World Cup R3: Two Chinese players default – for smoking

The FIDE World Chess Cup is taking place in Khanty-Mansiysk from November 20th to December 15th 2009. It is a seven-round knockout event with six rounds of matches comprising two games per round, with the winners progressing to the next round. The final seventh round consists of four games. The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an addition of 30 seconds per move from move one. Games start at 15:00h local time, which is GMT +5 hours = 11:00 a.m. European time = 5 a.m. New York. The World Chess Cup is an integral part of the World Championship Cycle 2009-2011.

Round three final

The official World Cup bulletin states: "Two Chinese players, Wang Yue and Li Chao, were late for the second game of the tiebreaks against Vugar Gashimov (AZE) and Etienne Bacrot (FRA) respectively. According to the FIDE regulations the games were forfeited." More about this in the interview below.

The arbiter discusses the situation with the players (Wang Yue and Li Chao left) and their captain

Apparently both players were in the smoking area after the first rapid chess tiebreak game. The arbiter went to the area and announced that the games would start in three minutes, and then again in one minute. Unfortunately Wang and Li arrived at their boards two minutes after the starting time and lost their games by forfeit. Both went on to lose their third rapid chess game and were thus eliminated from the World Cup 2009.

The Chinese team discuss the decision of the arbiter amongst themselves

Wang Yue and Li Chao: "We are not going to quit smoking!"

The official bulletin states the reason given by the Chinese grandmasters for being late "is ridiculous: they were smoking and did not know that the game had already started." The following interview was conducted with the two:

Wang Yue: I don't know what happened. I was smoking with Li Chao and some fellow told us: “Guys, I think you are late for your game”. Of course we rushed into the playing hall. But it was already too late.

I did not understand what happened. Okay, these are the rules, I cannot break them. But I was shocked. It seemed that the world has stopped.

Sure, we spoke with the Chief Arbiter. He said: “These are the regulations, we should follow them. The decision is final and nothing can be changed. You should take it, go and prepare for the next game." I think it was a wise advice.

Yes, this was correct and fair decision. The only decision that could be taken. We cannot do anything. We just need to accept it. In China at all chess tournaments a big screen with the information about the tournament is used. A player can go to the toilet, to smoke or to do something else. But thanks to this screen he always knows how much time he has before the start of the game. Here there is no screen. But we hope that they will use it in future. Most of all I feel pity for Li Chao: he started smoking here, in Khanty, to join my smoking company.

I don't think so… After such a shock you only think to take a long smoke!

Nothing special… We will have rest. Tomorrow a long trip back home

Li Chao (sarcastically): Most probably I will carefully study the regulations of the World Cup!

Interview by FIDE

Round three tiebreaks

Boris Gelfand beat Judit Polgar in their first rapid chess tiebreak game (with the black pieces) and drew the next two to advance to the next stage. In the picture above the two are watched by Li Chao and Fabiano Caruana. It is the third tiebreak game, at move 55. Gelfand won it in 62 moves.

Viktor Bologan (left) drew one and lost two against Czech GM Viktor Laznicka, who advanced

Sergey Karjakin (left) won three rapid chess games against Czech GM David Navara

Fabiano Caruana won the third game against Evgeny Alekseev to advance to the next round

Alexander Grischuk vs Baadur Jobava was a tough fight: the rapid games ended in a tie,
with a win and a draw for each player. Then Grischuk won the first two blitz games to andvance.

The most exciting tiebreak encounter in round three: Arkadij Naiditsch vs Peter Svidler. After two draws Naiditsch took the lead, Svidler equalised and then went on to take the first two blitz games and victory.

That was a tough one! Alexander Grischuk and Peter Svidler both had six games to play

Still in Khanty-Mansiysk: Chinese GM Hou Yifan surfs the Internet in the press room

Photos by Galina Popova courtesy of FIDE

Results of round three final

Schedule of the World Cup 2009

Pairings for the next round

Links Official tournament site – All ChessBase reports All games in zipped PGN Games in PGN: Round 1 – Round 2 – Round 3 The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!