drunk french super gm Forfeits game

[Ian Lamb]

ola quote The greatest player of all time, Bobby Fischer, was a perfect example of a nerd. He drank hardly any alcohol, didn't womanize, and yet he did more than anyone else to popularise the game of chess (OK with a little help of the Cold War). the greatest of all time player Bobby fischer died of alchol poisning liver failure. so how can you say he never drank !!!

[Leonard Barden]

Bobby died of kidney failure, not liver failure. There's no evidence that he was ever addicted to alcohol. The only world champion who was seriously alcoholic was Alekhine.

Reverting to the subject matter of this thread, Tkachiev drew his first two rounds against 2300 Indians, was forfeited in round three, paired with 1/3 in round four but possibly didn't show up, and is absent from the draw for tomorrow's fifth round.

I do wonder if he got early word of the financial difficulties of the organisers quoted in a previous post, which seem to imply that although the prize fund is guaranteed, start fees may not be, and decided that he wouldn't bother further.

Meanwhile the leading scores are Chandipan 4/4, Le Quang Liam (Vietnam) who beat top-seeded Mamedyarov, Hossain of Bangadesh, Safarli the Azeri who drew with Short, and Nigel all on 3.5. Nigel has a downfloat in tomorrow's fifth round to sixth seeded GM Postny (Israel).

If anyone is interested, there are live games at http://www.alekhinechessclub.com/4kolkata/media.html. Not sure of the exact round times BST, (it's 1400 local time) but try mid-morning and you should be able to follow Nigel's game.

[Ian Lamb]

thanks for the link lenoard its intresting that you say alekhine was the drinker at its at alekhine chess club where the player was drunk!! i dint expect he turn up today.

[Alex Holowczak]

Bobby died of kidney failure, not liver failure. There's no evidence that he was ever addicted to alcohol. The only world champion who was seriously alcoholic was Alekhine.

I thought Tal was, too?

[Jonathan Bryant]

As far as Im aware alcohol dependency is not classed as a disability in itself unless there is some underlying cause such as depression.

Until a couple of months ago I used to work in an alcohol rehab. In Britain at least it's perfectly possible to claim Disability Living Allowance on the basis that you are an 'alcoholic'. I don't say this is a good thing or a bad thing. Just that it is.

[Jonathan Bryant]

I wondered if that was it ... but losing on time is hardly rare is it?

It probably is when playing with the 30 second increment - particularly at about move 15.

Well maybe - but that's not what the article said is it?

If he had been disqualified without losing on time - now that would be news (for us chessers. I'm sure Drunk GM is news for non players)

Is there any law - written or unwritten - that allows arbiters to end a game for this sort of thing i.e. not because a phone has gone off or because a player has cheated in some way but because they are not in an 'appropriate' state?

[Roger de Coverly]

s there any law - written or unwritten - that allows arbiters to end a game for this sort of thing i.e. not because a phone has gone off or because a player has cheated in some way but because they are not in an 'appropriate' state?

The more informed reports seem to indicate that he was asleep and was correctly declared lost when his time ran out. It's possible as well that he was removed from the playing area whilst unconscious. If the reports of 11 moves played are correct this would have been at the expiry of 1 hr 35 and a half minutes. If his opponent had played the opening quickly, the whole incident would have been over well within 2 hours of the start of play.

[John Hickman]

Maybe he was snoring and penalised under the rule for bring a source of noise into the tournament

[Leonard Barden]

Seems Tkachiev is continuing the tournament, and he is now in today's round 5 draw with 2/4. Chessbase carries a letter from his friend GM Artur Kogan stating that Vlad has had drink/depression problems for a few years but this year succeeded in giving up vodka for milk (just like Alekhine did for his return world title match with Euwe in 1937) and won the latest French championship.
And yes, Tal was also an alcoholic world champion.

[Leonard Barden]

The account below has just appeared on Chessbase 'from an eyewitness' who is not identified but who some suggest might be Short but is more probably an Indian who stays anonymous to avoid possible retaliation


Tkachiev's appearance, more comatose than drunk, during the third round in the 2009 Kolkata Open was, to anyone who witnessed it, a disgrace. Contrary to the embarrassed assertions of the organisers to the press, the commotion caused by his profound inebriation disturbed almost everyone in the playing hall. His behaviour was not only highly disrespectful to the sponsors, the organisers, the players and the audience (among whom were a large number of children) but most particularly his opponent.

The chief arbiter totally mishandled the suituation. First of all he should never have permitted various players to give illegal assistance by trying to wake Tkachiev up.

Secondly, and even more inexcusably, he had absolutely no right to try and wake him up himself when the Frenchman was down to his last few minutes. If, during a normal game, the arbiter were to inform a player game that he is about to lose on time, he would be guilty of gross professional misconduct. It is hard to see how the present case differs, in this respect.

The arbiter then compounded this error by seeking the support of members of the Appeals Committee for his action during the round! The Committee Members were participants and, rather than be disturbed during their games, were obviously likely to agree to any course of action suggested by the official whose job it is to make such decisions. Even so, as one appeals committee member later confided, he would have strongly advised against waking Tkachiev, had he been informed that he was drunk (rather than merely ill).

It is ironic that in a country where Grandmaster G.N.Gopal was banned by the AICF for the crime of attempting to further his chess career, and where the high-scoring Olympiad debutant Mary Ann Gomes was bullied into issuing a written apology for enjoying a modest sociable evening in Dresden, that Vladislav Tkachiev received nothing more than a warning for breaching all forms of decency in Kolkata. On suspects that, had he been Indian, he would be have expelled from the tournament without any ado. While it is most praiseworthy that India treats its foreign guests with such respect, that respect has to be reciprocated. When it was grossly abused, as was the case here, a firm stance ought to be taken. Vladislav Tkachiev can consider his treatment exceedingly lenient.

On a final note: Vladislav Tkachiev is one the six FIDE presidential nominees for the 2009 World Cup in Khanty-Mansysk. Is this really the image of chess that FIDE wishes to promote?

[John Hickman]

Even so, as one appeals committee member later confided, he would have strongly advised against waking Tkachiev, had he been informed that he was drunk (rather than merely ill).

Whether it was known if he was drunk or not, he may have been in need of medical assistance, and so waking him may not have been incorrect so as to avoid a much worse incident

[Ian Thompson]

[Is there any law - written or unwritten - that allows arbiters to end a game for this sort of thing i.e. not because a phone has gone off or because a player has cheated in some way but because they are not in an 'appropriate' state?

Yes, there is:

13.2 The arbiter shall act in the best interest of the competition...

and then 13.4 says what he can do, amongst which are:

d. declaring the game to be lost;
g. expulsion from the event.

[benedgell]

Just googled drunk tkachiev- the times, the guardian, yahoo news, france 24, world news australia, asia- pacific news, the metro, tiscali news, china daily, the new york times, have all got reports on the incident, and if it doesn't make it into some of the British tabloids, I'd be surprised. I'm sure I could list even more media outlets then the one's I've mentioned, but the point is this has probably generated more publicity for chess then a dozen tournaments put together. Not entirely sure it's the sort of thing we want chess to have publicity for, but honestly if it's a choice between this type of publicity, or no publicity at all, I'd take this.

[Ian Lamb]

its in the sun today as well. Wonder if there any pics anywhere of him at the board i cant seem to find any.

[Roger de Coverly]

nd if it doesn't make it into some of the British tabloids, I'd be surprised.

Already there http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-storie ... -21649285/

Rather nice pun for the headline - Knight on tiles