Chess Grandmaster’s Father Threatens to Call Police if He’s Unable to Spectate His Son

The father of Chess Grandmaster Alireza Firouzja threatened to involve the police if he was not allowed to watch his son play whenever he desired.

As the FIDE Candidates continued with Round 10 in Toronto, a dispute arose when FIDE’s Chief Arbiter warned French Grandmaster Alireza Firouzja to remove his shoes on April 14 due to excessive noise.

After the initial incident, Alireza found himself involved in another altercation involving FIDE’s arbiters. His father, Hamidreza Firouzja, was unable to watch his son’s match and threatened to involve the police. As a result, he was asked to leave the venue.

The interview begins at the timestamp of 1:24:56, as shown below.

According to GM Pavel Tregubov, who serves as the FIDE Technical Delegate for the tournament, an incident occurred during the Round where [Hamidreza] contacted one of my team members and threatened to involve the police if he was not permitted to access the balcony whenever he desired.

Eventually, Hamidreza was escorted from the playing hall and the building. However, coaches and family members, along with other accompanying individuals, are permitted to observe only the initial 15 minutes of the round.

Nevertheless, due to concerns raised by players about potential cheating in the crucial tournament, FIDE initially banned all spectators from attending the games in person.

However, during an interview on Round 7, Tregubov shared that he had received a complaint from Hamidreza regarding his inability to spectate his son. As a result, Tregubov stated that they had decided to relax the rule, with him being the sole individual to have expressed concern.

Tregubov stated that Hamidreza will be permitted to reenter the venue as long as he behaves appropriately.