Coronavirus leading to cancellation?

[Richard Bates]

The MCF has been discussing this, and a player who is also a medical doctor has added notes in red in the attached document, with his main point being

Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth: this is likely to of greatest concern during chess matches as any glance at photos of chess players or when observing them, the “chess posture” when thinking about moves often involves rubbing eyes, hands over mouths etc etc. The virus on hard surfaces eg chess pieces will survive for a long period of time of up to 48 hrs at the extreme end.

We've already had a case of a player not wanting to shake hands, but happy to handle the pieces, including his opponents, which isn't entirely logical

See Premier League stopping “FairPlay handshakes” only for players to embrace and shake hands at the end of the game.

Any reason not to clean the pieces at the start of the game? A simple precaution not difficult to do on an individual basis.

[NickFaulks]

Any reason not to clean the pieces at the start of the game? A simple precaution not difficult to do on an individual basis.

A sensible idea, but I'm glad you added that last bit. As a regular setter-upper, I have no desire to see the cleaning of thirty chess sets added to my duties. In practice, of course it doesn't help that half of the players arrive after the start.

[Steven DuCharme]

All pawns will be isolated for 14 days

[Daniel Gormally]

144 deaths in italy in the last 24 hours. surely the next 4ncl and other tournaments with a large collection of people have to be cancelled?

[Richard Bates]

144 deaths in italy in the last 24 hours. surely the next 4ncl and other tournaments with a large collection of people have to be cancelled?

Relatively, speaking, these aren't "large" gatherings though. There is possibly a greater risk just travelling on the bus, certainly 'crowded' public transport. Cheltenham next week has 250,000 people. That is not to say that people won't make their own decisions, especially those in high risk groups, and indeed the situation might change. Unless there is mass pressure from players, or we are all self quarantining, I imagine they'll follow Government advice.

I read a stat that for a group of people to have a greater than evens chance of an infected person being present, if 1/n of the population have it then the gathering has to on average consist of 0.7n people. So currently around 1 in 220,000 people in the UK are confirmed cases which would mean a gathering of around 150,000 people to have an expected case (of course the real figures for cases are likely higher due to lag and mild symptom cases not tested). But it puts it a little in perspective at present. For the 4NCL to have an expected (greater than evens chance) case would imply 150k UK cases (if my maths is right...). The situation in a month could look very different though.

[soheil_hooshdaran]

Any reason not to clean the pieces at the start of the game? A simple precaution not difficult to do on an individual basis.

A sensible idea, but I'm glad you added that last bit. As a regular setter-upper, I have no desire to see the cleaning of thirty chess sets added to my duties. In practice, of course it doesn't help that half of the players arrive after the start.

My father is a hospital CEO in Shiraz, Iran, and he ordered the entire hospital to be sprayed with poison 2 times a day. You can follow suit.

[NickFaulks]

I read a stat that for a group of people to have a greater than evens chance of an infected person being present, if 1/n of the population have it then the gathering has to on average consist of 0.7n people.

0.7 is an approximation to ln(2), so that would be right. More importantly, we have very little idea of the size of the infected population, but whatever it is you are much more likely to catch the thing on the Jubilee Line than at the 4NCL.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Any reason not to clean the pieces at the start of the game? A simple precaution not difficult to do on an individual basis.

A sensible idea, but I'm glad you added that last bit. As a regular setter-upper, I have no desire to see the cleaning of thirty chess sets added to my duties. In practice, of course it doesn't help that half of the players arrive after the start.

My father is a hospital CEO in Shiraz, Iran, and he ordered the entire hospital to be sprayed with poison 2 times a day. You can follow suit.

I think you may have meant something *slightly* different there?

[soheil_hooshdaran]

A sensible idea, but I'm glad you added that last bit. As a regular setter-upper, I have no desire to see the cleaning of thirty chess sets added to my duties. In practice, of course it doesn't help that half of the players arrive after the start.

My father is a hospital CEO in Shiraz, Iran, and he ordered the entire hospital to be sprayed with poison 2 times a day. You can follow suit.

I think you may have meant something *slightly* different there?

You mean that the situation in Iran is worse? I agree, but I think precaution is precaution anyway.

[Stewart Reuben]

Soheil. Had you written My father is a hospital CEO in Shiraz, Iran, and he ordered the entire hospital to be sprayed with disinfectant 2 times a day. You can follow suit. That would probably have been better English.

[Reg Clucas]

Soheil. Had you written My father is a hospital CEO in Shiraz, Iran, and he ordered the entire hospital to be sprayed with disinfectant 2 times a day. You can follow suit. That would probably have been better English.

Soheil's version would be a good way of solving the bed shortage though!

[Stewart Reuben]

Association of Chess Professionals ([email protected])
To:you Details
In the light of the current global outbreak of the coronavirus crisis and with the situation evolving on a daily basis ACP would like to express concern about the imminent organization of the Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg.

While we understand that at this stage it may not be possible to cancel the event outright we rest assured that FIDE takes all possible measures to minimize the risk in accordance with Russian and global health authorities. Still, in our opinion there is one major topic that has not been publicly addressed and that could impact both the players’ safety and psychology.

We are urging FIDE to publicly state that in case any member of the organization, the press, the players’ teams, the arbiters team, the volunteers or any other person which may be perceived as having contact with the tournament, be affected by CoViD-19, FIDE officials will immediately call the tournament off and make all efforts to ensure that the players are escorted safely back home.

It is our strong opinion that by doing so FIDE would fulfill its role as a responsible organization and show that it can act with wisdom and be a beacon in times of darkness. This will also increase the players’ confidence in the overall organization and the community’s respect for its management.

The ACP Board


I received that this evening. It seems to me unrealistic. Better would be to postpone.

[Tim Spanton]

Bad Wiessee has just been cancelled; and I have received a refund, but no explanation, from St Albans, so I am guessing it has been cancelled too.

Just to put things in perspective: According to the World Health Organisation, flu kills 290,000 to 650,000 people a year worldwide.
The coronavirus has so far killed just over 4,000 people, and the numbers catching it are already falling in China (if one can trust their official figures), which suggests the coronavirus is not the answer to global overpopulation.

https://beauchess.blogspot.com/

[Michael Flatt]

Yes, St Albans Congress 18th & 19th April 2020 has been postponed.

This is a precautionary measure by the school and relates to all lettings external to the school.

The school's own events are unaffected.

All entrants are being refunded their entry fee and there is talk of rescheduling the congress at October half term.

Michael
St Albans Congress Webmaster

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Bad Wiessee has just been cancelled; and I have received a refund, but no explanation, from St Albans, so I am guessing it has been cancelled too.

Just to put things in perspective: According to the World Health Organisation, flu kills 290,000 to 650,000 people a year worldwide.
The coronavirus has so far killed just over 4,000 people, and the numbers catching it are already falling in China (if one can trust their official figures), which suggests the coronavirus is not the answer to global overpopulation.

Though this article suggests that the USA is peculiarly unprepared to meet a crisis over this.