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Heartbreaking - Alireza Firouzja withdraws from Super Chess Classic 2026 Romania

by Sagar Shah - 20/05/2026

Alireza Firouzja made a huge decision to withdraw from the Super Chess Classic 2026. Alireza made this decision after playing with Fabiano Caruana on the rest day, as their game was postponed due to Alireza's ankle injury. The news came out after the 3rd round; he missed the 4th round but played against Javokhir Sindarov in the 5th round from a hotel room. He played one more round under the same conditions. Check out what happened on the rest day. Photo: Lennart Ootes

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Alireza Firouzja tried his best but had to withdraw

Alireza Firouzja has made the difficult decision to withdraw from the Super Chess Classic Romania 2026 due to an ankle injury. Alireza commented, “Unfortunately, due to an ankle injury sustained during the event, I have decided to withdraw from the tournament. Thank you to the organisers for their support and accommodations, and thank you to everyone following the games. I wish the players and organisers the best for the rest of the tournament.”

Look at Alireza, smiling in pain! | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

Grand Chess Tour mentioned, "We thank Alireza for his efforts to continue competing despite the injury and wish him a speedy recovery. We hope to see him back at the board soon."

Firouzja vs Sindarov, Round 5

After round 3 against Anish Giri, Alireza Firouzja injured himself. He did not play the 4th round against Fabiano Caruana, and the 5th round was planned in the hotel room adjoining to Firouzja's room against Javokhir Sindarov. It was a great gesture by Firouzja to continue fighting in the tournament, and a great gesture by the organisers (Grand Chess Tour) to make all the arrangements to ensure Firouzja could play.

The room where the game took place, with the arbiter looking over the proceedings | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

The game lasted for over 5 hours, with Alireza Firouzja managing to hold a draw | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour
Check out what happened in the game, commentary by IM Sagar Shah

Caruana vs Firouzja, Round 4

Just after the 3rd round, Alireza suffered this ankle injury; luckily, the ankle was not broken, but still Firouzja was not able to play the 4th round against Caruana because of the pain. The game happened yesterday, as it was the rest day, both players agreed to play the game again under the same conditions, as Alireza could not move his leg.

Alireza and Caruana before the start of the game | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

Playing a classical game in this condition is already a big, big task | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

Position after 37.Bb5

This was Alireza's last opportunity to hold the game, as you can clearly see in the position, the Knight on h5 is completely stuck, while white can bring the pieces into the game very easily. Alireza could have played an intermediate move 37.Bb4 and then keep his knight on e7, instead, he decided to play very passively 37..Nd8 and Caruana converted the game easily after that.

Caruana Fabiano vs Alireza Firouza (1-0) | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

We wish Alireza a speedy recovery and hope to see him playing over-the-board chess again!

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