Acrimony at Wijk aan Zee

Scott Tortorice

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Wijk aan Zee, probably the most prestigous chess tournament in the world, has just concluded (results can be had here). And while the news that Aronian and Carlesen came out on top with a shared first place finish is the big story, the more sensational story is the snub Nigel Short received at the hands of Cheparinov. Let's go to the video tape:

[YOUTUBE]M1Gb4lJeXqI[/YOUTUBE]

Nigel, ever the chessmaster, used this stunt to score a a point against Cheparinov as such conduct is a violation of FIDE rules. Chessbase remarks:

Short then stood up and approached the arbiter, pointing out that his opponent’s actions are a breach of FIDE rules, which prescribe an immediate forfeit as the penalty for refusing the handshake. The arbiter was not even aware of this rule, which was announced only recently. He was asked to check, and after going away to do so, he duly found it on the FIDE website. After consulting with Cheparinov, and explaining the situation, the arbiter told Short that Cheparinov was now prepared to shake hands after all. However, given that he had already twice refused to do so, and that Short’s equanimity had by now been totally destroyed, the latter insisted that the offence had already occurred, and that Cheparinov should be forfeited. “It was clearly a calculated insult”, said Short. The arbiter was forced to agree, and the official tournament record now shows the game Short-Cheparinov as having gone 1.e4 c5 1-0.


An incredible situation. Short says that he personally has no issue with Cheparinov at all, but he presumes that the incident arose out of past comments that Short has made to the press, concerning the events of the “Toiletgate” match in Elista, and subsequent cheating allegations made against Topalov. Cheparinov is Topalov’s regular second, and both are managed by Silvio Danailov.
 
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