FIDE World Rapid & Blitz 2022 Almaty Kazakhstan 25-30 December

[LawrenceCooper]

Boris Gelfand playing two Iranians in succession has wiped out his minus score.

I thought FIDE intended to take a hard line on Iranian political defaults. Does it go no further than banning arbiters from fiddling the pairings?

I remember Nigel tweeting about it but not sure if his enthusiasm was shared by those making the decisions.

[LawrenceCooper]

The Niemann-Yoo pairing tomorrow may cause some amusement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EN1lHq2yO0

[Kevin Thurlow]

"The Niemann-Yoo pairing tomorrow may cause some amusement:"

No, Hikaru - tell us what you really think...

[David Sedgwick]

Boris Gelfand playing two Iranians in succession has wiped out his minus score.

I thought FIDE intended to take a hard line on Iranian political defaults. Does it go no further than banning arbiters from fiddling the pairings?

I remember Nigel tweeting about it but not sure if his enthusiasm was shared by those making the decisions.

At the time (the FIDE Congress 2020) the Iranians were, in Malcolm Pein's words, given a yellow card rather than a red card.

Then, at the European Individual Championships earlier this year, Ukrainians were permitted not to play Russians, including FID players.

I think that that has made it more difficult to take a hard line with Iranians who refuse to play Israelis.

[Ian Thompson]

Then, at the European Individual Championships earlier this year, Ukrainians were permitted not to play Russians, including FID players.

That's not been applied at this event - there've been 6 Ukraine vs. FID pairings so far and all games have been played.

[LawrenceCooper]

A miniature that caught my eye: https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tourn ... 2022/7/1/5

[David Sedgwick]

Then, at the European Individual Championships earlier this year, Ukrainians were permitted not to play Russians, including FID players.

That's not been applied at this event - there've been 6 Ukraine vs. FID pairings so far and all games have been played.

I understand that it was made clear beforehand that at this event there would be no derogations from the correct pairings.

There is only one Ukrainian player in the Open. I don't know whether that is:

a) because others couldn't leave their country to play; or
b) because others didn't want to play against, or default against, Russian / FID players; or
c) a mixture of the two.

[LawrenceCooper]

Then, at the European Individual Championships earlier this year, Ukrainians were permitted not to play Russians, including FID players.

That's not been applied at this event - there've been 6 Ukraine vs. FID pairings so far and all games have been played.

I understand that it was made clear beforehand that at this event there would be no derogations from the correct pairings.

There is only one Ukrainian player in the Open. I don't know whether that is:

a) because others couldn't leave their country to play; or
b) because others didn't want to play against, or default against, Russian / FID players; or
c) a mixture of the two.

There's also five in the women's section with several games against FIDE/Russia.

[Matt Mackenzie]

On a similar topic, Carlsen today declined to say what he would do if paired against Niemann (though the latter trails him by a bit at present)

[LawrenceCooper]

In other Iranian related chess news: https://news.sky.com/story/iranian-ches ... zTKjGbMuWo

[LawrenceCooper]

A very unexpected blunder from Magnus in round 11 against Artemiev when a draw looked likely means they are joint leaders with two rounds to play.

[Kevin Thurlow]

I have been enjoying watching a series of RB v R (all drawn I think) and R v B (mixture of won and drawn) endings.

[Keith Arkell]

A rare case whereby you can usually blunder away a whole Rook and it not affect the engine assessment of =

[Kevin Thurlow]

"A rare case whereby you can usually blunder away a whole Rook and it not affect the engine assessment of ="

And then someone dares to keep winning those = games...

One RvB was quite funny as one move from mate, the "B" summoned the arbiter to ask if it were a draw under 50 move law. Someone went to find a laptop and a group of arbiters studied the game. Meanwhile messrs Gustafsson and Leko were saying, "It's 23 moves - why are you taking all this time?"

The "B" duly resigned, but apparently some of the other lengthy games would have been drawn under that law if the players had claimed. I guess if you're playing on increment for loads of moves, you might get confused, or maybe they didn't realise they could ask the arbiter to check the score.

[LawrenceCooper]

A rare case whereby you can usually blunder away a whole Rook and it not affect the engine assessment of =

As is R&N v R. I once witnessed this happen between two IMs in a rapid where the R&N tried to win for about 20 moves, blundered the rook and then had to defend RvN for a similar number. It was eventually drawn.