2022 Sinquefield Cup

[David Sedgwick]

Chris Bird is posting in his Twitter account draw claims made at the Sinquefield Cup and asking readers to say whether they think that the claims were correct.

This one is there.

https://twitter.com/ChrisBirdIA

[LawrenceCooper]

Chris Bird is posting in his Twitter account draw claims made at the Sinquefield Cup and asking readers to say whether they think that the claims were correct.

This one is there.

https://twitter.com/ChrisBirdIA

Is it a trick question or did he say Bd5 meaning Nd5? From the video I thought that white stopped the clock and only then wrote his move down which isn't how I understand it should be done.

[David Sedgwick]

The official commentary for Day 7 can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4i5iTBOz1M.

I am sorry that I neglected to post this information until after the event. I am doing so now in order to have a complete historical record in the thread.

[NickFaulks]

Chris Bird is posting in his Twitter account draw claims made at the Sinquefield Cup and asking readers to say whether they think that the claims were correct.

Over the years the complications of these claims have been explained to me by very experienced arbiters, but fundamentally I still don't grasp why chess makes such a meal of this issue. If a position identical in every respect appears on the board three times, then either player can claim a draw, why isn't it that simple?

[David Sedgwick]

The official commentary for Day 8 can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDM8B7bHblU.

[David Sedgwick]

Is it a trick question or did he say Bd5 meaning Nd5?

I shall check, but almost certainly the latter. Those of us who are involved are all feeling a bit tired and stressed.

From the video I thought that white stopped the clock and only then wrote his move down which isn't how I understand it should be done.

I agree with you (and Ian T) that stopping the clock first is not strictly correct.

However, I wouldn't disallow a repetition claim for that reason. The important requirement is that the claimant must not have touched a piece.

[David Sedgwick]

The WSJ - which tells us that Ken Regan has found nothing untoward (was that generally known?) manages to speak to Danny Rensch but does not seem to ask him what he is playing at.

To the best of my knowledge, it was not generally known until the WSJ piece appeared.

The Grand Chess Tour have just released a statement:

https://twitter.com/GrandChessTour/stat ... 0515920897.

[David Sedgwick]

Is it a trick question or did he say Bd5 meaning Nd5?

I shall check, but almost certainly the latter.

Wrong! Lawrence's first suggestion was correct.

Chris Bird sent me an email about this thread. With his permission, I quote the relevant part verbatim:

I am not always necessarily posting exactly what happened, I'm posting things as an exercise to our fellow arbiters, and sometimes they may be more along the lines of a "what would have happened if..." rather than the exact scenario we had to deal with in the game.

In the Dominguez-Firouzja example, I deliberately posted Bd5 (which is not what Dominguez claimed, that was Nd5) in an attempt to show what you should do if a player writes down a 3-fold move that no longer results in a correct claim, even though the player could have claimed based on the current position being repeated 3-times without the player needing to make a move. Since the player would have been claiming based on the move written, obviously the draw claim would have been rejected at that point and the game continued even though he never theoretically made that move on the board.

[David Sedgwick]

The official commentary for Day 9 can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGTr_cU7xPE.

[LawrenceCooper]

Magnus & Hans both listed as playing in next week's Meltwater Tour event: https://chess24.com/tour/julius-baer-ge ... ghMbazeWzY

[Chris Rice]

In the latest round of the Niemann saga Shirov has stated (on Facebook) that there is evidence that Niemann does better in tournaments with live boards than tournaments without them. This was easy to refute as the list of tournaments given that didn't carry live boards was false as not all the tournaments stated on their website whether there would be live coverage or not.
GM Nigel Davies has also asked the FIDE Ethics Committee to step in and suspend Carlsen if he doesn't say what he meant in the tweet which again I can't see being a serious runner. Hopefully at the next Meltwater, Loz has just posted about Carlsen and Niemann will both turn up, make up, shake hands and carry on.

[Ian Thompson]

Hopefully at the next Meltwater, Loz has just posted about Carlsen and Niemann will both turn up, make up, shake hands and carry on.

It's an online event, so chess.com's recent allegations of more online cheating from Niemann than he admitted to are of more relevance than they were at the Sinquefield Cup, particularly if the games in question were recent.

[NickFaulks]

GM Nigel Davies has also asked the FIDE Ethics Committee to step in and suspend Carlsen if he doesn't say what he meant in the tweet which again I can't see being a serious runner.

The problem is that Ethics Commission cannot "step in" without a formal complaint from one of the victims. Niemann, who wants to do nothing in life but play chess, will not have the stomach for this and Carlsen knows that. If the GCT does not make a complaint, then we shall learn something about them.

[Roger de Coverly]

It's an online event

I think chess24 are the hosts, so for the time being that's independent of chess.com.

[Paul Cooksey]

The official commentary for Day 7 can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4i5iTBOz1M.

I am sorry that I neglected to post this information until after the event. I am doing so now in order to have a complete historical record in the thread.

I respect the OCD, but there is playlist of all videos from the event here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... nBy-nkKZs7