the next round.
The mouse-slip thus ended up being the difference between Duda taking home at least $85,000 in the quarterfinals to taking home $65,000 instead.
“It was a very unfortunate moment. It was fatal. What to do it is a part of online chess. It happens,” Duda told Take Take Take app in an interview afterwards. “It’s kind of upsetting but also kind of funny. I will probably remember this for the rest of my life.”
WATCH: Jan-Krzysztof Duda mouse-slip
😱 Abdusattorov cannot believe it! A mouse slip on move FIVE decides the game and Duda resigns and is eliminated!https://t.co/m3LhMG7IZ8#EsportsWorldCup pic.twitter.com/PI8426Z3kc
— chess24 (@chess24com) July 30, 2025
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He went on to add: “Most of all I was just kind of shocked, to be honest. For a second I thought I could play this, but there was really no point. Also, I wouldn’t expect my opponent to play no move.”
The player also pointed out that he had experienced a mouse-slip in another game at the event, but this time the mouse-slip was “fatal”.
“I brought my own mouse to the game today. and it probably wasn’t the greatest idea,” Duda added.
He ended the interview by saying that next time there won’t be any mouse-slips because he would be playing in over-the-board tournaments.
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