Updated on: Nov 09, 2025 08:11 pm IST
Vincent Keymer saw some controversy during his Round 3 Game 1 fixture against India’s Pranesh M, at the Chess World Cup in Goa.
Vincent Keymer’s Chess World Cup 2025 Round 3 Game 1 fixture against Pranesh M sparked controversy, involving an arbiter. The German GM’s clock was under 17 seconds, and he was playing with white pieces. He took his knight to d5, and then Pranesh touched Keymer’s pawn on d3, but then didn’t take it with his bishop.
Keymer didn’t issue a complaint and didn’t seem to have any issues. Then Pranesh took his bishop in the opposite direction instead, which was actually a blunder. But the arbiter rushed to intervene and asked Pranesh to take the pawn, as he already touched it, and it was, in fact, the best move.
Vincent Keymer on arbiter’s controversial call
Speaking to ChessBase India, Keymer opened up on the incident and revealed that he didn’t realize that Pranesh touched the pawn. He said, “It was a tense moment. He had to make a kind of an important decision and looked like he was about to take the pawn on d3, then went back and played Ba1. I didn’t actually see during the game whether he touched the pawn or not. Later in the footage it really seemed like he did touch the pawn. There was an arbiter standing nearby who had seen that he had actually touched the pawn. Therefore made him play the move.”
Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen’s coach Peter Heine Nielsen backed the arbiter’s decision, despite some fans finding it problematic. Taking to X, Nielsen wrote, “Very good work by the arbiter here.”
“He do not wait for the player to protest, but acts independently and immediately,” he added.
In huge news for fans, reigning world champion D Gukesh got knocked out of the Chess World Cup, losing his third round showdown to Frederik Svane.
