FIDE Tax on Tardiness

FIDE Presidential Board proposition...bringing out the stick or just absurd?

Middle of the month, the executive Board met in Halkidiki, Greece. The report on that meeting by Herman Hamers (available for download from the ECF website) notes the following discussion item:

A proposal by the Presidential Board that players who fail to appear at the start of a game, not only lose the game by default, but also give them a penalty of €500 (a second time €1.000 and a third time €2.000) met a lot of opposition and was taken back. Possibly it will return next year in the General Assembly.

Is FIDE loosing its creativity to source out funds?I hope not. Chess clock is already their, why punish even further?

Chess World Cup 2009 Participants

full list, including organizing committee nominated players

Here is the full list of the Chess World Cup 2009 participants.

From World Cup 2007

01. G. Kamsky (USA)
02. A. Shirov (ESP)
03. S. Karjakin (UKR)

Women's World Champion 2008:

04. A. Kosteniuk (RUS)

Junior World Champions 2007 & 2008:

05. A. Adly (EGY)
06. A. Gupta (IND)

From FIDE Rating List, 22 players, average 7/2008 & 1/2009:

07. V. Ivanchuk (UKR) 2780,00
08. A. Morozevich (RUS) 2779,50
09. T. Radjabov (AZE) 2752,50
10. D. Jakovenko (RUS) 2734,50
11. S. Mamedyarov (AZE) 2733,00
12. P. Svidler (RUS) 2730,50
13. A. Grischuk (RUS) 2730,50
14. B. Gelfand (ISR) 2726,50
15. R. Ponomariov (UKR) 2722,00
16. Wang Yue (CHN) 2721,50
17. V. Gashimov (AZE) 2720,00
18. E. Alekseev (RUS) 2713,00
19. L. Dominguez Perez (CUB) 2712,50
20. Ni Hua (CHN) 2707,00
21. E. Bacrot (FRA) 2706,50
22. Bu Xiangzhi (CHN) 2706,00
23. P. Eljanov (UKR) 2704,50
24. J. Polgar (HUN) 2702,00
25. S. Rublevsky (RUS) 2700,50
26. K. Sasikiran (IND) 2697,50
27. Wang Hao (CHN) 2691,00
28. V. Malakhov (RUS) 2690,50

46 players from European Championships 2008 & 2009

29. S. Tiviakov (NED) 2008
30. S. Movsesian (SVK) 2008
31. S. Volkov (RUS) 2008
32. P. Tregubov (RUS) 2008
33. E. L'Ami (NED) 2008
34. M. Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) 2008
35. B. Grachev (RUS) 2008
36. V. Baklan (UKR) 2008
37. Y. Kryvoruchko (UKR) 2008
38. T. Nyback (FIN) 2008
39. E. Sutovsky (ISR) 2008
40. V. Laznicka (CZE) 2008
41. D. Pavasovic (SLO) 2008
42. Z. Efimenko (UKR) 2008
43. I. Papaioannou (GRE) 2008
44. A. Khalifman (RUS) 2008
45. E. Najer (RUS) 2008
46. D. Andreikin (RUS) 2008
47. G. Sargissian (ARM) 2008
48. J. Gustafsson (GER) 2008
49. L. Fressinet (FRA) 2008
50. I. Smirin (ISR) 2008
51. V. Bologan (MDA) 2008
52. E. Tomashevsky (RUS) 2009
53. B. Jobava (GEO) 2009
54. E. Inarkiev (RUS) 2009
55. I. Sokolov (NED) 2009
56. A. Naiditsch (GER) 2009
57. D. Navara (CZE) 2009
58. M. Kobalia (RUS) 2009
59. G. Guseinov (AZE) 2009
60. G. Meier (GER) 2009
61. F. Nijboer (NED) 2009
62. S. Fedorchuk (UKR) 2009
63. A. Timofeev (RUS) 2009
64. S. Sjugirov (RUS) 2009
65. M. Bartel (POL) 2009
66. R. Mamedov (AZE) 2009
67. B. Savchenko (RUS) 2009
68. K. Sakaev (RUS) 2009
69. N. Vitiugov (RUS) 2009
70. T. L. Petrosian (ARM) 2009
71. L. Nisipeanu (ROU) 2009
72. C. Lupulescu (ROU) 2009
73. A. Motylev (RUS) 2009
74. A . Areshchenko (UKR) 2009

19 players from Americas

75. I. Morovic Fernandez (CHI) Zonal 2.5
76. A. Rodriguez Vila (URU) Zonal 2.5
77. R. Hess (USA) Zonal 2.1
78. A. Onischuk (USA) Zonal 2.1
79. V. Akobian (USA) Zonal 2.1
80. Y. Shulman (USA) Zonal 2.1
81. J. Friedel (USA) Zonal 2.1
82. A. Fier (BRA) Zonal 2.4
83. R. Leitao (BRA) Zonal 2.4
84. L. Bruzon (CUB) Zonal 2.3
85. E. Iturrizaga (VEN) Zonal 2.3
86. J . Hebert (CAN) Zonal 2.2
87. J. Ehlvest (USA) Continental 2008
88. A. Shabalov (USA) Continental 2009
89. F. Corrales Jimenez (CUB) Continental 2009
90. J. Granda Zuniga (PER) Continental 2009
91. G. Milos (BRA) Continental 2009
92. D. Flores (ARG) Continental 2009
93. A. Ivanov (USA) Continental 2009

19 players from Asia/Oceania

94. S. Ganguly (IND) Continental
95. Zhou Weiqi (CHN) Continental
96. Yu Yangyi (CHN) Continental
97. Yu Shaoteng (CHN) Continental
98. Le Quang Liem (VIE) Continental
99. A. Rogelio Jr (PHI) Continental
100. Hou Yifan (CHN) Continental
101. C. Sandipan (IND) Continental
102. A. Kunte (IND) Continental
103. Negi Parimarjan (IND) Continental
104. Zhou Jianchao (CHN) Zonal 3.5
105. Li Chao (CHN) Zonal 3.5
106. D. Smerdon (AUS) Zonal 3.6
107. J. Sriram (IND) Zonal 3.2
108. D. Laylo (PHI) Zonal 3.3
109. Wesley So (PHI) Zonal 3.3
110. Al Sayed, Mohamed N. (QAT) Zonal 3.1
111. Amonatov, A. (TJK) Zonal 3.4
112. Filipov, A. (UZB) Zonal 3.4

6 players from Africa

113. B. Amin (EGY)
114. K. Abdel Razik (EGY)
115. E. El Gindy (EGY)
116. W. Sarwat (EGY)
117. M. Ezat (EGY)
118. A. Rizouk (ALG)

6 nominees of the FIDE President

119. Robson, Ray (USA)
120. Tkachiev, Vladislav (FRA)
121. Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan (IRI)
122. Caruana, Fabiano (ITA)
123. Cheparinov, Ivan (BUL)
124. Pelletier, Yannick (SUI)

4 nominees of the local Organising Committee

125. Pridorozhni, Alexei (RUS)
126. Bezgodov, Alexei (RUS)
127. Kabanov, Nikolai (RUS)
128. Obodchuk, Andrei (RUS)

Double forfeit- A Rare Sight

Below is a news published in FIDE website about a rare occurrence in chess, a double forfeit. We recall, this same year, Hou Yfan was forfeited by not being present during handshake time and forfeited the match. China certainly is making a statement here and I support the move. Here is the full report from FIDE.


Translated from Chinese language which was published in Sina Sports http://sports.sina.com.cn at 21:21 hr on 21 September 2009.

In the 6th round of the Zhejiang Lishui Xingqiu Cup International Open Chess Tournament held in Lishui, Zhejiang Province, an extraordinary incident happened when two young star players Wang Chen and Lu Shanglei agreed to a draw. After the end of the round, the Chief Arbiter declared both players to have lost their game. This is the first time that a double default has ever been meted out in chess competition in China.

What actually happened? This brings us back to 16:00 hour when the Chief Arbiter announced the start of the round and the two players wrote their result as drawn, signed on their scoresheets without making a single move and left the playing hall. The Chief Arbiter from Singapore, Mr Ignatius Leong, General Secretary of the World Chess Federation, saw what happened and after checking that no move was recorded on the scoresheets, declared the game lost for both players.

After the incident, Mr Leong was interviewed by the sports reporter from Sina Sports. Mr Leong said that while this was the first time that such a ruling had been made in China, it was also the first time he had ever made a double default in his 30-year carrer of arbitratiion in major international competitions all over the world. In his opinion, such conduct does not show respect for the competition, the organisers and the chief arbiter.

There may be different reasons where short draws are made during a game. However, as in today's case, agreeing to a draw without making a single move are rare. When the reporter asked Mr Leong if there are regulations which support his decision, Mr Leong replied smilingly asked if there are regulations which do not support his ruling. "I have arbitrated in numerous major world and international competitions for 30 years and have not made a mistake. From my perspective, a sportive result cannot be achieved without making a single move.

The players had come to the tournament hall, signed on the scoresheets without makiing a single move and left the tournament hall immediately. This is as good as fixing the result prior to start of play. Such behaviour is bad for the image for the development of Chess. This was why he made such a tough ruling.

The reporter contacted a Chinese International Master Xu Yang who supported Mr Leong's decision. Xu said that such conduct of the players could lose the support of sponsors. Moreover, from the professional view point, this is unfair to chess fans who want to see interesting games.

Before the start of the 7th round, Mr Leong will announce his ruling in the presence of all the competitors. This will be a good lesson not only for the two players but to all competitors to respect their profession as chessplayers, to respect the efforts of organisers and to respect the development of Chess activities.

Source: FIDE.com