FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky shared his opinion on French GM Alireza Firouzja withdrawing from the GCT Super Chess Classic Romania 2026. Emil believes Alireza should have withdrawn earlier, and states it is unfair towards Javokhir Sindarov and Praggnanandhaa R.

Emil Sutovsky

Emil Sutovsky

CEO of FIDE

“Mixed feelings about Alireza. I praised him a couple of days ago. We all saw he really is finding it difficult or impossible to sit and play.

But he’d have been better off quitting then than now. It is simply too unfair towards Pragg and Sindarov. And actually, also towards other players who had to work to beat him, not having an extra free day.

One may argue, though, they got rating points as compensation…”

Alireza Firouzja suffered an ankle injury on May 17. Before the injury, he drew in round 1 against Praggnanandhaa R. After the injury, he drew with Javokhir Sindarov in round 5. Alireza lost the remaining 3 games. The results of Firouzja’s games will count in the final standings, according to FIDE rule (6.6, paragraph 2).

The GCT Super Chess Classic Romania 2026 takes place from May 14 to 23, at the National Bank of Romania, Bucharest. Alireza Firouzja holds last place after 5 rounds.

Credit: Lennart Ootes