Page 4 of 10

Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 6:07 pm
by JustinHorton
Esipenko should really have beaten Shankland, but drew. This leaves just the Disaster of the Day contender, an award which seemed likely to go to Caruana for blowing a won position against Duda but will probably go to Duda for blowing a drawn position against Caruana. (That said, the apparently saving alternative to his red-marked move 42 is not at all straightforward.)

Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 6:24 pm
by NickFaulks
Nick Ivell wrote:
Sat Jan 22, 2022 2:04 pm
Stupid? Possibly.

I would also refuse to wear a face mask on a point of principle.
He would presumably have turned down the invitation had masks been stipulated in advance. It is appalling that the organisers believe they can change the rules at will during the tournament.

Unless the regulations say that they can, of course. I haven't checked.

Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 8:58 am
by LawrenceCooper
I read on a Max Illingworth thread on Facebook that Praggnanandhaa's coach had tested positive earlier in the tournament and he subsequently wore a mask and his game was played separate to the main group.

Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 9:38 am
by NickFaulks
LawrenceCooper wrote:
Sun Jan 23, 2022 8:58 am
I read on a Max Illingworth thread on Facebook that Praggnanandhaa's coach had tested positive earlier in the tournament and he subsequently wore a mask and his game was played separate to the main group.
If one player was forced to wear a mask and the other wasn't, then I'm not sure that the game should be rated.

Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 10:08 am
by JustinHorton
I don't want to jump to conclusions without seeing the rules, but it would be odd, and an omission, if the eventuality of one of the players' team testing positive were not covered.

Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 10:18 am
by Mick Norris
All I could see on the website was the FAQs
All possible precautions and measures are taken to ensure a COVID-19 safe event for players, community and staff. All measures will be (and remain) in line with the then ruling guidelines from national and local health & safety authorities.
Chess24 have
Round 7 got off to a strange start as Anish Giri played 1.d4 but his opponent Daniil Dubov didn’t appear at the board, as his clock ticked past 15 minutes, then half an hour. What was up? Well, Jan Gustafsson on our broadcast got the scoop after texting his fellow Magnus Carlsen second, “You up?”

Daniil replied by explaining that after someone in his circle tested positive for COVID he was being asked to play in a mask, despite having tested negative himself. He felt it contradicted the tournament regulations that had foreseen a testing regime but no mask requirement during games.

Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 10:24 am
by David Sedgwick
Mick Norris wrote:
Sun Jan 23, 2022 10:18 am
All I could see on the website was the FAQs
All possible precautions and measures are taken to ensure a COVID-19 safe event for players, community and staff. All measures will be (and remain) in line with the then ruling guidelines from national and local health & safety authorities.
There may be more details on the individual Player Agreements, which I would not expect to be made public.

Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 10:35 am
by LawrenceCooper
Whilst checking a youtube video link I heard Fiona comment that the game was not played as "Dubov still awaiting the result of his PCR test"

Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 10:41 am
by Ian Thompson
David Sedgwick wrote:
Sun Jan 23, 2022 10:24 am
Mick Norris wrote:
Sun Jan 23, 2022 10:18 am
All I could see on the website was the FAQs
All possible precautions and measures are taken to ensure a COVID-19 safe event for players, community and staff. All measures will be (and remain) in line with the then ruling guidelines from national and local health & safety authorities.
There may be more details on the individual Player Agreements, which I would not expect to be made public.
There's a statement from the organiser's in the chess.com report:
Robert Moens (Tata Steel Communications & Public Affairs) commented to Chess.com: "This specific situation wasn't discussed beforehand, no. However, the players' contract does include a clause that the organizers can take the necessary measures in case unexpected situations regarding Covid arise. Because the tournament doctor deemed it unwise for Dubov to play without a face mask, we as organizers made this request to Dubov, who fully understood our decision but decided not to play the game out of principle. We did not consider postponing the game because Dubov could have played today, albeit with a face mask. It was his decision not to play."
As Justin has already said, it seems surprising that this eventuality would be unexpected. I'd class it as something that was quite likely to happen.

Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 11:02 am
by JustinHorton
Incidentally, what is Dubov proposing to do today?

Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 11:17 am
by Matthew Turner
JustinHorton wrote:
Sun Jan 23, 2022 11:02 am
Incidentally, what is Dubov proposing to do today?
I imagine that he'll have the result of his PCR test and be playing maskless, or if positive, out for the rest of the event. Although that is just speculation on my part.

Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 11:28 am
by JustinHorton
Yes, that was a stupid question on my part. (No personal experience of these things - in fact by entire conicidence, the first time anybody has had a test in my household, a negative one for the record, was actually this morning.)

Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 11:37 am
by Jonathan Rogers
I should imagine that the arbiters are less than happy with the organisers for covering everything with the vague "However, the players' contract does include a clause that the organizers can take the necessary measures in case unexpected situations regarding Covid arise". Sure, a fallback of this nature might be useful, but only as a fallback - some effort to address the more predictable problems precisely would have reduced the risk of their having to take responsibility for the sort of decisions they were required to make yesterday.

FWIW I still think they got it right. When the rules are so vague in the first place, with no real effort to address the so-called "expected" situations, the word "unexpected" can be said to mean almost any event at all which seems to increase the risk of transmission and to call for a decision.

Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 11:56 am
by JustinHorton
Also it would plausibly be helpful if, since these situations cold be anticipated, if players asked about them in advance. "What happens if I fail a test? What happens if my second does?" or whatever.

Re: Wijk aan Zee 84th Tata Steel 2022 14 to 30 Jan

Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 12:27 pm
by Kevin Thurlow
"I should imagine that the arbiters are less than happy with the organisers for covering everything with the vague "However, the players' contract does include a clause that the organizers can take the necessary measures in case unexpected situations regarding Covid arise"."

Yes - it's reasonable for the contract to say that, to cover something weird, like an unexpected pandemic, or meteor strike, or train delays due to badger in signal box, but a case of covid is not really surprising.