English Chess Forum

A translation of a Elizabeth Paehtz Facebook post:

"Two covid cases - one Indonesian companion and now GM Meguaranto. The bizarre thing is that no one who arrived on the 10th or earlier had to pass a test in Russia unless his home certificate was 72 h old. Many players haven't even been tested in Sochi until now... Meguaranto did this VOLUNTEER yesterday! First mandatory test coming up for tomorrow...
Caruana in quarantine, aronian with fever... "

PeterFarr wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 15, 2021 7:57 pm

It seems that the test result came back during the game, which seems less than ideal.

https://twitter.com/anishgiri/status/14 ... 8606006276

All test results should have been back by 1300 local time, two hours before the start of play. This one came back over two hours late.

https://twitter.com/FIDE_chess/status/1 ... 6851495945

FIDE on Twitter have said that an unnamed player (presumably GM Meguaranto) had tests on July 10th, July 11th, and July 14th with the last (I'm guessing - the tweet isn't clear) being positive. A Health Protocol document for the event refers to tests on arrival in Russia and then on 16 July (tomorrow), 20 July, 26 July... So why the extra tests?

Towards the end of the commentary I heard Short say that he's hearing that principles are being disregarded in chess and it's all about analysis now. I'm hoping he will expand on that as it's quite a startling remark I would say.

This is a wonderful clip

https://twitter.com/chesscom_in/status/ ... 72455?s=20

MJMcCready wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 16, 2021 2:28 am

Towards the end of the commentary I heard Short say that he's hearing that principles are being disregarded in chess and it's all about analysis now. I'm hoping he will expand on that as it's quite a startling remark I would say.

I've heard similar comments from top players and would summarise it as even the most ridiculous looking moves that break all the principles can sometimes be good if backed up by a sequence of moves that the computer likes.

Matthew Turner wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 16, 2021 9:49 am

This is a wonderful clip

https://twitter.com/chesscom_in/status/ ... 72455?s=20

Because of the music at the end?

There are going to be challenges navigating changing societal norms in the time of Covid and I think it is very important that people can still have a laugh whilst doing so. The clip reminded me of my last experience of OTB chess at the absolutely brilliant Dorset Rapidplay

Pete Doggers

Three members of the same group from Indonesia have now tested positive, affecting two matches.

GM and chess journalist Ian Rogers reports that the Head of Delegation, Kristianus Liem, was diagnosed first. Before the first round, IM Mohamad Ervan got the bad news as well and had to forfeit his match with GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov.

The third was Megaranto, who heard about his positive test result during his game with Caruana, which was immediately stopped and declared a win for the American player. Following procedures, both players were immediately isolated.

Meanwhile, two-time winner Aronian didn't even show up for his game with GM Bobby Cheng (Australia). The Armenian grandmaster had some symptoms of fever earlier this week and even though he felt well on Thursday, it was decided that he wouldn't play in order to not risk the safety of other players. Like Caruana, Aronian will undergo additional health tests before deciding if he is fit to play the second game.

Levon Aronian (Facebook)
47 m ·
Dear all, with great regret I have to inform you about my withdrawal from the FIDE World Cup 2021. Having a high fever and tonsillitis, despite my great desire to play, I have to be rational and put mine, and the health of other players first.
I want to personally thank the FIDE President Mr. Dvorkovich for taking all possible actions to help me in any issues I got.
Please take care of yourself, and hopefully the tournament will continue without any misfortunes.
I promise to get healthy soon and come back to the magical world of 64 squares!

Further withdrawals:

https://twitter.com/FIDE_chess/status/1 ... 0504045573
https://twitter.com/FIDE_chess/status/1 ... 3196698630

They're worried about false negatives now?

I think an infection could take time to show up in a test - thus, for example, the requirement in some countries for people travelling in from other countries to self-isolate.

Angus French wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 15, 2021 10:32 pm

FIDE on Twitter have said that an unnamed player (presumably GM Meguaranto) had tests on July 10th, July 11th, and July 14th with the last (I'm guessing - the tweet isn't clear) being positive. A Health Protocol document for the event refers to tests on arrival in Russia and then on 16 July (tomorrow), 20 July, 26 July... So why the extra tests?

Meguaranto took an additional test voluntarily on July 14th.

The testing agency should have notified any positive results by 1300 on July 15th. As Meguaranto had heard nothing by then, he went to play Caruana.

We know what happened then.

So what is the point of testing if a negative is met with "you might have it anyway, so you're out"? To me, the real point is that both of the female players said they felt unwell, so not playing was a sensible decision.