A forfeit for wearing an analogue watch?

by Shahid Ahmed
2/9/2020 – At the 40th National Team Open, a big shock in round three when GM Adhiban Baskaran was forfeited on board one for possessing an analogue watch after 16 moves against IM C R G Krishna. His team still won the match, thanks to wins on the lower boards. It's an unusual case, though evidently all according to the tournament rules. | Photo: IA Gopakumar Sudhakaran

In the classical system of the King's Indian White develops naturally and refrains from chasing ghosts looking for a refutation of Black's set-up. White instead relies on the fact that natural play should yield him a small but lasting advantage.

Adhiban loses due to rules technicality

After playing a fantastic game in round one, Adhiban took a rest in round two. In round three, his team PSPB (Petroleum Sports Promotion Board) faced RSPB-B (Railway Sports Promotion Board). Adhiban was paired against IM C R G Krishna. However, after nine moves were made, Adhiban was found to be wearing a wrist watch which according to the tournament rules and regulations meant a loss. In the past there have been several cases in India of players losing a game because of a watch, however, this was the first instance when a grandmaster was affected by it.

C R G Krishna won against Adhiban in a rule technicality | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

Speaking to ChessBase India after the incident, Adhiban said,

I just came back from Gibraltar. At the Gibraltar masters there was no such rule about wearing of a watch and all kinds of watches were allowed. I was completely jet-lagged and forgot about the watch rule. My opponent claimed the win and there was nothing I could do about it.

Unlike a walkover, a loss due to the watch rule affects your rating and Adhiban lost 7.7 Elo points. At a rating of 2654, that's quite a bit. However, as always Adhiban was positive and said, "I am happy that my team won the match in spite of my loss. I am playing good chess and that is more important to me than rating points."

The main clause in FIDE's Arbiter's manual is 11.3.2.1 (PDF) under Anti-Cheating Guidelines:

FIDE rules

It is clear that from the FIDE laws electronic devices are not allowed. How then was Adhiban given a loss when he was wearing an analog watch? A few years ago, when the rule 11.3.2.1 was implemented the arbiters all across the country were faced with several instances where they had to decipher an analog watch from an electronic one. Logically if a watch had batteries in it, it would become an electronic one. But it was not always easy to segregate the two. In order to make things less complex and avoid unnecessary appeals, AICF in its Central Council meeting came up with the clause that no watches are allowed. Although this rule was not specifically mentioned in the regulations of the National Team Championships 2020, it was discussed in the player's meeting before the start of the event.

Adhiban is the first GM casualty in India of the analog watch rule | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

watch

This is the watch that Adhiban was wearing | Photo: Adhiban B

Famous trainer, mentor and chess consultant IM Vishal Sareen tweeted about Adhiban's loss

Here are the nine moves that was played in the game.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 c5 5.c4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 h5 7.Nc3 h4 8.Bg5 h3 9.Bf3 Nc6      
1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Krishna C R G2443Adhiban,B26541–02020A4940th IND-chT Open 20203.1

No harm done to the team

Karthikeyan Murali got material advantage after the 36th move of the game against Thejkumar M S as he had a rook for a bishop and pawn. However, the game went on for another 73 moves before the former secured a much-needed victory for himself as well as the team.

 
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1.d4 0 Nf6 3 2.c4 0 e6 7 3.Nf3 6 d5 11 4.Nc3 31 Bb4 13 5.Bg5 319 h6 204 6.Bxf6 15 Qxf6 5 7.e3 14 0-0 58 8.Rc1 68 Nd7 211 9.cxd5 332 exd5 27 10.a3 4 Bxc3+ 30 11.Rxc3 6 c6 7 12.Bd3 67 Qe7 549 13.0-0 86 a5 67 14.Bb1 441 Re8 883 15.Qc2 417 g6 32 16.Qd2 409 Kg7 189 17.Rcc1 243 Qd6 324 18.Qc3 310 Ra6 528 19.Bd3 428 Ra8 565 20.b4 235 axb4 45 21.axb4 5 Ra4 178 22.b5 348 Ra3 167 23.Qc2 140 Nf6 131 24.Ra1 489 Rxa1 241 25.Rxa1 5 cxb5 304 26.Ne5 384 Bd7 409 27.Nxd7 180 Qxd7 11 28.Qb2 102 Rc8 51 29.Qxb5 373 Rc6 483 30.Rb1 546 Qc7 186 31.Qxb7 223 Rc1+ 29 32.Bf1 5 Qxb7 83 33.Rxb7 9 Ne4 6 34.Rb2 68 Rd1 8 35.g3 106 Nd2 5 36.Rxd2 19 Rxd2 1 37.h4 14 Kf6 80 38.Bg2 29 Ke6 29 39.Bf3 5 Kd6 199 40.Kg2 7 Rb2 82 41.Kf1 21 Kc6 103 42.Kg2 19 Rb8 30 43.Kh3 31 Rd8 49 44.Kg4 23 Rd6 30 45.Be2 91 Rf6 35 46.f4 67 Kd6 30 47.h5 31 gxh5+ 17 48.Kf3 12 Ke7 53 49.Kf2 6 h4 4 50.gxh4 6 Rb6 17 51.Bf3 22 Ke6 34 52.Bg4+ 31 Kd6 18 53.Kf3 98 Rb1 42 54.Kf2 24 Kc6 63 55.Bh5 23 f6 17 56.Bf3 20 Rb3 22 57.Bg2 40 Rb2+ 12 58.Kg3 12 Rb3 30 59.Kf2 6 Ra3 62 60.Bf3 10 Ra8 24 61.Kg3 56 Rd8 33 62.Be2 55 Re8 13 63.Kf2 8 Kb6 28 64.Bf3 74 Rd8 20 65.Ke2 31 Kb5 74 66.Kd3 13 Kc6 11 67.Ke2 9 Kb6 38 68.Kd2 33 Kc7 12 69.Ke2 49 Kc6 5 70.Bg2 29 Ra8 78 71.Kf2 13 Ra2+ 45 72.Kg3 8 Ra3 9 73.Kf2 6 Ra2+ 17 74.Kg3 33 Ra8 16 75.Kf2 8 Rd8 53 76.Ke2 16 Kd6 46 77.Kf2 13 Ke6 31 78.Bh3+ 18 Ke7 10 79.Bg2 44 Kd6 30 80.Kg3 32 Kc6 20 81.Bf1 124 Kb6 45 82.Kf2 16 Ka5 14 83.Ke2 54 Kb4 15 84.Kd3 38 Ra8 17 85.Be2 26 Ra3+ 65 86.Kd2 5 Ra2+ 53 87.Kd3 28 Kb5 32 88.Bf3 54 Kc6 4 89.h5 48 Kd6 13 90.Bg4 22 Rh2 67 91.Bf3 44 Rf2 36 92.Bd1 30 Kc6 30 93.Ba4+ 32 Kb6 28 94.Bb3 19 Rh2 36 95.Bd1 39 Rf2 31 96.Bb3 12 Rh2 7 97.Bd1 5 Kc6 44 98.Ba4+ 22 Kc7 21 99.Bd1 7 Kb6 14 100.Bf3 37 Kc6 24 101.e4 53 Rh3 54 102.exd5+ 18 Kd6 17 103.Ke3 56 f5 14 104.Kf2 34 Rh2+ 8 105.Ke3 9 Ra2 49 106.Be2 87 Kxd5 27 107.Bf3+ 10 Kc4 25 108.d5 48 Ra3+ 8 109.Kf2 22 Rxf3+ 8 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Thejkumar,M2438Karthikeyan,M26020–12020D3840th IND-chT Open 20203.3

Karthikeyan gave his all to score a very important victory | Photo: Gopakumar Sudhakaran

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Shahid Ahmed is the senior coordinator and editor of ChessBase India. He enjoys covering chess tournaments and also likes to play in chess events from time to time.

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