Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2017

[LawrenceCooper]

What on earth is going on in the Hou Yifan game?

The commentators said they thought it was a protest against the pairings but totally out of character.

[JustinHorton]

Speculation is that this is about the pairing Fridman-Zatonskih (they're married).

[Roger de Coverly]

Speculation is that this is about the pairing Fridman-Zatonskih (they're married).

There's a backdoor method in most pairing software to prevent particular pairings. Arbiters use it to avoid pairings of some nationalities against players from Israel. But do they also use it for family members? Apparently not, as Gibraltar has already had a father/daughter pairing.

That's quite a difficult one, as to whether it's right or wrong to allow/disallow such pairings. It's a periodic problem in the British Championship as to whether to pair the Perts. Perhaps pairing family members in a last round should be disallowed. It's a rule that, if in place, should be made public before the tournament starts.

[Joshua Gibbs]

[Joshua Gibbs]

Speculation is that this is about the pairing Fridman-Zatonskih (they're married).

There's a backdoor method in most pairing software to prevent particular pairings. Arbiters use it to avoid pairings of some nationalities against players from Israel. But do they also use it for family members? Apparently not, as Gibraltar has already had a father/daughter pairing.

That's quite a difficult one, as to whether it's right or wrong to allow/disallow such pairings. It's a periodic problem in the British Championship as to whether to pair the Perts. Perhaps pairing family members in a last round should be disallowed. It's a rule that, if in place, should be made public before the tournament starts.

My personal belief is that if you are playing in a tournament you should play whoever you are paired with. I dont want to go into Politics but the flag I side with is all over my facebook, and id boycott a tournament sooner than play an extrememist of the other side.

I dont see why family members should be any different to seconds and firsts (Topalov and Cheparinov) playing each other

[Tim Harding]

Fridman pairing should not have been allowed in my opinion because of the high prize money for women in this event. If her husband had lost, the wife Anna Zakonskikh finishes on 7 points and will be second or second equal. In fact they have just drawn which cannot be criticised.

It's not quite clear whether this was Hou Yifan's objection; according to a brief interview with a chess.com executive just now she will speak later. He thought it might have something to do with the fact that she was paired with 7 women during the event - perhaps not objecting to that as such, but it raises suspicions that the draw might have had some built-in bias throughout the event. The organisers (or appeal committee) already over-ruled a protest over tournament leader Anton getting six whites including in the crucial last round,

***

Moderator: please delete that disgusting unfunny image above and ban the poster for a week?

[Joshua Gibbs]

Fridman pairing should not have been allowed in my opinion because of the high prize money for women in this event. If her husband had lost, the wife Anna Zakonskikh finishes on 7 points and will be second or second equal. In fact they have just drawn which cannot be criticised.

Wouldn't first and second like I said be the same?

[Jonathan Bryant]

Speculation is that this is about the pairing Fridman-Zatonskih (they're married).

What’s curious, but perhaps not surprising, is that chess24 and others are reluctant to describe the actions truthfully - i.e she chucked a game.


Tajei called it and I have just noticed Mark Crowther too. Why the need others feel the need to be so coy is beyond me. Not surprising, though, I’m afraid.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

This may end up overshadowing the other chess going on, which would be a shame.

I liked this comment on Chessbomb:

"no idea how much old Adams has still left in the tank, but stirring a bit would make sense with respect to the tournament situation"

[Joshua Gibbs]

This may end up overshadowing the other chess going on, which would be a shame.

I liked this comment on Chessbomb:

"no idea how much old Adams has still left in the tank, but stirring a bit would make sense with respect to the tournament situation"

i'll do a poll for favourite chessbomb troll

[Thomas Rendle]

I'm not sure it's a case of being coy - everyone can see she deliberately lost the game, and I don't see anyone pretending anything otherwise.

[Carl Hibbard]

Fridman pairing should not have been allowed in my opinion because of the high prize money for women in this event. If her husband had lost, the wife Anna Zakonskikh finishes on 7 points and will be second or second equal. In fact they have just drawn which cannot be criticised.

It's not quite clear whether this was Hou Yifan's objection; according to a brief interview with a chess.com executive just now she will speak later. He thought it might have something to do with the fact that she was paired with 7 women during the event - perhaps not objecting to that as such, but it raises suspicions that the draw might have had some built-in bias throughout the event. The organisers (or appeal committee) already over-ruled a protest over tournament leader Anton getting six whites including in the crucial last round,

***

Moderator: please delete that disgusting unfunny image above and ban the poster for a week?

I never saw an image?

Joshua again?

[Joshua Gibbs]

Fridman pairing should not have been allowed in my opinion because of the high prize money for women in this event. If her husband had lost, the wife Anna Zakonskikh finishes on 7 points and will be second or second equal. In fact they have just drawn which cannot be criticised.

It's not quite clear whether this was Hou Yifan's objection; according to a brief interview with a chess.com executive just now she will speak later. He thought it might have something to do with the fact that she was paired with 7 women during the event - perhaps not objecting to that as such, but it raises suspicions that the draw might have had some built-in bias throughout the event. The organisers (or appeal committee) already over-ruled a protest over tournament leader Anton getting six whites including in the crucial last round,

***

Moderator: please delete that disgusting unfunny image above and ban the poster for a week?

I never saw an image?

Joshua again?

I posted an image of someone eating popcorn at the cinema to show that the public who don't know much about chess, would be entertained by this. I don't see how its disgusting. I just googled popcorn GIF

[Christopher Kreuzer]

It is a widespread Michael Jackson popcorn-eating meme:

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/popcorn-gifs

It is not particularly offensive. It is a bit old and past its sell-by-date.

[Joshua Gibbs]

It is a widespread Michael Jackson popcorn-eating meme:

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/popcorn-gifs

It is not particularly offensive. It is a bit old and past its sell-by-date.

kinda the reason I chose it