Chess.com Isle Of Man Tournament 23 Sep to 1 Oct 2017

[LawrenceCooper]

It was relevant to the quote I replied to from David who asked what happened about innocent until proven guilty. She was one of the higher profile cases where accusations were made without a thread of evidence, including prominent GMs insulting her on social media.

Yes, we all know that, but I don't see the point of invoking it whenever anyone is actually caught red-handed. There was never a shred evidence against Sandu, there is a body of undisputed evidence against this guy. Appearing to equate the two is offensive to the one who really was innocent.

If you take my quote in the context it was given it makes sense (innocent until proven guilty). Trying to take my quote out of context to suggest I'm saying something about a member of my own team is not something I would expect from you, so kindly refrain from doing so.

[NickFaulks]

If you take my quote in the context

The context was David suggesting that I was being unfair to a player who has been caught red-handed at least twice. You leapt in with "remember the Sandu case". Yes, we do all remember that, but it would have been wiser not to create any link between the two, because there isn't any.

[LawrenceCooper]

If you take my quote in the context

The context was David suggesting that I was being unfair to a player who has been caught red-handed at least twice. You leapt in with "remember the Sandu case". Yes, we do all remember that, but it would have been wiser not to create any link between the two, because there isn't any.

As I'm sure that you are well aware it was a response to "What happened to innocent until proven guilty" To prevent you trying to take my quote of context I will go back and edit the quote I replied to.

I am aware there is no link between the two, only you know why you are trying to accuse me of creating one.

[NickFaulks]

only you know why you are trying to accuse me of creating one.

Not at all, I am suggesting that you have unintentionally created one. I realised that this was not your purpose, an outsider reading your comment might well not have done.

[David Sedgwick]

The context was David suggesting that I was being unfair to a player who has been caught red-handed at least twice.

That wasn't actually my intention, although I accept that it was the effect.

The organisers have, in good faith, accepted an entry from someone who has not as yet been found guilty by FIDE of any transgression, albeit that that appears to be due solely to the inadequacy of FIDE's procedures.

I was seeking to suggest that, in those circumstances, it wasn't appropriate for a prominent FIDE official to say that he would refuse to play the alleged offender.

[Nick Burrows]

The organisers have assured me that they are very aware of his entry and will be keeping a close eye.

The difficulty with this type of cheating is that even if you catch someone red handed with a mobile device that is on and concealed, an arbiter doesn't have the right to confiscate such a device from the player, meaning he can never be "proven" to be cheating. There is no deterrent for such a player to continue trying his luck until he finally evades detection and wins a tournament.
If I am drawn to play him, I will certainly play the game, but fear my concentration will be very poor due to paying so much attention to his actions. I also feel duty bound to inform all of his opponents of his history.

[Roger de Coverly]

The difficulty with this type of cheating is that even if you catch someone red handed with a mobile device that is on and concealed, an arbiter doesn't have the right to confiscate such a device from the player, meaning he can never be "proven" to be cheating.

There's a rule which says you aren't allowed to have a mobile in your possession whether on or off. Announcements at the start of the game now require not only that the phone be switched off, but that it be placed out of possible use.

If an arbiter found a phone in use during a game, the penalty is supposed to be the loss of the game.

[NickFaulks]

I was seeking to suggest that, in those circumstances, it wasn't appropriate for a prominent FIDE official to say that he would refuse to play the alleged offender.

Whyever not? I'm sure I would have kept quiet when I was a member of the Anti-Cheating Committee, and would now if I were in possession of any knowledge not in the public domain. Simply being on a FIDE Commission does not automatically debar anyone from expressing a personal view, as a chess player. Those present at the forthcoming ACC meeting in Antalya, which is open to all, will probably hear me say the same thing.

I view a game of chess as a battle of wits between myself and my opponent, with both of us trying to think of good moves. This individual evidently views it as a battle between himself ( trying to break the rules ) and the arbiters ( trying to catch him ). If I were paired against him I would have no interest in playing the role of a pawn in this contest. Others may feel differently.

[Ian Thompson]

If I am drawn to play him, I will certainly play the game, but fear my concentration will be very poor due to paying so much attention to his actions. I also feel duty bound to inform all of his opponents of his history.

You could tell the arbiter that you were aware your opponent had been caught using a mobile phone during games in the past, and this was affecting your concentration. You could ask the arbiter to search the player to ensure he wasn't doing it again.

I wonder what the arbiter's response would be?

[Nick Burrows]

He might say "We intend to"

[Tim Harding]

Better go to Reykjavik then where the range of players goes from 2700+ to about 1100.

no I have had the experience, stuck on an island with the cream of chessplayers from Europe, losing every game, total humiliation. never again.

Actually once you get to -1 or -2 you will mostly meet Scandinavian club players who never meet foreigners any other time. Ratings down as low as 1100-1400.

Isle of Man and Gibraltar are much tougher, no easy opponents to look forward to.

[LawrenceCooper]

Does this new pairing method make it more or less likely that titled players will meet in the first round? Maybe someone can do some calculations as well as comparing to other pairing methods.

Irrelevant to this tournament; considerably more than half the field is titled. You'd need to test it out on a weaker tournament.

More seriously, is this a pairing method accepted by FIDE? Can any FIDE-rated Swiss tournament come up with any method they like to do. first round pairings?

FIDE-rated tournament, yes, pretty much. Title-norm tournament, you've got to specify your pairing method up-front.

Caruana-Kramnik in the first round according to Emil Sutovsky on Facebook, pairings not yet published but should appear here: http://chess-results.com/tnr303618.aspx ... ilen=99999

[LawrenceCooper]

Pairings now published: http://chess-results.com/tnr303618.aspx ... d=1&wi=821

Round 1 on 2017/09/23 at 13:30
Bo. No. Name Rtg Pts. Result Pts. Name Rtg No.
1 1 GM Carlsen Magnus 2827 0 0 Birkisson Bardur Orn 2164 137
2 3 GM Caruana Fabiano 2799 0 0 GM Kramnik Vladimir 2803 2
3 4 GM Anand Viswanathan 2794 0 0 IM Esserman Marc 2453 74
4 76 GM Neelotpal Das 2448 0 0 GM Nakamura Hikaru 2781 5
5 6 GM Adams Michael 2738 0 0 Bianco Valerio 2086 145
6 21 GM Adhiban B. 2670 0 0 GM Gelfand Boris 2737 7
7 8 GM Eljanov Pavel 2734 0 0 GM Arkell Keith C 2415 88
8 43 GM Aravindh Chithambaram Vr. 2573 0 0 GM Vallejo Pons Francisco 2716 9
9 10 GM Almasi Zoltan 2707 0 0 GM L'ami Erwin 2611 34
10 51 GM Brunello Sabino 2555 0 0 GM Naiditsch Arkadij 2702 11
11 12 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2702 0 0 GM Svane Rasmus 2595 39
12 109 IM Hemant Sharma (del) 2342 0 0 GM Howell David W L 2701 13
13 14 GM Short Nigel D 2698 0 0 WIM Osmanodja Filiz 2245 129
14 152 Harari Zaki 2027 0 0 GM Rodshtein Maxim 2695 15
15 16 GM Sutovsky Emil 2683 0 0 FM Yoo Christopher Woojin 2254 127
16 93 IM Cornette Deimante 2404 0 0 GM Leko Peter 2679 17
17 18 GM Kasimdzhanov Rustam 2676 0 0 IM Rudolf Anna 2286 123
18 44 GM Timman Jan H 2573 0 0 GM Rapport Richard 2675 19
19 20 GM Movsesian Sergei 2671 0 0 IM Harsha Bharathakoti 2394 97
20 52 GM Kosteniuk Alexandra 2552 0 0 GM Hou Yifan 2670 22
21 23 GM Jones Gawain C B 2668 0 0 IM Brown Michael William 2499 62
22 48 GM Wagner Dennis 2564 0 0 GM Riazantsev Alexander 2666 24
23 25 GM Akobian Varuzhan 2662 0 0 IM Nihal Sarin 2483 63
24 134 FM Lorscheid Gerhard 2192 0 0 GM Fressinet Laurent 2657 26
25 27 GM Granda Zuniga Julio E 2653 0 0 Hopson Kevin Mike 1929 160
26 140 Coathup Roger H 2125 0 0 GM Grandelius Nils 2653 28
27 29 GM Sargissian Gabriel 2652 0 0 GM Huschenbeth Niclas 2596 38
28 158 Acosta Mariano 1988 0 0 GM Xiong Jeffery 2633 30
29 31 GM Shirov Alexei 2630 0 0 Birkisson Bjorn Holm 2023 154
30 143 Kavinda Akila 2099 0 0 GM Bok Benjamin 2620 32
31 33 GM Sethuraman S.P. 2617 0 0 GM Donchenko Alexander 2559 50
32 121 IM L'ami Alina 2286 0 0 GM Sokolov Ivan 2603 35
33 36 GM Bogner Sebastian 2599 0 0 IM Wallace John Paul 2413 89
34 100 IM Kavutskiy Konstantin 2390 0 0 GM Bindrich Falko 2598 37
35 40 GM Tregubov Pavel V. 2589 0 0 IM Krishna C R G 2367 105
36 131 Mueller Philipp 2220 0 0 GM Tari Aryan 2588 41
37 42 GM Ju Wenjun 2574 0 0 Balint Vilmos 2281 124
38 110 FM Ragnarsson Dagur 2340 0 0 GM Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan 2568 45
39 46 GM Lenderman Aleksandr 2565 0 0 IM Karavade Eesha 2384 101
40 72 IM Christiansen Johan-Sebastian 2457 0 0 GM Pichot Alan 2565 47
41 49 GM Deac Bogdan-Daniel 2559 0 0 Prueske Wolfgang 2046 150
42 73 IM Kjartansson Gudmundur 2456 0 0 GM Vishnu Prasanna. V 2543 53
43 54 GM Mekhitarian Krikor Sevag 2534 0 0 Arjun Kalyan 2406 92
44 80 WGM Shvayger Yuliya 2442 0 0 GM Swapnil S. Dhopade 2532 55
45 56 GM Harika Dronavalli 2528 0 0 Oyama Akito 2198 133
46 155 Jonsson Gauti Pall 2011 0 0 GM Perelshteyn Eugene 2524 57
47 58 IM Lubbe Nikolas 2515 0 0 Player Edmund C 2202 132
48 83 IM Trent Lawrence 2427 0 0 IM Lampert Jonas 2514 59
49 60 GM Olafsson Helgi 2512 0 0 Byron Alan M 2074 148
50 117 IM Kolbus Dietmar 2320 0 0 IM Praggnanandhaa R 2500 61
51 64 GM Panchanathan Magesh Chandran 2481 0 0 FM Paul Johannes 2335 111
52 115 WGM Rapport Jovana 2327 0 0 GM Khmelniker Ilya 2480 65
53 66 IM Hambleton Aman 2479 0 0 FM Fenil Shah 2362 106
54 90 GM Tarjan James 2412 0 0 GM Salomon Johan 2476 67
55 68 IM Batsiashvili Nino 2472 0 0 GM Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan 2369 104
56 84 GM Sundararajan Kidambi 2426 0 0 IM Zumsande Martin 2471 69
57 70 IM Basso Pier Luigi 2460 0 0 IM Kiewra Keaton 2433 82
58 141 Pranav Anand 2106 0 0 IM Visakh N R 2458 71
59 75 IM Paehtz Elisabeth 2453 0 0 Raja Harshit 2423 86
60 114 WGM Enkhtuul Altan-Ulzii 2327 0 0 IM Swayams Mishra 2444 78
61 79 IM Yankelevich Lev 2443 0 0 WFM Zahn Alina 2025 153
62 126 Vignesh B 2260 0 0 IM Gaponenko Inna 2437 81
63 85 IM Zatonskih Anna 2424 0 0 GO TO ARBITERS TABLE 0 161
64 87 FM Rakesh Kumar Jena 2418 0 0 Woellermann Jan 2384 102
65 156 Nahnsen Kenneth 2011 0 0 IM Degtiarev Evgeny 2412 91
66 94 IM Kojima Shinya 2403 0 0 Dahl Baard 1974 159
67 118 IM Mannion Stephen R 2320 0 0 IM Roberson Peter T 2403 95
68 96 IM Eggleston David J 2400 0 0 Pranav V 2372 103
69 136 Seyfried Claus 2173 0 0 IM Houska Jovanka 2393 98
70 99 Loos Roland 2393 0 0 IM Rathnakaran K. 2326 116
71 147 WIM Maroroa Sue 2083 0 0 IM Ledger Andrew J 2361 107
72 108 IM Bellin Robert 2344 0 0 WFM Frank Tena Dr. 2002 157
73 146 Burrows Martin P 2085 0 0 FM Jessel Stephen 2334 112
74 113 WIM Vaishali R 2329 0 0 FM Babar Michael 2130 139
75 144 Kruse Janik 2096 0 0 FM Zwahr Paul 2306 119
76 120 Ojas Kulkarni 2289 0 0 Allen Keith 2231 130
77 138 Maloberti David 2132 0 0 IM Piasetski Leon 2286 122
78 125 FM Loew Gerald 2262 0 0 Heimisson Hilmir Freyr 2185 135
79 149 CM Thilakarathne G M H 2053 0 0 IM Watson John 2247 128
80 142 Fischer Daniel 2100 0 0 Mai Aron Thor 2038 151
81 77 GM Ushenina Anna 2445 0 0 not paired

[Carl Hibbard]

Board 2 looks unlikely?

[LawrenceCooper]

Board 2 looks unlikely?

With a random draw it's no more unlikely than any other pairing but certainly the one that catches the eye.