In a recent statement, Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura shed light on the turbulent conclusion of his third-place match against Alireza Firouzja at the Esports World Cup 2026. What was meant to be a competitive battle for bronze spiraled into a chaotic episode marked by technical glitches and an unexpected forfeiture. The match, already finely poised between the two Falcons Esports teammates, was disrupted by a series of disconnections affecting multiple players. These issues ultimately led to Firouzja’s departure from the game, leaving the outcome in disarray.
Nakamura recounted the bewildering experience of waiting for approximately 20 minutes, only to be informed by officials that the match would be recorded as a forfeit in his favor. At that moment, the root cause of the technical meltdown remained a mystery to him. “Today’s match with Alireza certainly didn’t go well for anyone. It was chaos with multiple disconnections and then Alireza’s untimely departure from the event,” Nakamura articulated in his official statement. Isolated from external information and his mobile phone, Nakamura’s initial assumption, fueled by the immediate sight of a disconnection message on his screen, was that the popular online chess platform, Chess.com, was responsible for the problems. This conclusion, drawn in the heat of the moment and without full context, was publicly voiced during subsequent interviews.
However, Nakamura has since issued a significant retraction. He candidly admitted that his initial assumption was erroneous. “I now know I was wrong. It was an EWC issue that took out a few events, not just chess,” he clarified. Nakamura expressed regret, wishing he had been privy to this crucial information before conducting interviews, acknowledging that he had “jumped to conclusions” and unfairly blamed Chess.com. He extended a sincere apology to Chess.com and requested that his retraction be disseminated wherever his original, misinformed comments had appeared. With a touch of humor, he also playfully dismissed any suggestions that he was pressured into changing his narrative, asserting that he was “not under duress by the ‘chess mafia’” and that “Danny was not ‘holding my hand on the stove.’” Despite the dramatic and unusual circumstances surrounding its conclusion, Nakamura officially secured third place at the Esports World Cup, leading Firouzja 3-1 with two games remaining before the forfeit. This result not only earned him a substantial $145,000 but also contributed valuable Club Championship points to Falcons Esports.
