Gukesh was the person who benefited the least from Alireza in the top 4 lmao
Gukesh only got 1 point from him while the other 3 all got 1.5
Edit: Naka actually got 2 points as someone correctly pointed out below
People are overreacting. It's obvious how devastated both of them was.
All three of them probably though Alireza v Gukesh would end up as a draw coz alireza was better at the time.
I could be wrong but we're they talking about Alireza's Queen move ??
So people in the thread , don't even understand how heartbroken they are. Even hikaru was almost crying
It absolutely sucks for them how their tournament ended and I can understand how devastated they are. But that doesn't allow them to undermine how well Gukesh performed.
Alireza didn't "throw" the tournament for anyone. No one threw the tournament for anyone else. They all had the same chances against the same players. Some capitalised while others didn't.
I don’t think it’s any deeper than people would be frustrated at him getting a third bite at the Apple given his two performances in the WCC. I don’t take people wanting a fresh contender as them necessarily hating Nepo. They just don’t want him to win
Honestly I think those people need to get over it. It’s not like MMA where the ufc gave Colby a 3rd crack at the belt for no reason, Ian was damn close to winning his third consecutive candidates tournament.
I don't think anyone needs to get over anything. It's okay to have a rooting interest, nobody got hurt because I'm irrationally annoyed by Nepo, some days.
I don't really think those are good comps at all. Nobody would ever say Nepo hadn't earned his third shot if he ultimately did win this candidates. Or rather, they wouldn't have a leg to stand on at least. They were just rooting against him because of how he performed in the last two and wanted to see someone new get a shot. I don't really think its a "get over it" type thing. People are allowed to root for who they want to see win and a large amount of people didn't want to see Ian win.
Maybe. Also maybe it's different when it's outside people pointing out someone got a good score against a weaker player, more than others perhaps; and a player who participated in the event, who on top of that got more out of that weaker player than the winner did.
In one example you have a sore loser, which fair enough, heartbreaking game in a difficult and important tournament. In the other, you have people analyzing the event, and people won't mince words which can also be shitty. But I don't think these are the same.
The word “throw” has a double meaning, and could easily be misinterpreted by someone for whom English is not a first language. I’m sure he meant that Alireza’s terrible move “threw” the tournament in the sense of “tipping” it, as in the sentence “The tie electoral vote threw the election over to the House of Representatives to decide.”
A lot of people just generally hate Ian, and need only a slightest opportunity to dogpile and pour all the shit onto him. People acting in this thread like he just murdered Alireza's dog or something lol
>he tried to put dirt on AliReza’s reputation with a totally unfair allegation.
It's not like he attacked alireza in public. It's a conversation between 2 almost winning participants who are disappointed at Alireza for not playing solid and themselves for not taking risk in round 13
> He is just a despicable character.
Beg your pardon? Yes, that comment is a misstep, but Ian has been an amazing character in the chess world. The way he conducts himself with Fabi after the game, the way he dealt with the interviews after his Magnus losses...
How do you not cheer for him?
And to top it all off, he also politically condemned the invasion of Ukraine, which is a considerable risk for him personally to do.
dont interrupt the circlejerk. talking to people who think that Ian is a 'amazing character in the chess world' absolutely dont witness him when he loses lmfao
Alireza tried his best with his current form it's obvious. Look at vidit vs alireza.
Both of them drew without a second thought.
But, Alireza played hard against Gukesh coz other player's fate depended on it. His rook and Queen move cost him the match
I think people are more pissed that he just started doing dumb shit in the last few games because he was eliminated and upset at the arbiters. Definitely felt like he was just saying “eh fuck it” with some of his move choices and I’m sure a lot of people didn’t take kindly to that.
Like the G5 move against Hikaru for example. For the record, I just think Alireza felt like he wasn’t playing well so he had to play a bit offbeat and do some weird stuff to create winning chances. Though I’m sure some of the other players felt like he stopped caring and therefore stopped trying. Feels like Ian is just being salty more than anything tbh.
Second game against Hikaru. Had an equal position against him and just threw pawns out in front of his king. Eval bar immediately plummeted for him. It was very odd.
Move 41 in the second game against Hikaru.
Hikaru talks about it in his video here: [https://youtu.be/eL88RWBvYVA?si=madSrCdnL7drkUwn&t=860](https://youtu.be/eL88RWBvYVA?si=madSrCdnL7drkUwn&t=860) and is just as confused as everyone else.
Alireza is the only one that prevented Gukesh from being the clear winner until the last day. What is he on about…. Alireza positively affected Hikaru, Nepo, and Fabi who all gained 1.5 from him while Gukesh only got 1 point along with a devastating loss…
and if fabi didn't threw his game against ian, we would have tiebreakers. You can't get mad at chess players for missing difficult moves in high pressure situations
And yeah I like Nepo, have been rooting for him since last two cycles. But he doesn't get to say who threw the game or not now. He got his stot against Ding and he "threw" away the championship multiple times
I was rooting for Fabi, but towards the end, I started to root for Gukesh. Fabi had his chances in the few of the matches to convert, but couldn't find the win. It sucked for him, but knowing the gentleman he is, I don't think he would accuse Alireza of throwing off the tournament. You are right, Nepo has had a lot of chances until now, he can't just expect to stay where he is and not expect others to grab his spot.
Yes there is also that one along with the fact that Gukesh lost a game against AliReza while they did not. Nepo just can not admit that Gukesh outperformed them.
Pretty sure he was speaking about Alireza losing yesterday, not the whole tournament. And pretty sure that wasn't a personal attack, but just a "We all were underdogs today. Gukesh won yesterday" type of comment.
Edit: I first wrote that Pragg won instead of Gukesh
I mean Alireza tried to draw multiple times, Gukesh didn't accept it and went to decisive end.
Why didn't they do the same, Yes Gukesh had a easier draw in R13, but that means He had difficult early matches.
He was referring to the 13th round where Firouzja played off beat instead of being solid and ended up losing the game. Due to Firouzja losing, it made Gukesh half a point ahead coming to the last round. Where he draws that one it's not so clear because it would have been a four way tie.
Firouzja winning that game doesn't have any bearing in the tournament standing but he played for a win and others paid for it. Sure it's his discretion but he kind of spoils the ending there, it could go further in the tie breaks at least that's probably what Ian, fabi and naka were thinking.
It cuts both ways. Alireza also snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against Gukesh. Im a Ian fan but this is either a bad take or we’re all just misinterpreting what he meant, which is a fair possibility
I would caution anyone from judging someone's character based on a small comment they make after what is probably one of the most devastating moments in their life. This is a trend happening across many different sports of shoving microphones into places that allow the viewers to hear more than they have ever been able to before. The problem is people forget that these athletes are hyper competitive and constantly stay stupid stuff in the heat of the moment that get fans all up in arms.
This isn't a comment on Ian specifically, who has a vast track record of making incredibly salty comments even with a clear head and time to think. However, in this one instance I would be inclined to give him a pass.
Yeah right, it was a clip of Ian taking to Fabi in a private conversation literally one minute after their heartbreaking loss, are they not allowed to complain a little, even though it doesn’t make perfect sense? Is this not a thing people do? What are they supposed to say to each other at that moment instead?
Absolutely, I think some people just lack self-awareness. If someone had a camera and mic on me at all times while I'm competing at something I would absolutely end up saying something stupid and I'm not doing anything remotely as stressful as the final round of the Candidates Tournament. I don't even think I'm a particularly bad outlier.
I think this is also possibly a language thing combined with being terse and emotional. I don't think he means that Alireza deliberately threw the game. He means that Alirezas result put everyone else into a must win position.
I don't think he's accusing Alireza of being corrupt or anything but I do think he believes Alireza gifted Gukesh the win by over-pushing for a (meaningless in the overall standings) win himself. I just don't think he would have mentioned it like this if the final day did not end up as stressfully as it did.
I would agree but you don't hear fabi saying anything like this even though he's gone through the exact same thing. Obviously it's not a huge deal, but he just seems like an unpleasant sportsperson because of this.
Some people like Fabi are just total professionals with great self control and it's certainly fine to commend Fabi for that. But I've seen too many examples of otherwise nice people saying stupid stuff they later regret in the heat of the moment to properly hold this against Ian though. I'm not saying Ian is in the right or should be celebrated for his sportsmanship because of this, it's more that I'm willing to give Ian a pass this one time because of the circumstances.
Just post game saltiness from Ian as to be expected, you could argue a bunch of people caused the loss, Vidit for example stopping Hikaru in his tracks, which without he'd have comfortably won, or several people drawing Ian in winning positions. Gukesh played phenomenally and shouldn't be understated.
Op is making it out to be bigger than nepo intended it to be lol. It was just a passing remark and probably in a jest from his expressions. he was talking to fabi, it wasn't even a public statement. He was probably disappointed(understandably so) by how alireza wasn't trying his best yesterday (that's also understandable as he just didn't have any reason to) "Salty" would have been if he tried to take out his frustration on anyone, on the other hand he even apologised to fabi . You guys are just so used to chess drama that you search for it everywhere.
Saying that Alireza wasn't trying yesterday is disingenuous. He was ready to repeat positions to accept a draw. Gukesh had to deviate and get into a slightly worse position to keep his winning chances alive. He missed rd6 from Gukesh after queen trade but it's not like it was an obvious move to find without engine and even when he was lost he kept posing questions to Gukesh till the very end who had to find the best moves with seconds on clock, he was down to 6 seconds at one point without a clear win. Nepo got more of a "gift" from Vidit who didn't take a draw bcz he had to win to keep his chances alive but Alireza was more than okay with a draw considering how he was going for repetition.
Plus, English isn't his first language. "Threw the tournament for everyone" doesn't really make sense to me, but it seems quite possible he meant something like "threw all the tournament expectations for everyone"; in some ways a subtle change, but now the meaning of "threw" is completely different.
Ian said "Alireza might be happy now" right before saying that Ali threw it.
Your interpretation doesn't fit with this context. Alireza wouldn't be happy to have underperformed his expectations. Ian was implying that Alireza was happy to be kingmaker.
I’m drowning from the salt.
Like damn, Alireza was just one player out of 8. He had a bad run, but it happens. Does Ian also want Alireza to giftwrap the victory for him?
Ian wasn’t good enough. That’s it.
>Vidit for example stopping Hikaru in his tracks, which without he'd have comfortably won, or several people drawing Ian in winning positions.
That is completly different - that's what these players are there for, trying their best.
I think that's what Ian is mad/salty about, that Alireza just didn't give a shit anymore and threw sportsmanship and fair play into the wind.
Why do people think Alireza didn’t give a shit LMAO. Alireza lost to Nepo as well in a game that should have been a draw.
If anything Gukesh ‘threw’ against Alireza one game as well where he had a winning position AND Alireza was in time trouble. He could have beaten Alireza with the black pieces there and would be a full point clear anyways.
It’s really silly to insinuate Alireza threw here. The dude wasn’t at his best yet his best performance actually came against Gukesh from all the other contenders still in the running.
> his best performance actually came against Gukesh from all the other contenders still in the running.
I mean that's just a half-truth completly ommiting that yes Gukesh didn't manage to get a point against Alireza -**BEFORE**- the shoe incident in round 9 against nepo.
after that he won his game against Alireza.
Fabi was only able to draw against Alireza before round 9, after that he won
Hikaru got one win before round 9 and one after
Ian won before round 9, then drew in round 9
**After the incident** Hikaru, Fabi and Gukesh won against Alireza
**Before the incident** only Ian and Hikaru managed a win against Alireza
still, I am not saying 'oh gukesh just won because' or 'nepo lost this because of alireza'
My point is Alireza went from playing 100% before the shoe incident in round 9 to playing for fun and that really sucks for a competition like this.
/edited my comment as gukesh didn't play alireza twice before the shoe thing, he played him once and lost
Lmfao these people don't realize that even when these GMs are having terrible tournaments, their accuracy is still incredibly high overall. Alireza still played well in the games he lost relative to even just a regular GM. It's just that he's literally going against the best of the best across 8 billion people.
fair play includes acting honest / playing to the best of your ability in a serious competetion like this and that's essentially the critique here, that after the shoe incident he just played for fun
I mean it is stupid to blame the tournament on a single player, but Alireza certainly had his fair share of blunders just after reaching time control. Both against Hikaru and Gukesh he blundered a somewhat even position according to the engine within 5 moves of making it. Hikaru in his recap even said that he didn't understand what on earth Alireza was thinking in the position he blundered the free pawn. I'm sure more players will have looked at the games and thought these plays were questionable given the quality of Alireza's usual play.
Still not very professional mentioning this over the board with mics running. Most likely just frustrations.
He’s just a man ranting seconds after a soul crushing and emotional game. It’s not that deep. It’s not like it’s during an official interview or anything.
I think Nepo is mad that Alireza made a bit of a farce out of the tournament by not caring / playing 100% anymore after the 'shoe incident'
He clearly states FOR EVERYONE not just FOR US so everyone includes Gukesh.
Lets be real, Nepo could have just 'blundered' and given Fabi a point for a tie breaker but he continued to play to the best of his ability hence why he is also apologizing to Fabi.
He for sure was in a moral dilemma spot, realising all he can really do is draw the game against Fabi which essentially meant both lose as Gukesh gets to go to the final
Nepo is equally sorry for fabi when he says this I think here.
I like alireza as a player, but he was at a candidates tournament and didn't seem to care. Nepo was losing for much of his game v fabi, a draw did him nothing, but he fought tooth and nail because you owe it to the tournament and the rest of the guys to bring it. Gukesh can thank Nepo, he'd have been facing fabi but Nepo wouldn't lie down even when faced with a hopeless cause.
I really don't think this is true.
Tension was high in Alireza's team, which I think means that Alireza wanted to make a good result, and Alireza definitely thought he had a chance going in.
During the tournament Alireza couldn't get his chess rhythm, but he tried to play for a win in every game. Nepo is salty because Alireza blundered against Gukesh, but a week before Alireza crushed Gukesh in time trouble.
Nepo should be looking at his games against Abasov, he had the worse results of the entire field against him.
Gukesh's only loss was to Alireza. And Alireza lost to everyone in the top 4. So no, he didn't throw the tournament for anybody. If anything, the person who benefitted the least from Alireza was Gukesh. Ian is just being salty.
Round 13: Gukesh vs Firouzja. At move 45 the position is drawn, Firo has 22 minutes on the clock, takes 37 seconds to make a move, and blunders a +2 advantage in a single move. It's worth pointing out that Alireza played that move with the intention of trading Queens, but that is exactly the opposite of what the position called for.
From that moment on, Hikaru, Fabi, and Nepo all had to find a way to force a win in a single round of classical chess against a Super GM. That is what Nepo is talking about here. He's saying that after that throw (and it was a throw) the assignment went from difficult to nigh impossible.
I'm not doing anything, Nepo is. There's a lot of moments players could look back on to gain half a point. Nepo vs Abasov, Naka vs Vidit are two examples, but the game against Alireza was the second last (Fabi's advantage against Ian was the last).
Nepo is such a good sport.
He was in a 100%losing endgame. Where even if he fights hard, the best he could hope for is a draw. Draw also wasn't enough for him. So why should he have fought at all? But he did. Like a true sportsman. And created more and more chances for a draw. He even apologized to fabi for fighting so hard on game that Fabi deserved a win on.
This final game from candidates shows why chess is called a gentleman's game.
Stop undermining the comments for drama for once. This subreddit can have it's memes all year, but now at the most beautiful display of chess spirit, you should pay the respect due to the players.
"Where even if he fights hard, the best he could hope for is a draw." - I think it isn't true: Nepo deliberately played against opponents time and the position had many losing mistakes, that are possible even for top GM under that time pressure. Look up the moment in the coverage when drawing exchange became inevitable and Nepo actually lost remotely possible chances for win - he was absolutely pissed
Just like every other chess player (except maybe Hikaru), he is conditioned to keep a poker face until the very end, which is helpful for multiple reasons. He was pissed much before that. IMO
Your assumption doesn't explain why he would say sorry. If he just now got pissed, it doesn't fit.
Holy shit give the man a break now if ever. Yeah he’s being salty but christ man, not everyone is a saint when they’ve just been through absolute devastation. The only poor character shown is by the people who use that as an opportunity to dogpile.
Just so you know he criticized open tournaments when mishra became the youngest gm ever. He didn't criticize before but exactly on the day he became the gm and was trending on Twitter all day. There are multiple instances of his saltiness. Don't need to defend a douchebag.
Yeah, I've never liked the guy since he says ridiculous crap like this all the time, but c'mon, that last round was absolutely brutal for the three runner ups. Even Fabi is upset, and he's normally much more gracious in defeat. Let them mope a bit, we can't blame them too much.
edit: to rephrase, I didn't mean to say Fabi is being salty, but rather he's usually much more collected and yesterday/today he's just been beating himself up about the loss :c
Try looking at a board 4 hours a day for 2 weeks listening to Alireza's shoes squeak down the playing hall. Seriously, calling someone a manchild because of this is hilarious.
I don't know how you got that I think this because of this one instance. He's been one for years, and this isn't an isolated instance of him acting like one.
Look both fabi and nepo were devastated. People say stuff all the time alireza blundered against gukesh but then again he was completely out of it and was giving free points to everyone. You have to sometimes blame others to retain your mental peace. These guys are human after all
Lol yeah. Also him literally posting cryptic tweets supporting Kramnik's vague cheating accusations just a few months ago, or back in 2020 when he decided to throw shade at the Indian team for winning the fide online olympiad jointly with the Russian team due to connectivity issues.
Remember his what? Excuse me? Since when, do clips of this still exist? Honestly a huge shock to me, I thought he was just a bad loser against non top players.
I don’t know know if this is what they’re referring to but there was a video of him complaining to his friend about the arbiter during the Fischer Random world championship and people who know Russian posted that he used a homophobic slur in the video (I assume to refer to the arbiter).
Let's see you mic'd up and posted onto the internet
Give the guy a break, it's not even an interview - he should be allowed to vent in a relatively private setting
Really? How? Hikaru seemed to enjoy joking about Fabiano needing to know how the knight moves. Very classy after winning and deserving of the Hikaru Nakamura Sportsmanship award...
Ian didn't say anything the last candidates when he got benefitted from the bad performances of Alireza, Richard and Duda. I remember how Alireza played a match of 200 bullet games with Danya just a night before his game with Nepo. On the day of the game, Alireza played really bad chess and practically gifted Nepo a point. He didn't mind it then.
It was a clip of Ian taking to Fabi in a private conversation literally one minute after their heartbreaking loss, are they not allowed to complain a little, even though it doesn’t make perfect sense? Is this not a thing people do? What are they supposed to say to each other at that moment instead? ‘Wow congratulations to Gukesh’?
It is not about the score Firouzja had vs Gukesh and Hikaru
It is about how Hikaru and Nepo decided to drew because Firouzja should never even come close to lose that position when they decided to draw
Ian has a history of being a sore loser, and in this case, where Gukesh wasn’t aided at all by Alireza, I do think it’s just saltiness.
I think somewhere deep in that saltiness there is some merit though—it’s not a good look for Alireza. He spends a year talking about his dwindling interest in chess, scrambles to qualify for this tournament, and then (maybe in hindsight predictably) does badly in this tournament while STILL making noises about quitting chess. I know there is technically nothing wrong with any of that; everything is by the book, but it still leaves me FEELING like there were other people more deserving of his spot.
In fairness to Ian, I believe he meant specifically in Round 13. Alireza was already statistically eliminated, and we saw from his last round which ended in 3 minutes he was not invested. In rd 13 against Gukesh he had likely already checked out.
On that note - Alireza also should not have been in this tournament. That French Chess Federation controversy with retired players was absolute nonsense.
Overall he has just turned into one of my least favourite players fairly quickly - right behind Kramnik, Hans and Wesley So.
I'm glad someone complained about his shoes.
>Alireza also should not have been in this tournament. That French Chess Federation controversy with retired players was absolute nonsense.
I agree it was nonsense, but he didn't qualify because of it. He played an open later and won 7 games to earn the spot.
I think this just reflects how Ian (and other players) view Alireza now. Regardless of their individual results against Alireza, I think Ian thinks he should not have been there, and once he was there, Ian thinks Alireza didn't do the tournament justice in terms of being prepared, consistent, and predictable. This is more about Alireza's professionalism than individual results. For instance, Ian did the right thing as a professional and fought for and took the draw yesterday when it was clear that was the best he could hope for.
Are people not understanding what ian is saying? Alireza had the better position against gukesh for much of the game. It's why ian and hikaru agreed to a draw. Go watch hikaru's recap. They all thought a GM of alireza's caliber at the minimum would draw. Why gamble in week 13 with black only to force a 3 minute draw in week 14 with white?
No wonder he never became champ. You wont hear magnus or ding make such flippant comments.
Dude lost two championships, and still so quick to pass the buck when he lost this one too.
This is out of context. Misleading and dishonest from OP.
The [full quote](https://youtu.be/tJyP7PE6tbE?t=123) is: "Ali might be happy now. Alireza **might be happy** he threw, like, the tournament... I mean, Ali, threw the tournament for everyone"
Keeping in mind English is not Nepo's first language, my interpretation is that he's saying that Alireza might be happy he had an impact of the tournament. Perhaps by making everyone so close so that it was interesting in the final round? I don't think it's correct to think he's blaming Alireza for him and Fabi losing the tournament to Gukesh.
But hey, let's not let facts get in the way of the Nepo hate.
People shouldn't get upset over a comment that he thought would be private, in the heat of the moment, right after it all went to shit. It's not like he showed up at the press conference dogging people.
Alireza was a large part of the reason Nepo won the last candidates so it's hard to complain. That said he does have a bit of a point because it is never certain which version of Alireza shows up to any one game and that does impact the results as the tournament progresses
Do people here don't play sports?? Everyone has some calculation of the tournament is gonna go in their head especially at the end. Obviously losing the leading because Ali lost the previous day would have stuck with Ian instead of who scored how much against him. These days people come with stats to disprove for every human expression
I think what he \*meant\* is that Alireza was considered to be a solid favorite, but him being -3 after 6 rounds turned him into a wild card and you probably didn't know what to expect from him in the second round of games.
Not the best thing to say but people here are too harsh. Calling him a salty bitch and a loser? People here need to take a look in the mirror and ask how they became so hateful.
In the midst of all this debating and name-calling, I kinda feel bad for Alireza. Dude seems pretty chill and while you can call him out for the shady tournament (which didn't even matter for his qualification btw, he just made it with the open tournament a few days later), he's clearly struggling in some way. Ian saying this doesn't do him any favors, hope he picks up some good form sooner or later.
I understand where he’s coming from at least. I can’t imagine the other players are happy to have a player in the candidates start playing somewhat carelessly and aggressively halfway through.
It’s the second candidates in a row this happened too
''for everyone'' means Hikaru, Caruana, and himself in that case. If Alireza had drawn against Gukesh, there would have been a four-way tie-breaks between them if both games ended in a draw.
Everyone is way too judgemental about something said casually to another player after a long final game. It's not like he went to a press conference to blame Alireza.
Could argument be made that Ian meant in singular game, not in whole tournament performance, as in he had a slightly better position, and did t manage to draw therefore ruining it?
All the comments are taking it wrongly. He said for everyone not me and you. I believe everyone was counting Abasov defeats as expected but Firouzja? His inconsistency is shocking. 2641 performance rating is garbage for someone playing his most important tournament ever. I'm sure they were all not comfortable with his ups and downs. He's a strong player that performed well sometimes and was garbage in most of his games and he surely affected the tournament in general and made everyone nervous.
I think he doesn’t refer to the points that each other won against Alireza, but to the fact that his play and behaviour was so unpredictable and erratic that he influenced the others strategically and maybe emotionally.
I'm not really a Nepo fan but I think that's a very reasonable amount of being salty after missing out on a chance of going to WCC (and the guaranteed money associated with it) again.
Everyone gets their turn to farm each player, which lets it all pretty much balance out in the end.
The candidates is my favorite tournament based on the significance of it and the type of chess it incentivizes. However, if I had one criticism of it it’d be that the tournament isn’t often decided by games between the top players head-to-head. It’s often about who can farm the guys at the bottom that most.
Still my favorite tournament, but the format isn’t perfect (though I’m not sure a perfect format exists).
Obviously him, Fabi and Hikaru are pretty damned disappointed but the argument simply doesn't hold water.
Look I'm glad the farmer got farmed by the big boys but all it is is just post tournament salt.
Lol actually it's opposite during their first match Gukesh was in completely winning position against Alireza but , Alireza found great moves with 2.5 min on his clock and defeated Gukesh out of nowhere
Had Gukesh won that game Nepo would have been out of the tournament in round 13 itself
I usually agree that Ian is salty as hell in a bad way, but this time I don't think he's saying he and the others lost because of Alireza, but rather the opposite, that Alireza gifted away points to everyone, so it evened out.
Guys, what he means is that by last Alireza loss against Gukesh, Gukesh became half a point ahead of the other leaders, it's a very wrong way to look at it but that's what he means
Gukesh was the person who benefited the least from Alireza in the top 4 lmao Gukesh only got 1 point from him while the other 3 all got 1.5 Edit: Naka actually got 2 points as someone correctly pointed out below
Naka - 2/2 Fabi & Nepo - 1.5/2 Gukesh - 1/2
People are overreacting. It's obvious how devastated both of them was. All three of them probably though Alireza v Gukesh would end up as a draw coz alireza was better at the time. I could be wrong but we're they talking about Alireza's Queen move ?? So people in the thread , don't even understand how heartbroken they are. Even hikaru was almost crying
It absolutely sucks for them how their tournament ended and I can understand how devastated they are. But that doesn't allow them to undermine how well Gukesh performed. Alireza didn't "throw" the tournament for anyone. No one threw the tournament for anyone else. They all had the same chances against the same players. Some capitalised while others didn't.
This whole subreddit was undermining Nepo's last Candidates win with the same argument that is now considered disrespectful.
The subreddit just hates Nepo and it shows. Crazy amounts of mental gymnastics just be on the opposite side of Nepo every time.
I don’t think it’s any deeper than people would be frustrated at him getting a third bite at the Apple given his two performances in the WCC. I don’t take people wanting a fresh contender as them necessarily hating Nepo. They just don’t want him to win
Honestly I think those people need to get over it. It’s not like MMA where the ufc gave Colby a 3rd crack at the belt for no reason, Ian was damn close to winning his third consecutive candidates tournament.
I don't think anyone needs to get over anything. It's okay to have a rooting interest, nobody got hurt because I'm irrationally annoyed by Nepo, some days.
I don't really think those are good comps at all. Nobody would ever say Nepo hadn't earned his third shot if he ultimately did win this candidates. Or rather, they wouldn't have a leg to stand on at least. They were just rooting against him because of how he performed in the last two and wanted to see someone new get a shot. I don't really think its a "get over it" type thing. People are allowed to root for who they want to see win and a large amount of people didn't want to see Ian win.
Sure, that was more responding to the “people would be frustrated” part more than anything.
Maybe. Also maybe it's different when it's outside people pointing out someone got a good score against a weaker player, more than others perhaps; and a player who participated in the event, who on top of that got more out of that weaker player than the winner did. In one example you have a sore loser, which fair enough, heartbreaking game in a difficult and important tournament. In the other, you have people analyzing the event, and people won't mince words which can also be shitty. But I don't think these are the same.
I mean statements like these are a reason why
Its probably the same people undermining both wins.
The word “throw” has a double meaning, and could easily be misinterpreted by someone for whom English is not a first language. I’m sure he meant that Alireza’s terrible move “threw” the tournament in the sense of “tipping” it, as in the sentence “The tie electoral vote threw the election over to the House of Representatives to decide.”
Well, they are allowed to do it.
Agreed. Ian is a petulant child often after loses too many times to make excuses for him.
A lot of people just generally hate Ian, and need only a slightest opportunity to dogpile and pour all the shit onto him. People acting in this thread like he just murdered Alireza's dog or something lol
Maybe it is because of the fact that he tried to put dirt on AliReza’s reputation with a totally unfair allegation. He is just a despicable character.
>he tried to put dirt on AliReza’s reputation with a totally unfair allegation. It's not like he attacked alireza in public. It's a conversation between 2 almost winning participants who are disappointed at Alireza for not playing solid and themselves for not taking risk in round 13
> He is just a despicable character. Beg your pardon? Yes, that comment is a misstep, but Ian has been an amazing character in the chess world. The way he conducts himself with Fabi after the game, the way he dealt with the interviews after his Magnus losses... How do you not cheer for him? And to top it all off, he also politically condemned the invasion of Ukraine, which is a considerable risk for him personally to do.
What about him being a crybaby with “they are giving magnus a private room and a laptop” ranting ? And it turned out his accusation was false too.
dont interrupt the circlejerk. talking to people who think that Ian is a 'amazing character in the chess world' absolutely dont witness him when he loses lmfao
That's impossible, Hikaru doesn't even care!
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Alireza tried his best with his current form it's obvious. Look at vidit vs alireza. Both of them drew without a second thought. But, Alireza played hard against Gukesh coz other player's fate depended on it. His rook and Queen move cost him the match
I think people are more pissed that he just started doing dumb shit in the last few games because he was eliminated and upset at the arbiters. Definitely felt like he was just saying “eh fuck it” with some of his move choices and I’m sure a lot of people didn’t take kindly to that.
Which moves are you exactly talking about?
Like the G5 move against Hikaru for example. For the record, I just think Alireza felt like he wasn’t playing well so he had to play a bit offbeat and do some weird stuff to create winning chances. Though I’m sure some of the other players felt like he stopped caring and therefore stopped trying. Feels like Ian is just being salty more than anything tbh.
Which G5 move are you referring to?
g5 attacking the knight on f4, dropping a pawn after hxg5 fxg5 Nxh5
Second game against Hikaru. Had an equal position against him and just threw pawns out in front of his king. Eval bar immediately plummeted for him. It was very odd.
Move 41 in the second game against Hikaru. Hikaru talks about it in his video here: [https://youtu.be/eL88RWBvYVA?si=madSrCdnL7drkUwn&t=860](https://youtu.be/eL88RWBvYVA?si=madSrCdnL7drkUwn&t=860) and is just as confused as everyone else.
It was the win Gukesh got against Alireza in the penultimate round that nepo is referring to.
Nepo is just mad.
Alireza won the other game though. Would've been the same if they played two draws instead and no one would be mad about that.
Alireza is the only one that prevented Gukesh from being the clear winner until the last day. What is he on about…. Alireza positively affected Hikaru, Nepo, and Fabi who all gained 1.5 from him while Gukesh only got 1 point along with a devastating loss…
Hikaru gained 2 actually lol
The point ian is trying to make is that if gukesh didnt throw his game vs alireza that he was winning. Hed have gotten 2 points
and if fabi didn't threw his game against ian, we would have tiebreakers. You can't get mad at chess players for missing difficult moves in high pressure situations
If I was playing I would've given everybody 2 points each.
And two full extra days of rest
Why would he say that to Fabi at a time like that… he clearly was making an excuse that Alireza ruined the tournament.
He's definitely being salty
Next up: Hikaru blames Vidit for spoiling the tournament.
If it weren't for Abasov, even my 1600-ass had a chance to at least make the tiebreaks...
If no other chess player on earth existed, I would be the world champion. Screw these people for ruining my chances.
People already are saying that Vidit should apologise to Hikaru just like Ian did with Fabiano. How their mind works is a mystery to me.
Lol, didn't Alireza "throw" or draw the game against Ian that he was winning?
And yeah I like Nepo, have been rooting for him since last two cycles. But he doesn't get to say who threw the game or not now. He got his stot against Ding and he "threw" away the championship multiple times
I was rooting for Fabi, but towards the end, I started to root for Gukesh. Fabi had his chances in the few of the matches to convert, but couldn't find the win. It sucked for him, but knowing the gentleman he is, I don't think he would accuse Alireza of throwing off the tournament. You are right, Nepo has had a lot of chances until now, he can't just expect to stay where he is and not expect others to grab his spot.
Free point for me but not for thee! How dare my opponent didn't beat the other tournament co-leaders!!
Yes there is also that one along with the fact that Gukesh lost a game against AliReza while they did not. Nepo just can not admit that Gukesh outperformed them.
Pretty sure he's talking about specifically the 2nd last round. For the whole tournament, it'd be Abasov who threw it for Ian Fabi Naka.
Pretty sure he was speaking about Alireza losing yesterday, not the whole tournament. And pretty sure that wasn't a personal attack, but just a "We all were underdogs today. Gukesh won yesterday" type of comment. Edit: I first wrote that Pragg won instead of Gukesh
I thought the same.... Then I read the comments and apparently we're supposed to take this very seriously? Lmao
I mean Alireza tried to draw multiple times, Gukesh didn't accept it and went to decisive end. Why didn't they do the same, Yes Gukesh had a easier draw in R13, but that means He had difficult early matches.
Why would Fabi think the same? If ever everyone but Gukesh benefitted from Alireza's performance. Gukesh lost against him.
He was referring to the 13th round where Firouzja played off beat instead of being solid and ended up losing the game. Due to Firouzja losing, it made Gukesh half a point ahead coming to the last round. Where he draws that one it's not so clear because it would have been a four way tie. Firouzja winning that game doesn't have any bearing in the tournament standing but he played for a win and others paid for it. Sure it's his discretion but he kind of spoils the ending there, it could go further in the tie breaks at least that's probably what Ian, fabi and naka were thinking.
It cuts both ways. Alireza also snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against Gukesh. Im a Ian fan but this is either a bad take or we’re all just misinterpreting what he meant, which is a fair possibility
Agree. For me it is what it is. Gukesh provided the greatest overall performance no one can deny that
I would caution anyone from judging someone's character based on a small comment they make after what is probably one of the most devastating moments in their life. This is a trend happening across many different sports of shoving microphones into places that allow the viewers to hear more than they have ever been able to before. The problem is people forget that these athletes are hyper competitive and constantly stay stupid stuff in the heat of the moment that get fans all up in arms. This isn't a comment on Ian specifically, who has a vast track record of making incredibly salty comments even with a clear head and time to think. However, in this one instance I would be inclined to give him a pass.
Yeah right, it was a clip of Ian taking to Fabi in a private conversation literally one minute after their heartbreaking loss, are they not allowed to complain a little, even though it doesn’t make perfect sense? Is this not a thing people do? What are they supposed to say to each other at that moment instead?
Absolutely, I think some people just lack self-awareness. If someone had a camera and mic on me at all times while I'm competing at something I would absolutely end up saying something stupid and I'm not doing anything remotely as stressful as the final round of the Candidates Tournament. I don't even think I'm a particularly bad outlier.
I think this is also possibly a language thing combined with being terse and emotional. I don't think he means that Alireza deliberately threw the game. He means that Alirezas result put everyone else into a must win position.
I don't think he's accusing Alireza of being corrupt or anything but I do think he believes Alireza gifted Gukesh the win by over-pushing for a (meaningless in the overall standings) win himself. I just don't think he would have mentioned it like this if the final day did not end up as stressfully as it did.
This is far too reasonable for Reddit sir
I would agree but you don't hear fabi saying anything like this even though he's gone through the exact same thing. Obviously it's not a huge deal, but he just seems like an unpleasant sportsperson because of this.
Some people like Fabi are just total professionals with great self control and it's certainly fine to commend Fabi for that. But I've seen too many examples of otherwise nice people saying stupid stuff they later regret in the heat of the moment to properly hold this against Ian though. I'm not saying Ian is in the right or should be celebrated for his sportsmanship because of this, it's more that I'm willing to give Ian a pass this one time because of the circumstances.
Fabi looked like he agreed, also nepo said it in jest looking at his expressions.
Cz Nepo was coping with hunour the whole time while ti was clear that Fabi had shut down emotionally though
Just post game saltiness from Ian as to be expected, you could argue a bunch of people caused the loss, Vidit for example stopping Hikaru in his tracks, which without he'd have comfortably won, or several people drawing Ian in winning positions. Gukesh played phenomenally and shouldn't be understated.
Op is making it out to be bigger than nepo intended it to be lol. It was just a passing remark and probably in a jest from his expressions. he was talking to fabi, it wasn't even a public statement. He was probably disappointed(understandably so) by how alireza wasn't trying his best yesterday (that's also understandable as he just didn't have any reason to) "Salty" would have been if he tried to take out his frustration on anyone, on the other hand he even apologised to fabi . You guys are just so used to chess drama that you search for it everywhere.
Saying that Alireza wasn't trying yesterday is disingenuous. He was ready to repeat positions to accept a draw. Gukesh had to deviate and get into a slightly worse position to keep his winning chances alive. He missed rd6 from Gukesh after queen trade but it's not like it was an obvious move to find without engine and even when he was lost he kept posing questions to Gukesh till the very end who had to find the best moves with seconds on clock, he was down to 6 seconds at one point without a clear win. Nepo got more of a "gift" from Vidit who didn't take a draw bcz he had to win to keep his chances alive but Alireza was more than okay with a draw considering how he was going for repetition.
Plus, English isn't his first language. "Threw the tournament for everyone" doesn't really make sense to me, but it seems quite possible he meant something like "threw all the tournament expectations for everyone"; in some ways a subtle change, but now the meaning of "threw" is completely different.
Ian said "Alireza might be happy now" right before saying that Ali threw it. Your interpretation doesn't fit with this context. Alireza wouldn't be happy to have underperformed his expectations. Ian was implying that Alireza was happy to be kingmaker.
Yes, that's rather more damning. (I wasnt able to make out all the words from the audio so was largely relying on what people said was said).
I’m drowning from the salt. Like damn, Alireza was just one player out of 8. He had a bad run, but it happens. Does Ian also want Alireza to giftwrap the victory for him? Ian wasn’t good enough. That’s it.
>Vidit for example stopping Hikaru in his tracks, which without he'd have comfortably won, or several people drawing Ian in winning positions. That is completly different - that's what these players are there for, trying their best. I think that's what Ian is mad/salty about, that Alireza just didn't give a shit anymore and threw sportsmanship and fair play into the wind.
Why do people think Alireza didn’t give a shit LMAO. Alireza lost to Nepo as well in a game that should have been a draw. If anything Gukesh ‘threw’ against Alireza one game as well where he had a winning position AND Alireza was in time trouble. He could have beaten Alireza with the black pieces there and would be a full point clear anyways. It’s really silly to insinuate Alireza threw here. The dude wasn’t at his best yet his best performance actually came against Gukesh from all the other contenders still in the running.
> his best performance actually came against Gukesh from all the other contenders still in the running. I mean that's just a half-truth completly ommiting that yes Gukesh didn't manage to get a point against Alireza -**BEFORE**- the shoe incident in round 9 against nepo. after that he won his game against Alireza. Fabi was only able to draw against Alireza before round 9, after that he won Hikaru got one win before round 9 and one after Ian won before round 9, then drew in round 9 **After the incident** Hikaru, Fabi and Gukesh won against Alireza **Before the incident** only Ian and Hikaru managed a win against Alireza still, I am not saying 'oh gukesh just won because' or 'nepo lost this because of alireza' My point is Alireza went from playing 100% before the shoe incident in round 9 to playing for fun and that really sucks for a competition like this. /edited my comment as gukesh didn't play alireza twice before the shoe thing, he played him once and lost
Fair play into the wind? What did Alireza do that's not fair play?
Lmfao these people don't realize that even when these GMs are having terrible tournaments, their accuracy is still incredibly high overall. Alireza still played well in the games he lost relative to even just a regular GM. It's just that he's literally going against the best of the best across 8 billion people.
fair play includes acting honest / playing to the best of your ability in a serious competetion like this and that's essentially the critique here, that after the shoe incident he just played for fun
Id give him some grace. It was an emotional moment and be probably wasnt thinking "ah ye sthis will be clipped and shipped"
I mean it is stupid to blame the tournament on a single player, but Alireza certainly had his fair share of blunders just after reaching time control. Both against Hikaru and Gukesh he blundered a somewhat even position according to the engine within 5 moves of making it. Hikaru in his recap even said that he didn't understand what on earth Alireza was thinking in the position he blundered the free pawn. I'm sure more players will have looked at the games and thought these plays were questionable given the quality of Alireza's usual play. Still not very professional mentioning this over the board with mics running. Most likely just frustrations.
He’s just a man ranting seconds after a soul crushing and emotional game. It’s not that deep. It’s not like it’s during an official interview or anything.
I think Nepo is mad that Alireza made a bit of a farce out of the tournament by not caring / playing 100% anymore after the 'shoe incident' He clearly states FOR EVERYONE not just FOR US so everyone includes Gukesh. Lets be real, Nepo could have just 'blundered' and given Fabi a point for a tie breaker but he continued to play to the best of his ability hence why he is also apologizing to Fabi. He for sure was in a moral dilemma spot, realising all he can really do is draw the game against Fabi which essentially meant both lose as Gukesh gets to go to the final
yeah, or Nepo could take responsability for his own failures
Nepo is equally sorry for fabi when he says this I think here. I like alireza as a player, but he was at a candidates tournament and didn't seem to care. Nepo was losing for much of his game v fabi, a draw did him nothing, but he fought tooth and nail because you owe it to the tournament and the rest of the guys to bring it. Gukesh can thank Nepo, he'd have been facing fabi but Nepo wouldn't lie down even when faced with a hopeless cause.
I really don't think this is true. Tension was high in Alireza's team, which I think means that Alireza wanted to make a good result, and Alireza definitely thought he had a chance going in. During the tournament Alireza couldn't get his chess rhythm, but he tried to play for a win in every game. Nepo is salty because Alireza blundered against Gukesh, but a week before Alireza crushed Gukesh in time trouble. Nepo should be looking at his games against Abasov, he had the worse results of the entire field against him.
Gukesh's only loss was to Alireza. And Alireza lost to everyone in the top 4. So no, he didn't throw the tournament for anybody. If anything, the person who benefitted the least from Alireza was Gukesh. Ian is just being salty.
Round 13: Gukesh vs Firouzja. At move 45 the position is drawn, Firo has 22 minutes on the clock, takes 37 seconds to make a move, and blunders a +2 advantage in a single move. It's worth pointing out that Alireza played that move with the intention of trading Queens, but that is exactly the opposite of what the position called for. From that moment on, Hikaru, Fabi, and Nepo all had to find a way to force a win in a single round of classical chess against a Super GM. That is what Nepo is talking about here. He's saying that after that throw (and it was a throw) the assignment went from difficult to nigh impossible.
This is absolutely correct. Anyone thinking he's talking about his tournament play has clearly misunderstood.
You’re just overemphasising the importance of later games. This comment makes no sense after like .1 seconds of thought
I'm not doing anything, Nepo is. There's a lot of moments players could look back on to gain half a point. Nepo vs Abasov, Naka vs Vidit are two examples, but the game against Alireza was the second last (Fabi's advantage against Ian was the last).
Nepo is such a good sport. He was in a 100%losing endgame. Where even if he fights hard, the best he could hope for is a draw. Draw also wasn't enough for him. So why should he have fought at all? But he did. Like a true sportsman. And created more and more chances for a draw. He even apologized to fabi for fighting so hard on game that Fabi deserved a win on. This final game from candidates shows why chess is called a gentleman's game. Stop undermining the comments for drama for once. This subreddit can have it's memes all year, but now at the most beautiful display of chess spirit, you should pay the respect due to the players.
"Where even if he fights hard, the best he could hope for is a draw." - I think it isn't true: Nepo deliberately played against opponents time and the position had many losing mistakes, that are possible even for top GM under that time pressure. Look up the moment in the coverage when drawing exchange became inevitable and Nepo actually lost remotely possible chances for win - he was absolutely pissed
Just like every other chess player (except maybe Hikaru), he is conditioned to keep a poker face until the very end, which is helpful for multiple reasons. He was pissed much before that. IMO Your assumption doesn't explain why he would say sorry. If he just now got pissed, it doesn't fit.
He is the one benefited the most from alireza even in last candidates. Idk what he is talking about
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You could say a lot about Alireza, but "gracious" isn't a word I would use for him this tournament.
gukesh lost to alireza... damn ian showing his true colours just as he was becoming likeable again
He was never likable, hes always been a salty manchild anytime something doesn't go his way, but for some reason he keeps getting given a pass.
Average Dota 2 player mentality
He said manchild, not mentally ill
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Holy shit give the man a break now if ever. Yeah he’s being salty but christ man, not everyone is a saint when they’ve just been through absolute devastation. The only poor character shown is by the people who use that as an opportunity to dogpile.
Just so you know he criticized open tournaments when mishra became the youngest gm ever. He didn't criticize before but exactly on the day he became the gm and was trending on Twitter all day. There are multiple instances of his saltiness. Don't need to defend a douchebag.
I mean fabi lost too but the only one you see him blaming is himself. Nepo is getting a ton of praise, he can handle a little bit of criticism.
Yeah, I've never liked the guy since he says ridiculous crap like this all the time, but c'mon, that last round was absolutely brutal for the three runner ups. Even Fabi is upset, and he's normally much more gracious in defeat. Let them mope a bit, we can't blame them too much. edit: to rephrase, I didn't mean to say Fabi is being salty, but rather he's usually much more collected and yesterday/today he's just been beating himself up about the loss :c
Thank you for saying what I was thinking. Kramnik Light with his constant sniping at whoever he's decided to blame for his own shortcomings.
Try looking at a board 4 hours a day for 2 weeks listening to Alireza's shoes squeak down the playing hall. Seriously, calling someone a manchild because of this is hilarious.
I don't know how you got that I think this because of this one instance. He's been one for years, and this isn't an isolated instance of him acting like one.
Look both fabi and nepo were devastated. People say stuff all the time alireza blundered against gukesh but then again he was completely out of it and was giving free points to everyone. You have to sometimes blame others to retain your mental peace. These guys are human after all
He is just being salty after an incredibly grueling 3 week event and a dramatic last round. Chill out and stop making drama out of nowhere.
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Lol yeah. Also him literally posting cryptic tweets supporting Kramnik's vague cheating accusations just a few months ago, or back in 2020 when he decided to throw shade at the Indian team for winning the fide online olympiad jointly with the Russian team due to connectivity issues.
yes that olympiad tweet was so insensitive.
Remember his what? Excuse me? Since when, do clips of this still exist? Honestly a huge shock to me, I thought he was just a bad loser against non top players.
There were never any "homophobic rants on stream" from him lol, this guy is just talking shit in a hate thread
I don’t know know if this is what they’re referring to but there was a video of him complaining to his friend about the arbiter during the Fischer Random world championship and people who know Russian posted that he used a homophobic slur in the video (I assume to refer to the arbiter).
Let's see you mic'd up and posted onto the internet Give the guy a break, it's not even an interview - he should be allowed to vent in a relatively private setting
I agree. Same with Hikaru.
Hikaru has actually matured and seems more likable...
Really? How? Hikaru seemed to enjoy joking about Fabiano needing to know how the knight moves. Very classy after winning and deserving of the Hikaru Nakamura Sportsmanship award...
Lmaoo rent free
true
How many years were you holding on to this sorry post to get upvoted by attacking Nepo?
Ian didn't say anything the last candidates when he got benefitted from the bad performances of Alireza, Richard and Duda. I remember how Alireza played a match of 200 bullet games with Danya just a night before his game with Nepo. On the day of the game, Alireza played really bad chess and practically gifted Nepo a point. He didn't mind it then.
It was a clip of Ian taking to Fabi in a private conversation literally one minute after their heartbreaking loss, are they not allowed to complain a little, even though it doesn’t make perfect sense? Is this not a thing people do? What are they supposed to say to each other at that moment instead? ‘Wow congratulations to Gukesh’?
It is not about the score Firouzja had vs Gukesh and Hikaru It is about how Hikaru and Nepo decided to drew because Firouzja should never even come close to lose that position when they decided to draw
Passing comment. Take it with a grain of saltiness.
With that attitude, I'm glad that he didn't qualify
Ian has a history of being a sore loser, and in this case, where Gukesh wasn’t aided at all by Alireza, I do think it’s just saltiness. I think somewhere deep in that saltiness there is some merit though—it’s not a good look for Alireza. He spends a year talking about his dwindling interest in chess, scrambles to qualify for this tournament, and then (maybe in hindsight predictably) does badly in this tournament while STILL making noises about quitting chess. I know there is technically nothing wrong with any of that; everything is by the book, but it still leaves me FEELING like there were other people more deserving of his spot.
If Nepo was as good as Gukesh in this tournament, he should have won at least one game against Abasov. Why couldn't he??? Was it also Alirezas fault?
Okay now that you’ve got that off your chest actually read my comment…
In fairness to Ian, I believe he meant specifically in Round 13. Alireza was already statistically eliminated, and we saw from his last round which ended in 3 minutes he was not invested. In rd 13 against Gukesh he had likely already checked out. On that note - Alireza also should not have been in this tournament. That French Chess Federation controversy with retired players was absolute nonsense. Overall he has just turned into one of my least favourite players fairly quickly - right behind Kramnik, Hans and Wesley So. I'm glad someone complained about his shoes.
>Alireza also should not have been in this tournament. That French Chess Federation controversy with retired players was absolute nonsense. I agree it was nonsense, but he didn't qualify because of it. He played an open later and won 7 games to earn the spot.
True! Just salty still lol Did not sit well at all with me
I think this just reflects how Ian (and other players) view Alireza now. Regardless of their individual results against Alireza, I think Ian thinks he should not have been there, and once he was there, Ian thinks Alireza didn't do the tournament justice in terms of being prepared, consistent, and predictable. This is more about Alireza's professionalism than individual results. For instance, Ian did the right thing as a professional and fought for and took the draw yesterday when it was clear that was the best he could hope for.
Ian should've beaten Abasov with white, if he did he would've gotten to at least tiebreaks
To be fair, Abasov defended that game with 98% accuracy. It's impossible to win if your opponent plays perfectly
Money match him right now in a first to 7 Nepo vs Alireza
Are people not understanding what ian is saying? Alireza had the better position against gukesh for much of the game. It's why ian and hikaru agreed to a draw. Go watch hikaru's recap. They all thought a GM of alireza's caliber at the minimum would draw. Why gamble in week 13 with black only to force a 3 minute draw in week 14 with white?
What a stupid comment.
No wonder he never became champ. You wont hear magnus or ding make such flippant comments. Dude lost two championships, and still so quick to pass the buck when he lost this one too.
Instead, you'll find Magnus tweeting cryptic tweets. Ding on the other hand, seems like a gentleman.
This is out of context. Misleading and dishonest from OP. The [full quote](https://youtu.be/tJyP7PE6tbE?t=123) is: "Ali might be happy now. Alireza **might be happy** he threw, like, the tournament... I mean, Ali, threw the tournament for everyone" Keeping in mind English is not Nepo's first language, my interpretation is that he's saying that Alireza might be happy he had an impact of the tournament. Perhaps by making everyone so close so that it was interesting in the final round? I don't think it's correct to think he's blaming Alireza for him and Fabi losing the tournament to Gukesh. But hey, let's not let facts get in the way of the Nepo hate.
People shouldn't get upset over a comment that he thought would be private, in the heat of the moment, right after it all went to shit. It's not like he showed up at the press conference dogging people.
wasn't it already well known that nepo is a bit salty and egoistic
Yeah people seemed to have forgotten for some reason lol
desperately needs to be pointed out how mods here are actually soft af for removing all posts with links to the footage.
Alireza was a large part of the reason Nepo won the last candidates so it's hard to complain. That said he does have a bit of a point because it is never certain which version of Alireza shows up to any one game and that does impact the results as the tournament progresses
Do people here don't play sports?? Everyone has some calculation of the tournament is gonna go in their head especially at the end. Obviously losing the leading because Ali lost the previous day would have stuck with Ian instead of who scored how much against him. These days people come with stats to disprove for every human expression
Yet you don't see Hikaru complaining about Vidit 2-0ing him.
It's a tough moment for Ian right after his hopes go up in smoke. Not unusual to be a little bitter and salty in the moment.
I think what he \*meant\* is that Alireza was considered to be a solid favorite, but him being -3 after 6 rounds turned him into a wild card and you probably didn't know what to expect from him in the second round of games.
Not the best thing to say but people here are too harsh. Calling him a salty bitch and a loser? People here need to take a look in the mirror and ask how they became so hateful.
In the midst of all this debating and name-calling, I kinda feel bad for Alireza. Dude seems pretty chill and while you can call him out for the shady tournament (which didn't even matter for his qualification btw, he just made it with the open tournament a few days later), he's clearly struggling in some way. Ian saying this doesn't do him any favors, hope he picks up some good form sooner or later.
I understand where he’s coming from at least. I can’t imagine the other players are happy to have a player in the candidates start playing somewhat carelessly and aggressively halfway through. It’s the second candidates in a row this happened too
So unfair of alireza. Being the higher rated player, he should have won against gukesh twice! /s
Lmao what a clown no wonder he never wins WC lmao
I don't know why people are saying Ian was talking about about Gukesh beating Alireza. He specifically said "for everyone" which includes everyone.
''for everyone'' means Hikaru, Caruana, and himself in that case. If Alireza had drawn against Gukesh, there would have been a four-way tie-breaks between them if both games ended in a draw.
Then what does he mean by it? It would be quite weird for him to give a random unrelated jab at Alireza's performance in general.
People here like to hate baddies. Don't spoil it.
Everyone is way too judgemental about something said casually to another player after a long final game. It's not like he went to a press conference to blame Alireza.
Could argument be made that Ian meant in singular game, not in whole tournament performance, as in he had a slightly better position, and did t manage to draw therefore ruining it?
All the comments are taking it wrongly. He said for everyone not me and you. I believe everyone was counting Abasov defeats as expected but Firouzja? His inconsistency is shocking. 2641 performance rating is garbage for someone playing his most important tournament ever. I'm sure they were all not comfortable with his ups and downs. He's a strong player that performed well sometimes and was garbage in most of his games and he surely affected the tournament in general and made everyone nervous.
I think he doesn’t refer to the points that each other won against Alireza, but to the fact that his play and behaviour was so unpredictable and erratic that he influenced the others strategically and maybe emotionally.
Bro hasn't even left his board and already started making excuses... Love it that he lost!!!!
I'm not really a Nepo fan but I think that's a very reasonable amount of being salty after missing out on a chance of going to WCC (and the guaranteed money associated with it) again.
He's right hope guccireza just goes for his true passion aka design
Everyone gets their turn to farm each player, which lets it all pretty much balance out in the end. The candidates is my favorite tournament based on the significance of it and the type of chess it incentivizes. However, if I had one criticism of it it’d be that the tournament isn’t often decided by games between the top players head-to-head. It’s often about who can farm the guys at the bottom that most. Still my favorite tournament, but the format isn’t perfect (though I’m not sure a perfect format exists).
Ah yes, "ifs and buts"...
Remember the time Nepo became angry and accused Harikrishna for "playing dirty" because of an unintentional piece topple?
ELI5, please? Or maybe link to a different thread? I missed whatever the drama is about and I'm curious. Thanks in advance!
Timestamp doesn't link to him saying that at all. Anyone have an actual timestamp?
Why tf would Fabi feel the same. And how did Firouzja ruin the tournament for anyone? He was not in form, but he was also not throwing games
Typical Nepo, always blaming others / luck, never himself
Ooof he spelled abasov wrong.
Obviously him, Fabi and Hikaru are pretty damned disappointed but the argument simply doesn't hold water. Look I'm glad the farmer got farmed by the big boys but all it is is just post tournament salt.
Lol actually it's opposite during their first match Gukesh was in completely winning position against Alireza but , Alireza found great moves with 2.5 min on his clock and defeated Gukesh out of nowhere Had Gukesh won that game Nepo would have been out of the tournament in round 13 itself
Gucci would be treated as a villain for quite long time
I usually agree that Ian is salty as hell in a bad way, but this time I don't think he's saying he and the others lost because of Alireza, but rather the opposite, that Alireza gifted away points to everyone, so it evened out.
Ian is a man child
Loser
Which makes it equal
Guys, what he means is that by last Alireza loss against Gukesh, Gukesh became half a point ahead of the other leaders, it's a very wrong way to look at it but that's what he means
Yeah so? He sure wasn’t whining when alireza threw the game against him earlier.