World Blitz Chess: GMs Ian Nepomniachtchi, Daniil Dubov's appeal against CA's ruling rejected

Ian Nepomniachtchi and Daniil Dubov's appeal in the World Blitz Chess Championship game against referee's decision was rejected by the appeal committee on Saturday. Points of both the players were reduced by Chief Arbiter of the tournament, Ivan Syrovy with a reasoning that it was prearranged result of the game.

Hyderabad:The ongoing World Blitz Chess Championship which is underway in Samarkand(Uzbekistan), witnessed Russian Grandmasters Ian Nepomniachtchi and Daniil Dubov's appeal objecting to the decision of tournament's Chief Arbiter (CA) Ivan Syrovy to dock points of both the players being rejected.

Six players are sharing the lead after round 12 of the open section in the World Blitz Chess Championship. The leaders' pack includes Magnus Carlsen, Vladislav Artemiev, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin and Alexander Riazantsev. Two players, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Daniil Dubov, who appeared to be co-leaders for a few hours soon lost their position as a result of losing points, a decision handed out by the arbiter.

The duo faced each other in the round 11 of the tournament and the game consisted of 13 moves : 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.Nd4 Nd5 3.Nb3 Nb6 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.Ne4 Ne5 6.Ng5 Ng4 7.Nf3 Nf6 8.Ng1 Ng8 9.Nc5 Nc4 10.Na4 Na5 11.Nc3 Nc6 12.Nb1 Nb8 13.Nf3 ½ - ½. However, points of both the players were reduced after the CA determined that the players had prearranged the result of the game after analysing the moves used in the game.

He informed his decision to award zero points to both the players on basis of subsections 11.1 and 12.9.5 of FIDE’s Laws of Chess

Rule 11.1 says: "The players shall take no action that will bring the game of chess into disrepute."

Rule 12.9.5 adds, "Options available to the arbiter concerning penalties: reducing the points scored in the game by the offending player."

The players challenged the decision with an appeal but it was rejected by the Appeals Committee voted unanimously (3/3).

The dispute halted the proceedings for a while and it resulted in delayed results of round 12 and pairings for round 13.

The orders passed by the appeal committee said the short draws are not prohibited in this event, and they are not deemed to be a disrepute. If both players are happy with the results, a draw can be achieved very quickly without being prearranged.

It cited the CA stating that the players were seen in a video discussing the result to be a draw before the start of the game. The committee also drew an analogy of a football match where none of the teams tries to cross the middle line and how it would undoubtedly be deemed a disrepute.

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