2017 King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 26-30 December 2017

[Alex Holowczak]

What in fact are the rules for who is eligible? There's presumably a lengthy list of players who got invitations with all expenses paid, but who else is allowed to play at their own expense? Perhaps the rule is/was that every Federation is allowed a player or two regardless of rating.

http://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/wrbc_ ... 7_open.pdf

3. Participation
3.1 All players rated at least 2600 in any of the FIDE rating lists (Standard, Blitz or Rapid) from
September 2017 to October 2017 are eligible to register to play in the FIDE World Blitz & Rapid
Championships 2017.
3.2 The Organiser reserves the right to limit participation to a maximum of 250 players. In the case of
more players registering, the selection of the players will be done by FIDE based on the average standard
rating of the players for the last three months (Sep-Nov.2017)
3.3 The host country will be allowed to nominate up to a maximum of ten players not meeting the
criteria of article 3.1
3.4 FIDE reserves the right to nominate up to a maximum of twenty players not meeting the criteria
of article 3.1

http://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/wrbc_ ... _women.pdf

3. Participation
3.1 All players rated at least 2300 in any of the FIDE rating lists (Standard, Blitz or Rapid) from
September 2017 to October 2017 are eligible to register to play in the FIDE Women World Blitz & Rapid
Championships 2017.
3.2 The Organiser reserves the right to limit participation to a maximum of 150 players. In the case of
more players registering, the selection of the players will be done by FIDE based on the average standard
rating of the players for the last three months (Sep-Nov.2017)
3.3 The host country will be allowed to nominate up to a maximum of five players not meeting the
criteria of article 3.1
3.4 FIDE reserves the right to nominate up to a maximum of ten players not meeting the criteria of
article 3.1

OK, mea culpa, I hadn't realised 3.4 existed in each set of regulations.

[Leonard Barden]

Of the trio from Qatar, Zhu Chen (2403) is qualified, the other two are 2500 GMs and need nomination by Fide.

[Alex Holowczak]

There's an interesting exchange on Twitter between Tarjei Svensen and Mohamed Al-Medaihki. In response to a Norwegian newspaper quoting Al-Medaikhi as saying that FIDE "basically stopped replying to [Qatar's] e-mails", Al-Medaihki says that this isn't correct. Instead, "Fide was replying but with the same thing every time ( we are working to issue the visas ) 4 or 5 emails with the same answer."

On the one hand, I can see why the receiver may think such responses are unhelpful, but on the other, depending on the question I'm not quite sure what else FIDE could say. If the conclusion was that FIDE didn't communicate well with Qatar (Al-Medaikhi), but that problem is sorted (FIDE), then that part of the Norwegian article is probably a non-story.

[Leonard Barden]

Now it seems from this Qatar agency report that they re not going:


Qatar will not compete in the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships hosted by Saudi Arabia in Riyadh from Dec. 26-30.

According to the Qatar Chess Federation, their top national team will not compete in the tournament, because the championship’s organizers demanded that “the players not display the Qatari flag at any stage during the competition”.

The statement said the move was “clearly unfair to the players” and “violation of international law”, and that legal procedures would be applied.

According to the official QNA news agency, Qatar Chess Federation’s Secretary General Mohamed al-Modiahki also said it “is a blatant injustice against our players and a violation of all international laws and sports”.

[Alex Holowczak]

“violation of international law”

The law that says if you play a game of chess you have to have your country's flag next to it?

[LawrenceCooper]

Lela Javakhishvili
6 mins ·
for now good news from S.A.
1. There is good internet connections at the hotel and
2. no need to wear abaya or khijab almost nowhere!

From Alexandra Kosteniuk:
"The organizers have prepared a local outfit for each member who has been asked to wear in the hotel."

Keti Tsatsalashvili is in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
15 hrs ·
I have just arrived at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I have experienced warm welcome. Very open and friendly people. I enjoyed very much of late dinner; and btw my abaya looks very nice.
P.S I know many of you are curious about dressing in here. I can say its not must to wear hijab or abaya. I am simply into Arabic style

[Stewart Reuben]

3.1 All players rated at least 2300 in any of the FIDE rating lists (Standard, Blitz or Rapid) from
September 2017 to October 2017 are eligible to register to play in the FIDE Women World Blitz & Rapid
Championships 2017.
So why didn't all male players 2300+ register to play?

[Roger de Coverly]

3.3 and 3.4 can be used to invite players rated below 2600/2300.

[LawrenceCooper]

Updates now appearing on the tournament Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/worldrapidblitz

[Leonard Barden]

Seems despite the previous bellicose statements that the Qatar players have now received on arrival visas. They will miss the Rapid but will compete in the blitz starting 29 December.

Opening ceremony took place two hours ago. Carlsen will play White in round 1 in both rapid and blitz, Lahno black in both in the women's events. But STILL no list of players, let alone round 1 pairings.

[Alex Holowczak]

But STILL no list of players, let alone round 1 pairings.

Chess24 are broadcasting it though: https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tourn ... 2017/1/1/1

But the setup file to generate that page doesn't have any players loaded into it either.

[Chris Rice]

It appears Round 1 will kick off at 11am UK time. The event has a Facebook feed with one or two photos of the opening ceremony and its clearly a very nice venue. Carlsen is White in the first round of the Open and Lagno is Black in the women's event. I can't find anything on the chess results server yet either, the official site is utterly useless so far. I assume the organisers are waiting to see who turns up at the last minute as I guess we all are.

[Nigel Short]

No sign of David Howell at the opening ceremony. Neither Luke, who is staying at the superior Ascot Hotel, nor I (at the Holiday Inn-where most players are staying) have seen him.

[Leonard Barden]

Round 1 pairings finally up on chess results , just 20 minutes ago:


http://www.chess-results.com/tnr323006. ... d=1&wi=821
http://www.chess-results.com/tnr323007. ... d=1&wi=821

Short, McShane and Howell listed for England, though Howell a doubtful starter, see Nigel's post above.

No English women, but Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant represents Scotland.

Just one US man, Varuzhan Akobian, and two US women, Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih.

Carlsen v Bu Xiangzhi, a chance for revenge after MC's shock defeat in the World Cup.

[Alex Holowczak]

They have 40+ arbiters for this 234-player event as per the Twitter coverage of the opening ceremony, presumably so they have one arbiter for every three games and the Competition Rules apply. The difference most people will notice with that is that two illegal moves will lose, rather than one.

FIDE has changed the Laws of Chess from 1st January, 2018, so that two illegal moves will lose in Rapid anyway. In advance of the London Classic, I applied to the Rules Commission to ask if we could use the new Laws early. Yes, was the answer, subject to it being very clear in our tournament regulations and at the venue - which was perfectly reasonable, and we did. Apparently for the previous set of Laws, an official event applied for that exemption, and it was granted. And so we ran 6-round Rapid with more than 400 players in 4 sections with 11 arbiters, one of whom was also operating liveboards, and we played the rule that two illegal moves would lose, rather than one. It seemed to run smoothly enough beyond the normal problems you get at any tournament.

In Riyadh, they have probably four times as many arbiters than I had in London, for a tournament half the size on a slightly slower schedule. OK, I get that in a World Rapid Championship you probably want a few more arbiters around, but nevertheless, I can't quite believe how over-staffed it seems to be.