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.
FIDE officials and local organising committee members that The Indian Express reached out to confirmed that Nepo had left for the airport immediately after his defeat, but confirmed that the player had not raised an official complaint.
Nepo also did not speak to any of the journalists at the Resort Rio after his defeat. Or clarify what had irked him.
Besides Wesley So getting knocked out, Nepomniachtchi’s ouster was the biggest upset of the tournament.
The defeat was particularly hard for Nepomniachtchi because his ouster from the FIDE World Cup means that he cannot qualify for the upcoming Candidates tournament, which is held to pick a challenger to World champion Gukesh Dommaraju. Nepomniachtchi has played in two World Championships—against Magnus Carlsen and then against Ding Liren—after winning the prestigious Candidates twice.
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