‘Match-fixing… disrespectful to chess’: Nepomniachtchi, Dubov slammed after Russians indulge in cheeky ‘dance of knights’

Odd things happened on Day 1 of the blitz portion of the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship in Samarkand. There was an illegal move made in the game between Vladislav Artemiev nor Sanan Sjugirov, which neither player noticed and continued playing on. In another game, things on the board got so intense between Parham Maghsoodloo and Volodar Murzin, that neither noticed that the Iranian had lost on time and continued forging ahead. In a third game, Andrew Hong claimed his clock was malfunctioning during his game with Yu Yangyi, which led to an appeal and a consequent delay in further rounds.

But what made headlines on Friday was the game between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Daniil Dubov. The two Russian grandmasters faced off in round 11 with Dubov playing as white. The game lasted all of 13 moves before the players shook hands and agreed to a draw.

More significantly, the two players only moved their knights on the board for the whole game, the pieces harmlessly hopping around in circles on the board as if waltzing on the dance floor, with no intention of capturing or even threatening the other army’s pieces. What made the situation even more ridiculous was that both players were merrily chatting away in Russian before the game and exchanging smiles during the game itself.

The tournament’s Chief Arbiter, Ivan Syrovy, took a dim view of the situation and declared that the game be called a double forfeit, meaning both players lost the half points they earned from the draw.

Talking about his decision, Chief Arbiter Syrovy said in a statement: “In my eyes both players are responsible for it, I consider they prearranged the result of the game. My opinion is based on the moves they played”.

Both Nepo and Dubov objected to the decision and moved the decision to the Appeals Committee, which unanimously voted (all three members) to reject Nepomniachtchi’s appeal and uphold the decision made by the arbiter. The half-point deduction pushed the duo out of the pack of the tournament leaders.

These were the moves Ian Nepomniachtchi and Daniil Dubov played before agreeing to a draw:

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.Nd4 Nd5 3.Nb3 Nb6 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.Ne4 Ne5 6.Ng5 Ng4 7.Nf3 Nf6 8.Ng1 Ng8 9.Nc5 Nc4 10.Na4 Na5 11.Nc3 Nc6 12.Nb1 Nb8 13.Nf3

Here’s how the Ian Nepomniachtchi vs Daniil Dubov 13-move draw played out:

bruh. 🐎 Dubov vs Nepo was certainly something #RapidBlitz pic.twitter.com/JYxQatxjTK

— Chess.com (@chesscom) December 29, 2023

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Some jokes and a lot of anger

Nepo, who has twice contested for the World Chess Championship crown, seemed to take the decision in his stride.

“0.5 points from Gryffindor,” he tweeted making a reference to the Harry Potter universe. He also tweeted a YouTube link to a 1935 song composed by Sergei Prokofiev called Montagues and Capulets, which is popularly known as Dance of the Knights.

Some chess players were livid at the game, with one even likening it to match fixing.

“This is match-fixing beyond reasonable doubt. Dubov and Nepo idiots for risking their careers for this,” tweeted Norwegian chess grandmaster Jon Ludvig Hammer.

“As much as I love Nepo and Danii, they are both amazing players and lovely dudes, but they tend to forget they are too many of us out there who need to fight much harder to make a living out of chess and won’t get high class invites to promote the game in the best possible way. Top players can afford any behaviour, yet they will always be invited. If lower players afford such a nonsense, they won’t be invited anymore as they are replaceable,” posted German women’s GM Elisabeth Pahtz.

“My full support for this decision. Besides being disrespectful to the game, it is untimely and inappropriate. While they are fooling around the top Ukrainian GM Igor Kovalenko is celebrating his 35th birthday in the trenches defending Ukraine from their bloody regime,” thundered Ukranian grandmaster Pavel Eljanov.

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