Professional chess is where intelligence and tactics are the most important factors, so we can only imagine that the players are being graceful in stressful situations. However, the Russian Grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi, who is a two-time winner in the Candidates tournament and at one time challenger of the World Championship has demonstrated disturbingly with numerous statements and behaviors that do not augur well with the spirit of chess and especially regarding India and its rising chess giant.
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With Indian players such as D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, and Arjun Erigaisi leading the world chess standings and tournaments, the actions of Nepomniachtchi have been subject to strident criticism as a barely veiled racism and contempt at the uprising of the subcontinent.
This article presents his most striking moments, builds on the official accounts, social media posts, and the postmortems of tournaments to reveal a pattern that is both as predictable as inappropriate. And here is an extensive list of known episodes, in chronological order:
August 2020: The FIDE Online Olympiad Tweet – “Selective Nobleness”
In the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad, Indian women were disqualified due to the technical glitches but were reinstated, and given a second chance to play. Nepomniachtchi tweeted now-famous: Smart decision to appease Indian chess fans, other fans and other players, forget. Selective nobleness. @FIDE_chess
#ChessOlympiad #Chess.”
This was not a cry of injustice about fairness but a direct swipe at the sheer number of fans India has and how it is viewed as having a special treatment of its players. It did not take long to backfire and the Indian fans and GMs accused it of being petty and xenophobic, more so because the same allowances had been extended to Western players in previous events. Nepo also took down the tweet when there was an outcry, although he never made an apology, which was the precursor to his subsequent outbursts.
January 2023: World Blitz Meltdown Against P Harikrishna Rule-Breaking Accusations.
During FIDE World Blitz Championship, Nepomniachtchi has made a draw with the Indian GM P Harikrishna after a controversial clock incident when Harikrishna knocked over a piece accidentally. Nepo walked out furious, and later suggested in social media and on television that the Indian had violated or cheated purposefully.
There were videos of his infantile outbursts, rolling around, and gibbering, which became viral, being compared to the notorious rants of Hikaru Nakamura. This was viewed as sour grapes by the chess community, especially by Indians: Harikrishna was an established veteran, he had committed a human mistake, yet Nepo was able to mould it into a foul play by an undeserving opponent. There was no official complaint, but the event gave rise to memes and demands to improve sportsmanship on the part of the best players.
May 2024: Cheating Accusations against the Community Manager at Chess.com India Cheating – Broadening the Brush.
At one of Titled Tuesday events in Chess.com, Nepomniachtchi publicly accused the India community manager of the platform of cheating due to the suspicion of cheating after a suspicious game.
Indian GM Srinath Narayanan, the coach of the successful 2024 Olympiad team, responded on social media by applauding the honesty of the Indian athletes and accusing Nepo of groundless paranoia.
This was not the only whistle, but the larger backlash of Nepo and allies like Vladimir Kramnik of cheating epidemics in online chess with an unfair advantageization of Indian players, who make up almost all the GMs in the world and are the chess superpower. Critics said it was a dog-whistle racism, that assumes Indians can only succeed by being dishonest and not through talent.
Chess World Cup Exit November 2025: The Chess World Cup Exit out of Goa – One of Those You Will be Glad to be Leaving.
The latest episode and the freshest one occurred at the FIDE Chess world cup in Goa, India. Following a devastating second-round upset by Indian GM Diptayan Ghosh (who had at one time stopped his career path by taking a bank job), Nepomniachtchi did not simply admit defeat. He ran away to the airport without talking to media, and then released his anger on Telegram: FIDE, to its credit, got to surprise me. The chess aspect is nothing to comment. One of them where you will not regret to go.
The event was held in India the first time, and it demonstrated the logistic success in the tropical conditions, but Nepo portrayed the whole country as unfriendly. He was the Kramnik 2.0 on the internet boards, and his entitlement to bitterness was mocked by fans; they reminded him when he complained about conditions, to tell them what those conditions were.
This followed closely on the heels of a solid performance of India one of the strongest performances by Gukesh, Erigaisi, and others which added to the perception of the Nepo resentment of the dominance of the host country.
These aren’t the only instances; there are minor insults, such as Nepo supposedly whispering to Gukesh cheating on the 2024 World Championship cycle, which are stored in the lore of forums.
But they are all an evident arc: whenever Nepo is on his pedestal India or its representatives encroach, he turns to his whip.
