Open letter from Shirov

[jaque3]

I don’t know how many times I have said to myself that it makes no sense at all to keep getting involved in chess politics and that I should just concentrate on my work etc. But the recent FIDE “developments” possibly made many late great champions turn in their graves. That means the living chess players should speak out.

According to the Russian totally non-free chess journalist Yuri Vasiliev (fortunately not the most reliable one whom we know for bringing up the ghost of Alexander Chernenko) Ilyumzhinov has already stated* that Vasily Ivanchuk might get severely sanctioned for the doping test refusal after his game against Gata Kamsky.

Can we believe such news? A player who has been in the very top for more than twenty years since winning New York Open in the beginning of 1988, an absolute record from currently active players, gets banned simply because he wanted to calm down after a lost game? Boris Spassky has already given his opinion about the situation, but it’s not published anywhere. Suddenly Ilyumzhinov wants to say that the rules are the rules.

But the rules don’t seem legal to me unfortunately. IOC has never guaranteed that chess would become the Olympic sport, so the FIDE policy in licking their posterior is at least questionable. After the success of Intellectual games festival in Beijing it’s time to STOP trying to get into the Olympic movement. I personally feel guilty for participating in the Olympic exhibition in Sydney 2000, but at least then it seemed that the chessplayers were going to be welcome with open heart. As it hasn’t happened we have our way and we cannot lose our best representatives like this.

If FIDE and Ilyumzhinov don’t stop destroying our intellectual sport something should be done. At least step by step. I hope Mr. Hans-Arild Runde would not mind to keep calculating Ivanchuk’s results, so any organizers who still respect our game should deal with him and no longer give the official rating reports to FIDE. In fact the rating reports are generated automatically nowadays, but somebody should still control that they are not changed by cancelling results.

The second part of this press-release will include some of my thoughts about the latest changes (nothing unusual, of course) in the World Championship system. Of course, with Ivanchuk ban the whole system loses its sense but there is still a chance that his case will be resolved. In fact I don’t think the idea of the Candidates tournament is as negative as some people think, adding the second place in the Grand Prix and the World Cup is a nice compensation for changing the format as long as the tournament is attractive for players and chess lovers. But giving the direct seed to the loser of Topalov-Kamsky match seems totally senseless as long as the player can prove his strength in the next World Cup or qualify by rating. He should be replaced by the second highest rated player in my opinion. Unfortunately this opinion cannot even theoretically be supported by the ACP board as one of their leading forces, Emil Sutovsky, is the manager of Kamsky and the most of the rest are his cronies!

Ok, time to stop writing. Let others express their opinions on this FIDE news.

Alexei Shirov
Riga, 02.12.2008

[jaque3]

Some earlier information on the case

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=25

The translation sounds a bit like this: Vassily Ivanchuk can face a two-year ban and all his games at the Olympiad will be annulled. This could cost Ukraine the Gaprindashvili Trophy, which they won for the best team score. More info about Gaprindashvili cup here http://www.chessdom.com/gaprindashvilic ... s-olympiad

Ironically, the Gaprindashvili cup has been stolen http://www.chessdom.com/news/gaprindashvili-cup-stolen


Now so many uncertainties arise from all this load of information. Let me try to summarize some interesting questions.

* Do Kamsky and Topalov get priviliges by directly qualifying in the new system?
* Does Kramnik get automatic wild card, as speculations go?
* Is this reaction by Shirov logical, or it is a fear defence reaction?
* Will banning Ivanchuk get us a step closer to Olympiad or it is a useless cause
* Gaprindashvili cup stolen... or wildest speculation kept by Ukraine so that no one gets it after Ivanchuk ban?!
* Topalov already protested against the new cycle, can this lead to a small revolution?

[topa tupa]

Jaque3, here is some of the latest follow up. I would add the problem that the US might lose their bronze medal. They were very good in the last round, now everyone will be very good against Ukraine. Susan Polgar has a nice summary on that.

This has been a VERY unfortunate situation. The Ivanchuk case is now taking center stage in the chess world. Ukraine was in the position to win the Gold medal if they could beat the U.S. in the final round. They were the heavy favorite by rating.

But the U.S. team pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Chess Olympiad history. Not only they defeated the mighty Ukrainian team, they were very close to score a 4-0 wipe out. The final score was 3.5 - 0.5, giving the U.S. the Bronze medal.

The problem is right after the game, Ivanchuk was "selected" to take a dope test. He refused and stormed off the playing hall in disgust for losing badly against Gata Kamsky. One can understand his disappointment and anger with his own performance.

However, according to FIDE rules, his refusal may lead to various types of sanctions. One sanction may lead to disqualification of Ivanchuk's personal results obtained in this Olympiad and forfeiture of all medals, points and prizes. He may also face a two-year ban for the 1st violation and a lifetime ban for a 2nd violation.

The big problem now is if this indeed happens, Hungary will get the Bronze on tie-breaks and the U.S. will lose its Bronze medal! Here is what I wrote earlier: In my opinion, medals are to be settled on the board and not due to any technical reason outside of one's control.

The U.S. and Hungarian teams had nothing to do with this episode. The very serious case is now pending. FIDE's 5 person medical commission will have to make a decision within 3 months from the conclusion of the Olympiad.

What will FIDE do? Will FIDE penalize Ivanchuk and award the Bronze medal to Hungary will they alienate the Doping Commission of the International Olympic Committee? The second option will probably mean the end of chess being a possible IOC sport (which is what FIDE is trying to do).

What a mess!

[Arkansaw]

Why can't they apply the necessary sanctions to Ivanchuk without implicating the other teams? Let them keep their medals and if anything only Ukraine should be punished, as they were unable to keep their top man in line. If Ivanchuk did not intend his walk-out as a protest against doping controls, people should not be complicating the issue either. Instead they should see to that rules that are already in place will be enforced properly, in fact that is the whole point of having rules.

[tiger chess]

Why can't they apply the necessary sanctions to Ivanchuk without implicating the other teams? Let them keep their medals and if anything only Ukraine should be punished, as they were unable to keep their top man in line. If Ivanchuk did not intend his walk-out as a protest against doping controls, people should not be complicating the issue either. Instead they should see to that rules that are already in place will be enforced properly, in fact that is the whole point of having rules.

This is impossible as a solution due to 1 simple reason. If by any chance Ivanchuk used doping, than the whole team should carry responsibility, just like in soccer, cycling, or basketball. These are the rules of the IOC and FIDE cannot just make up rules now.

On the other hand, if FIDE bans Ivanchuk, there will be double protest. First because he is a great player and very nice person that has given so much to chess, and second because USA will undeservedly lose their medal.

I will go with no banning Ivanchuk because of the following:

1. Chess is not an Olympic sport and will never be, simple as that
2. Ivanchuk has given to chess more and can give a lot in the future
3. Ivanchuk will never say bad about anyone
4. His games are just marvelous and worth to watch every competition

[Arkansaw]

I will go with no banning Ivanchuk because of the following:

1. Chess is not an Olympic sport and will never be, simple as that
2. Ivanchuk has given to chess more and can give a lot in the future
3. Ivanchuk will never say bad about anyone
4. His games are just marvelous and worth to watch every competition

Reason 1 is an assertion, and I believe this matter can be resolved with a simple rule review or evaluation whatever, without getting overly emotional about olympic implications. Reasons 2 to 4 are irrelevant because personal attributes have no place in rules and regulations. If people wanted to reject certain rules, they should not have waited until a particular incident like this, and prior to this, there have already been people held accountable under the doping rules. I'm sure FIDE can do with one less label - partial to rating, er no, maybe 2700s

[tiger chess]

If people wanted to reject certain rules, they should not have waited until a particular incident like this, and prior to this, there have already been people held accountable under the doping rules. I'm sure FIDE can do with one less label - partial to rating, er no, maybe 2700s

FIDE is well known for precedent decisions i.e. no rule is valid and can be trusted 100% because they constantly change it! So why not make exception for Chucky? They can change a whole World Championship cycle overnight, but can't understand chess needs Ivanchuk?

I am not aware of more chess players being banned for doping.

[jaque3]

Interesting news for the Olympic games in 2016 was published today at the Daily Telegraph and the International Hearld Tribune. The IOC will discuss today the inclusion of 7 new sports at the Olympic program. These are baseball, softball, golf, karate, roller sports, rugby, and squash. Chess is not mentioned for this meeting of the IOC.

The board meets in June to make recommendations to the full IOC membership. A simple majority is needed for a sport to be voted onto the program.

The news is from http://reports.chessdom.com/coverage/ch ... und-2-live , the update at 12:30. Forget about chess as an Olympic sport! We have World Mind Sports games and a tone of other competitions.

Having this in mind the Chucky ban sounds unreasonable.

[Arkansaw]

About the last 'victims' of doping protestants: http://chessexpress.blogspot.com/2008/1 ... sting.html

Although Ivanchuk's behaviour is not an act of protest, it is still a rule violation.

[Goran]

As Kaleid posted in our Russian section viewtopic.php?f=25&t=25

Direct words of Ivanchuk: "All this looks like a complete delusion! But such spectacles can happen in our world. I just went, nervous after the lost game, and did not listen to a man that I saw for the first time in my life, and still do not know who that was. This is such a comedy »

http://www.sports.ru/blog/khomitch/6344648.html