drunk french super gm Forfeits game

[Ian Lamb]

Drunk chess star dozes off, concedes match at Kolkata Open
Posted: Friday , Sep 04, 2009 at 0432 hrs
Kolkata

In an unusual incident at the ongoing Kolkata Open Grandmasters Chess Tournament on Thursday, a top-rated French player had to concede his game after he couldn’t sit through his match against his opponent. Reason — he showed up drunk at the venue, slept through his moves several times over, and eventually had to be carried off.


Vladislav Tkachiev of France, who boasts of an ELO-rating of 2669, was declared ‘timed run-out’— a rarity in international chess — when officials at the event decided he wasn’t in a condition to carry on against Tamil Nadu’s Praveen Kumar. The Indian player walked away with a point.


The sight of a player falling over the chessboard, and eventually stumbling out of the venue, drew a fair number of giggles from the other players at the international championship at the Alekhine Chess Club in Gorky Sadan, but the organisers said action would be taken against Tkachiev.


Alekhine Chess Club official and tournament co-organiser Soumen Majumder told The Indian Express that the incident was bad advertisement for the tournament and that a meeting would be held to take action against the French player. “What happened is unfortunate. It’s in bad taste. Once the event is over, we will hold a meeting and decide how to proceed against this player,” he said.


Tkachiev’s opponent Praveen Kumar didn’t want to comment. “All I have to say is that I was given the point after the match, that’s all,” he said.


The match lasted over an hour, with the French player repeatedly dozing off while contemplating a move. Each time he fell asleep, players around would try to wake him up with a shake of the shoulder. Some even offered him water, and Tkachiev, having briefly refreshed himself at the change room while his opponent waited, dozed off again and eventually had to be carried off. Russian-born Tkachiev, aged 35, is an accomplished chess player, and had played against Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship Knockout back in 2001.


Chess star Nigel Short, the biggest attraction at the event, expressed his disgust at the incident, advising the organisers to promptly eject him from the tournament. what your views on this ?

[Gavin Strachan]

I have the same problem playing chess after work in the league; not usually due to the drink!

[Alex Holowczak]

What an absolute twit. I agree with Nigel Short completely.

[Alex Holowczak]

Ian, did you copy that article from here? If so, you could have just posted the link here, rather than duplicate the article.

[Ian Lamb]

no its not from there.

[Carl Hibbard]

no its not from there.

I do like to see the original article link included Ian, if you have just cut and pasted it from another site?

It's the only polite thing to do

[Jonathan Bryant]

... Chess star Nigel Short, the biggest attraction at the event, expressed his disgust at the incident, advising the organisers to promptly eject him from the tournament. what your views on this ?

State your source - as they used to say on CSI (and may still do for all I know).

That last sentence sounds like you Ian, but is "Chess star Nigel Short ...." you or what you're quoting? I'm guessing not you but it's hard to tell. That's why it's a good idea to make clear when you're quoting and when you're not.

Plus it avoids the impression that you're stealing somebody else's words.

[Simon Spivack]

This seems to be a good moment to deny that I have ever fallen asleep in the middle of a chess game.

[Leonard Barden]

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/drunk ... en/512679/

[Ian Lamb]

susan polgar blog its from http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/

[Peter Brace]

maybe he misunderstood when somebody recommended he try the 'scotch' game?

[Roger de Coverly]

Also from the polgar blog - he's been nominated by the FIDE president for the world cup

h) 6 nominees of the FIDE President

119. Robson, Ray (USA)
120. Tkachiev, Vladislav (FRA)
121. Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan (IRI)
122. Caruana, Fabiano (ITA)
123. Cheparinov, Ivan (BUL)
124. Pelletier, Yannick (SUI)

[Ian Lamb]

lol peter that a good one . Maybe he was happy being nominated for the world cup. Maybe he have second thoughts now fide president!

[Leonard Barden]

Tkachiev is actually an articulate and personable guy. I remember meeting him at the 1994 Intel rapidplay in London and found him very intelligent. From memory, he gave Kasparov some trouble in their games. He was French champion 2006, European champion 2007. See the interview below for his better side.
http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2095
However he seems to have a drink problem, as this isn't the first incident. At the 2008 Olympiad he defaulted his game against Azerbaijan and teammates said they hadn't seen him for several days.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Tkachiev played in the first ever international tournament I played in; the 1994 Lloyds Bank Masters. He finished on an unbeaten 7.5/10, and was the only player to avoid defeat against Morozevich.