'Spreading unfounded concerns': Cyprus chess chief calls Indian grandmaster Humpy's decision to withdraw from FIDE Candidates 'bad move'
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "'Spreading unfounded concerns': Cyprus chess chief calls Indian grandmaster Humpy's decision to withdraw from FIDE Candidates 'bad move'")
Cyprus chess chief calls out Humpy's decision to withdraw from FIDE Candidates Photograph: (AFP)
The winner of FIDE Candidates tournament winnner gets to challenge the FIDE World Champion. With Humpy out of contention, R Vaishali and Divya Deshmukh will now represent Indian women in the event. The winner of the tournament will challenge China's Ju Wenjun for the women's title.
Criton Tornaritis, president of the Cyprus Chess Federation (CCF), has criticised Indian grandmaster Koneru Humpy for withdrawing from upcoming FIDE Candidates tournament citing security concerns. Humpy had withdrawn from the tournament, which is scheduled from March 28 to April 7 in Cyprus, because of the host country's proximity to the ongoing war in West Asia involving Iran, Israel and the US. Humpy called the decision hard but a necessary one in her social media post. Tornaritis, however, doesn't agree with Humpy's claim to Cyprus being called unsafe and found the Indian grandmaster's claim to be not true.
Why Cyprus chess chief isn't happy with Humpy's statement on withdrawing from FIDE Candidates?
Taking to X, Tornaritis wrote that he is "sincerely disappointed by Koneru Humpy’s decision to withdraw, citing that Cyprus 'is not safe'."
"The 2026 Women’s Candidates Tournament is one of the most important and prestigious chess events in the world. This claim is simply incorrect. Spreading unfounded concerns harms the sport and shows a lack of respect for the organizers and the players who are participating. At the highest level of chess, decisions should be based on calculation and facts—not fear or misinformation. It was a bad move," he added in reponse to Humpy's comment that FIDE should not have chosen Cyprus as host amid the security concern.
Why FIDE Candidates event is important?
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The winner of FIDE Candidates tournament winnner gets to challenge the FIDE World Champion. With Humpy out of contention, R Vaishali and Divya Deshmukh will now represent Indian women in the event. The winner of the tournament will challenge China's Ju Wenjun for the women's title.
Tornaritis also calls out US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura as well
Tornaritis also called out US grandmaster Nakamura's claim of prolonged power cuts in Cyprus and wrote on X: "I’m genuinely curious where you read that, because it certainly doesn’t reflect the reality in Cyprus. And just to be clear, there are no “electricity cuts across Cyprus” in general. Perhaps there’s been some confusion with another country?"
