English Chess Forum

Women's singles 6th July Kartal v Pavlyuchenkova. 4-4 1st set, advantage Pavlyuchenkova. Kartal's shot clearly out but electronic line call doesn't function. Eventually the umpire follows the protocol and has the point replayed. Apparently the option for umpires to overrule, as they used to overrule linesmen, is not available under the new AI system.

Kartal should have thrown the next point (she actually won it). It would have given a huge boost to her reputation. If she wasn't sure if her shot was long she could have asked the umpire, who admitted afterwards that he knew it was out.

Fortunately the Russian won the match so justice was done. I was certainly supporting Kartal but it would have been a tainted victory if she had won the first set and the match.

I agree

"Apparently the option for umpires to overrule, as they used to overrule linesmen, is not available under the new AI system."

It should be - the technology does go wrong (apart from someone apparently switching it off and nobody noticing). The poor umpire was probably spending most of his/her time worrying about pronouncing the opponent's name. I recall in the old days thinking (perhaps uncharitably) that some of the line judges deliberately made wrong calls to annoy McEnroe.

Interestingly, the designers of "Hawkeye" used in cricket allegedly sued someone who said the thing made mistakes. So, I will say only that the software is amazing that it can predict when a bowler will get a ball to turn corners unexpectedly.