Tradewise Gibraltar Festival 2018

[NickFaulks]

And what exactly is "this level"?

Graham was responding to a comment referring to Wang Hao and Nakamura, so my guess is that he thinking about quite a high level.

[Graham Borrowdale]

Indeed. By 'this sort of thing' I meant players being allowed to take a bye at, presumably, short notice. If the bye is requested before the tournament, or has been granted for other reasons, that is a different matter.

By 'this level', I was referring to players who are clearly professional, or competing for the top prizes, so it is in effect a business decision to take a half point rather than risk getting a zero by playing. In opens I used to play in a half point bye could be requested before the event by players below a certain level (maybe 200ECF).

Its not a big deal, just thought it might be interesting to hear other views. I can't think of any other sport where similar concessions are given. Thanks for the response.

[IM Jack Rudd]

It's not easy to think of another sport that uses Swisses, either, which is quite pertinent to the discussion; half-point byes don't work as a concept in all-play-alls or knockouts.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Maybe it should be a requirement for the organisers to publish at the start of the tournament the details of which players have been granted half-point (or other) byes and in which rounds? And to update this information as the tournament progresses (this would make clear when people request 'emergency' half-point byes at short notice). Some organisers probably do publish this (I have seen 'future' byes shown in pairings for some tournaments), but I don't know if it is a requirement. Essentially, get the information out there so everyone knows about it.

[NickFaulks]

Its not a big deal

Why not? If it is the case that the top players can work out their pairing for the next round, decide they don't fancy it and take a bye instead, I find that rather disturbing.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Its not a big deal

Why not? If it is the case that the top players can work out their pairing for the next round, decide they don't fancy it and take a bye instead, I find that rather disturbing.

I don't think that is what is happening. But if the successful pre-tournament requests for byes were published in advance, that would knock that theory on the head. Knowing who is having a half-point bye next round can be a double-edged sword (in psychological terms). But at least everyone knows, and not just the person who requested the bye.

[JustinHorton]

Is there some reason why Nakamura-Antipov has only just started?

[JustinHorton]

(Looking at chess24.com's Twitter, it seems that gale-force winds prevented lots of players arriving on time.)

[IM Jack Rudd]

Up to 16:00, clocks are only being started when both players have arrived.

[David Robertson]

The gale-force wind was that erupting from Aronian as he played 8. g4 against Short

[Alex Holowczak]

I'm not sure I share people's reservations about the taking of half-point byes. If the option is open to everyone, then it's quite an interesting tactical tournament weapon.

[Mick Norris]

The gale-force wind was that erupting from Aronian as he played 8. g4 against Short

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 d6 3. Nf3 f5 4. g3 Nc6 5. d4 e4 6. d5 Ne5 7. Nxe5 dxe5 8. g4 Bc5 9. Qb3 Nf6 10. Qb5+ Nd7 11. h4 a6 12. Qb3 e3 13. Bxe3 Bxe3 14. fxe3 fxg4 15. Ne4 Nf6 16. Bg2 O-O 17. c5 *

[Roger de Coverly]

If the option is open to everyone, then it's quite an interesting tactical tournament weapon.

Do they or should they allow a bye when the next round opponent can readily be predicted? Really it ought to be that you should announce before the start of round n, that you want a bye in round n+1. It does allow potential sharp practice if you make the decision after the completion of round n. It's similar in some ways to the time outs that used to be possible in World Championship and Candidate matches. These were ostensibly for medical reasons, but in practice were used tactically after a bad loss.

[Brian Valentine]

I don't know how pertinent it is to the bye in question, but Gibraltar has been gridlocked all day. Travel is very difficult.

This morning it was scaffolding collapsing into a roadway, which may or may not be fixed, but the main bus route was affected. However this pm there has been a rockfall on the main route into the Calleta and no buses are running. If your lucky a taxi will come and take you the wrong way round the mountain. The only other alterntive is walking that route with heavy wind and swell plus a risking going through a tunnel which in theory is closed to pedestrians.

[Tim Harding]

In time the Rockies may crumble, Gibraltar may tumble
They're only made of clay...

On the half-point bye issue, both Gibraltar (when I played in 2016) and Reykjavik (last year), requesting one just required notification to the chief arbiter by the end of the previous round (Reykjavik had a little form for this). Bacrot actually took a bye in Gibraltar 2016 when sharing the lead, the rumour being that this was to avoid playing Nakamura.

I am not sure whether Reykjavik allows GM receiving conditions to take a half-point bye.

As the draw was presumably made before the rockfall, they couldn't change pairings so allowing late starts seems a reasonable compromise. I know how relatively isolated the Caleta Hotel is.

Making ordinary players decide pre-tournament which round they wished to miss would be a bit harsh. They might want to choose a sunny day for an outing or rest after a particularly hard game.