2017 World Cup 2-27 September, Tbilisi

[JustinHorton]

You might as well though because the technology can't keep up with the moves anyway.

Some of the coverage of the live games has been disappointing.

No doubt, though what I was specifically thinking of was the occasional tendency towards the end of the gane for the moves to come through in chunks rather than one by one. (For a variety of reasons I rarely try to follow live cameras or commentary.)

Mind games - Kuzubov knocking out world no 6 Mamedyarov is worth a mention. The day before Kuzubov played on forever in a totally drawn position which clearly annoyed Mamedyarov. In the game that Kuzubov won yesterday he offered Mamedyarov a draw at one point. Mamedyarov refused it probably thinking at the same time "bloody cheeky so and so" and then completely went to pieces and lost.

I mentioned above that a threefold repetition seems to have gone unnoticed in that game. At the time I even wondered if Kuzubov had deliberately kept on playing in order to wind up Mamedyarov somehow, but I suppose not.

[Roger de Coverly]

Kuzubov, Yuriy v Wang, Hao
Ding, Liren v Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi

That's the shoot out for the "tourist" slot in quarter finals.

Ratings and world rankings per current FIDE list.

Kuzubov 2688 57
Wang, Hao 2701 44
Ding, Liren 2771 13
Vidit 2702 41

Liren Ding the favourite on rating.

[John Hickman]

Great Bu's up!

[Matthew Turner]

Surely it cannot be true?

chess24.com‏ @chess24com · 2m2 minutes ago

chess24.com Retweeted RCF

Wow, Russian Chess Federation saying Kovalyov was punished for not following the dress code! #FIDEWorldCup #c24live

[JustinHorton]

If it is true, what do the rules say?

[JustinHorton]

Not much, reckons Martin Bennedik

[Chris Rice]

The RCF tweet is that Kovalyov did not turn up because he received a comment for non-compliance with the dress code. So not a punishment as far as we know at the moment but it does make you wonder what exactly the problem was with his clothing.

Update: Another RCF tweet says "Canadian was late for the game for more than 15 mins. He'd been rebuked for not following dress code"

[Christopher Kreuzer]

What was he wearing? T-shirt and shorts? Seems harsh.

[JustinHorton]

It's all unclear to me now. Does this mean he turned up on time but in breach of the dress code, an arbiter said something and he left in a huff, or what?

[Chris Rice]

Looking at the Chess24 feed the speculation is that its either his pyjama shorts/trousers or the writing on the t-shirt which may reference Nigel Short. Further info from David Llada on a FB comment suggests he had been told before about the shorts and they told him to go and get changed but it took him too long.

Apparently Seirawan has been telling a story about Nigel Short wearing shorts at an Interzonal in Switzerland.

[John Hickman]

Further info from David Llada on a FB comment suggests he had been told before about the shorts and they told him to go and get changed but it took him too long.

Apparently, a load of shorts had washed up nearby and he couldn't resist wearing his...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wDpigy4eFE

[JustinHorton]

Looking at the Chess24 feed the speculation is that its either his pyjama shorts/trousers or the writing on the t-shirt which may reference Nigel Short. Further info from David Llada on a FB comment suggests he had been told before about the shorts and they told him to go and get changed but it took him too long.

Apparently Seirawan has been telling a story about Nigel Short wearing shorts at an Interzonal in Switzerland.

Tell us more

[Chris Rice]

Looking at the Chess24 feed the speculation is that its either his pyjama shorts/trousers or the writing on the t-shirt which may reference Nigel Short. Further info from David Llada on a FB comment suggests he had been told before about the shorts and they told him to go and get changed but it took him too long.

Apparently Seirawan has been telling a story about Nigel Short wearing shorts at an Interzonal in Switzerland.

Tell us more

There's no more to tell, it was a short story.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

The Nigel Short wearing shorts story has been told on here at least three times, take your pick: 1, 2, 3.

[Chris Rice]

Looks like the story has got legs as Chess24 tweets "Azmaiparashvili says he asked Kovalyov to change but he refused. Said he'd try to apply the maximum fine. Kovalyov got up and left".