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

[Jonathan Rogers]

You obviously enjoy being a know-all, Alex, ...

One of the reasons why many people decline to contribute to this Forum is that those who seek to provide helpful explanations get subjected to comments like that.

Regrettably, I agree.

I think that Alex had already (helpfully) provided the grounds on which the original result could have been overturned.

Anyway, to the chess at round 10/11 - and Carlsen really is out of it now - so who actually is leading?

[NickFaulks]

Anyway, to the chess at round 10/11 - and Carlsen really is out of it now

That isn't completely clear, since with ten rounds tomorrow he is only one point out out third place. If he could perform to his ( now historic ) 2986 rating, that might be enough.

However, Karjakin is sole leader and looking very impressive. He seems able to play blitz in almost exactly the way that he plays standard games.

[Tim Harding]

You obviously enjoy being a know-all, Alex, ...

One of the reasons why many people decline to contribute to this Forum is that those who seek to provide helpful explanations get subjected to comments like that.

I owe Alex an apology but my rude comment was posted about two minutes before his explanation. So the comment by Jonathan Rogers is rather unfair to me.

As for David's comment above, I too have many times encountered rude replies to helpful comments of my own on this Forum.
I think my comment was partly prompted by a vague memory of an occasion, perhaps some months ago, when one such posting by me was answered by Alex telling me I should have told the ECF executive rather than posting here. As I am not an ECF member or ENG-registered player I didn't consider it was my business to do so.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Alex's post explaining the grounds on which the result could have been appealed was apparently made at 11.54; Tim's post was at 12.19. So my comment was not all that unfair. But the apology is still welcome, I am sure.

[David Sedgwick]

As for David's comment above, I too have many times encountered rude replies to helpful comments of my own on this Forum.

Fair enough. Maybe a number of us should make a New Year resolution to be more respectful of other posters.

Meanwhile, after all the controversy, let us hope for an exciting finish in Riyadh tomorrow.

[Carl Hibbard]

That would make my life easier.

[LawrenceCooper]

Interview with Malcolm Pein https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jOxikH23Uw

[NickFaulks]

Interview with Malcolm Pein https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jOxikH23Uw

Not entirely on message with
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12 ... pionships/

[David Sedgwick]

Interview with Malcolm Pein https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jOxikH23Uw

Not entirely on message with
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12 ... pionships/

I'm sure that we can rely on you to ask challenging questions at the next ECF Council Meeting.

[NickFaulks]

I'm sure that we can rely on you to ask challenging questions at the next ECF Council Meeting.

But will the President be there to answer them?

[Chris Rice]

Thanks. At least common sense prevailed, though it looks as if the incident upset Magnus's composure for round 2.

Inarkiev was interviewed after the original decision and he said something like "Ne3+ looked like an interesting intermediate move" forgetting his king was in check. Hard to know if it was a deliberate trick.

Just on the question of whether it was deliberate or not and having watched the GIF in Olimpiu Urcan's tweet it looked like Inarkiev knew exactly what he was doing and the comments below it seem to show he's got form in this regard. For me its cheating and the fact that he didn't want to play on after receiving the ruling (clearly the illegal move rule can only apply to legal positions) is just him bringing the game into disrepute. Shame because he's just a great player.

[NickFaulks]

I've been catching up on the women's events. It's not that they are at all unworthy of watching live, just that there has been an overload of high quality chess.

In the rapid event, the Chinese Ju Wenjun and Lei Tingjie took the top two places with Elisabeth Paehtz third. The top three seeds were all well back.

The first day of the blitz was dominated by the ageless Pia Cramling. She has a lead over the field of a full point, following a string of wins including the scalps of five GMs. It would be great ( I think so anyway ) if she could hold to take the gold medal.

[Alex Holowczak]

I owe Alex an apology but my rude comment was posted about two minutes before his explanation.

Alex's post explaining the grounds on which the result could have been appealed was apparently made at 11.54; Tim's post was at 12.19. So my comment was not all that unfair. But the apology is still welcome, I am sure.

Whatever the rights or wrongs, there's no hard feelings on my part. We can move on.

[Alex Holowczak]

it looked like Inarkiev knew exactly what he was doing and the comments below it seem to show he's got form in this regard.

It's probably besides the point entirely, but I do think that umpiring cricket has opened my eyes to this sort of mentality. There are all sorts of tricks that are not against the Laws but are pushing them to their limits that happen all the time. For example, returning the ball to the wicket-keeper on the bounce, sometimes over short distances, to scuff the ball to hopefully help it swing later. The batsman's shoe laces mysteriously becoming undone in the last over of the day, or the sightscreen needing a trivial adjustment. All of these things are deliberate acts to try to achieve something, but it's hard for the umpires to do anything about, because you can't really tell the batsman not to tie his shoe laces, for instance.

I am more sure than I'm not that Inarkiev's Ne3+ was a chess equivalent of this sort of action, and I thought that even before the comments that he had form for it. In my experience, when this sort of thing happens, the player in question always has form for it - you just might not know it yet. If it was a genuine error, you don't instinctively react the way Inarkiev did.

[LawrenceCooper]

A 4/4 start for Magnus today to wipe out the two point deficit and leave him as 1st or 1st= with six rounds to go.