Firouzja Plays From Bed As Super Chess Classic Gets Its Most Unusual Venue

The Super Chess Classic Romania 2026 witnessed one of the most unusual sights in elite chess as French Grandmaster Alireza Firouzja , recovering from an ankle injury, played his fifth-round game against Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov from a bed in a specially arranged room.

This was no hostel room chess. It was a proper 2700-plus elite classical tournament , part of the Grand Chess Tour , with an arbiter present and the game conducted under tournament conditions. Sindarov sat across a physical board, while the injured French star continued the event from what looked like a hospital-room-like venue.

Firouzja had missed his fourth-round game against American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana because of the medical issue after suffering the ankle injury following his third-round game. According to the live broadcast, the injury was not a fracture, and Firouzja decided to continue after consulting his team and the organisers.

Despite visible discomfort and the extraordinary playing conditions, Firouzja managed to hold Sindarov to a draw. The result became the talking point of the round, not because the game produced a decisive finish, but because of the circumstances in which it was played.

Round 5 ended without a single decisive result, with all five games drawn for the second time in this year’s tournament. Germany’s Vincent Keymer retained his half-point lead over Anish Giri , Jorden van Foreest and India’s R Praggnanandhaa . Caruana still has a game in hand against Firouzja and can join the chasing group if he wins the postponed encounter.

Praggnanandhaa remained firmly in contention after drawing his fifth-round game against American Grandmaster Wesley So . The Indian GM stayed among the leading contenders as the tournament crossed the halfway stage, keeping pressure on Keymer and the other players near the top of the table.

Keymer had moved into sole lead in Round 4 with the only decisive result of that round, defeating France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in 38 moves. Elsewhere in Round 5, the remaining games also ended peacefully, leaving the standings tightly packed behind the leader.

But by the end of the day, the tournament’s defining image was clear: Firouzja, injured but unwilling to withdraw, continuing the fight from bed in one of elite chess’s most memorable venues.