Alireza Firouzja withdraws from Super Chess Classic Romania 2026

by ChessBase
5/20/2026 – Alireza Firouzja withdrew from the Grand Chess Tour tournament in Bucharest and said: "Unfortunately, due to an ankle injury sustained during the event, I have decided to withdraw from the tournament. Thank you to the organizers for their support and accommodations, and thank you to everyone following the games. I wish the players and organizers the best for the rest of the tournament." | Photos: Lennart Ootes
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The organisers said: "Alireza Firouzja has made the difficult decision to withdraw from the Super Chess Classic Romania 2026 due to an ankle injury. 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."

Alireza Firouzja lost his rescheduled game against Fabiano Caruana. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

The tournament organisers announced the withdrawal of the world-class French player in a brief statement. Following his injury, Firouzja had managed to postpone his fourth-round match against Fabiano Caruana until the rest day after the fifth round, with the approval of the officials and Caruana.

In the fifth round, he drew his game against Javokhir Sindarov while playing from his bed in a hotel room, but then lost the rescheduled game against Caruana.

Combined with his poor start of just half a point from three games, this left Firouzja with a score of 1 out of 5.

Following his withdrawal, one player now has a bye in every round. In today's sixth round, this player is Vincent Keymer.

Grand Chess Tour website

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