2018 FIDE Rapid & Blitz World Championships

[Chris Rice]

The organisers have now closed the doors with 205 entries for the Open & 121 for the Women's section.

The star studded fields headed up by Carlsen are here. Gawain & Sue are playing in each event so there is some British interest.

FIDE have also announced a Fantasy Sports site called ChessDraft where you can take part in Fantasy Chess tournaments with this one being the pilot.

[Alex Holowczak]

The star studded fields headed up by Carlsen are here. Gawain & Sue are playing in each event so there is some British interest.

Assuming the fine people of Crawley keep their drones on a leash for the next 8 hours or so, there will also be some British interest in the arbiting team.

[Brian Towers]

Assuming the fine people of Crawley keep their drones on a leash for the next 8 hours or so, there will also be some British interest in the arbiting team.

Out of curiosity, why the need for 4 "pairings arbiters" - https://ratings.fide.com/tournament_det ... ent=206539 https://ratings.fide.com/tournament_det ... ent=206542 ?

[Alex Holowczak]

Assuming the fine people of Crawley keep their drones on a leash for the next 8 hours or so, there will also be some British interest in the arbiting team.

Out of curiosity, why the need for 4 "pairings arbiters" - https://ratings.fide.com/tournament_det ... ent=206539 https://ratings.fide.com/tournament_det ... ent=206542 ?

There were 4 last year. In practice, 2 will do one section, and 2 will do the other. You need 2 people per section for the result checking process. You could do it with 2 people doing both sections, but the turnaround between games will be about twice as long.

[David Sedgwick]

Out of curiosity, why the need for 4 "pairings arbiters" - https://ratings.fide.com/tournament_det ... ent=206539 https://ratings.fide.com/tournament_det ... ent=206542 ?

There were 4 last year. In practice, 2 will do one section, and 2 will do the other. You need 2 people per section for the result checking process. You could do it with 2 people doing both sections, but the turnaround between games will be about twice as long.

Those who have seen the speed and efficiency with which Alex's team process results at the London Chess Classic Festival will understand the need for four people to do the job at the World Rapid and Blitz Championships.

They will also appreciate that there is no-one better qualified than Alex to be one of those four people.

[Roger de Coverly]

You need 2 people per section for the result checking process.

How do the results get reported? An English rapidplay would likely rely on result slips, but with sensory boards and an army of arbiters, would it be relied on that the sensory board inputs were correct?

[Alex Holowczak]

You need 2 people per section for the result checking process.

How do the results get reported? An English rapidplay would likely rely on result slips, but with sensory boards and an army of arbiters, would it be relied on that the sensory board inputs were correct?

No decision has been made just yet. What I call the Clipboard Method is favourite at this stage. I don't think they would rely on the broadcast to have the correct result, but it will certainly be useful for checking.

[Chris Rice]

Peter Doggers article on the Opening Ceremony. The following paragraph stood out:

"There is still a distinct Saudi flavor though. Not only does the tournament bear the name of King Salman (it is the second edition, as part of a three-year contract), but as the FIDE President remarked in his speech, players won't be finding pork or alcohol at the event! But the players seemed to enjoy the healthy food and their company, while a band was playing jazz for the last half hour or so."

[NickFaulks]

Peter Doggers article

His information regarding the rapid time control is wrong. It is G/15 with a 10 second increment.

[Chris Rice]

Round 1 broadcast about to kick off at noon. Round 1 pairings have Gawain as White vs Usmanov (Russia 2459) on Board 54 and Sue is Black vs IM Buksa (Ukraine 2304) on board 48 of the Women's.

As a warm-up Nakamura had a game vs a robot in a shopping mall.

[Chris Rice]

First round shock as Carlsen loses on time in a winning position.

[Brian Towers]

Hmmm 4 pairing arbiters but none of them can click on the "Update to server" button on the page where you enter the results.

[J T Melsom]

Gosh the season of goodwill has ended quickly

[Brian Towers]

Carlsen fixed permanently on board 1 as a result of an agreement with Norwegian TV and not looking very happy about it.

[Alex McFarlane]

Hmmm 4 pairing arbiters but none of them can click on the "Update to server" button on the page where you enter the results

The pairing arbiters will not be in the hall and indeed may be some distance away.
The procedure will be something like the following.
Arbiter records results on his/her boards. When those boards are finished these results will be passed to sector arbiter. When all results in the sector are finished these will go to pairing arbiters.
When all games are finished arbiters pairing arbiters will enter results and check them.
Probably only then will they be published on chess-results, though it is possible they would be printed sector by sector.
Pairing for next round will then be done.