The Rejected Handshake Furor

A “Handshake Incident” created quite a buzz in the chess world and on social media. Uzbek GM Nodirbek Yakubboev had refused to shake the extended hand of his opponent, Indian GM Vaishali Rameshbabu. The Uzbek national team member explained that he does not touch women due to religious behaviours and morals which he practices.

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Vaishali’s hand was left hanging in the air for a second, but she apparently quickly understood the situation, retracted her hand, and did not offer a handshake at the end of the game. Not surprisingly, the incident sparked quite a stir in the chess world. A day later, Yakubboev had profusely apologized to Vaishali, both publicly and personally, meeting her with her mother and brother Praggnanandhaa, and gifting her with flowers and chocolates.

At this reconciliatory meeting, Yakubboev also expressed respect for Indian chess players as a whole, and for the chess brother and sister GM duo in particular. At the end of the meeting, Yakubboev shook Praggnanandhaa’s hand and conducted the Namaste gesture towards Vaishali. Vaishali and family had accepted the apology wholeheartedly, and it seems the matter is resolved.

This unfortunate incident brings to light the potential pitfalls entailing events involving multiple cultures which sometimes practice conflicting gestures and values.

The Handshake History

Humans have been shaking each other’s hands for thousands of years. It was a way to communicate peacefulness – extending an empty hand was a pretty direct way of saying, “Look, I’m not holding a weapon, I come in peace.”

Nowadays, we shake hands with new acquaintances, at business meetings, or to express an agreement to a suggestion/proposition. The dynamics range from person to person, culture to culture. Nowadays, a handshake is a mid-level formality gesture. Not as intimate as a hug or a kiss, nor is it as formal as a military salute.

Prior and following a chess game it might be too much to expect opponents to kiss each other, while saluting might seem too formal, distant and out of place – the handshake had become the norm.

But should it be?

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The above-mentioned handshake incident might have put the whole handshake practice under renewed scrutiny.

Fide Laws of Chess do not mandate a handshake but say this:

“The players shall take no action that will bring the game of chess into disrepute (Article 11.1)

A pre-game and post-game handshake is a chess social norm. The handshake proponents must not forget that in many cultures, physical contact, and especially cross-gender physical contact, is culturally and socially restricted. In many Far East cultures, a bow or a Namaste is used in place of a handshake. In other cultures, in many opposite-sex greetings you have kisses in the air which also avoid physical contact. In my opinion, the main issue in the handshake incident was not so much Yakubboev’s refusal to extend his hand for a handshake, but his lack of effort to come up with any alternative gesture that would conform to his no physical contact values.

In other words, it was not an occurrence of players merely not shaking hands, it was a case of an offered handshake which was refused and not reciprocated, without offering any counter gesture like a bow or a Namaste or anything of that sort.

You can look, but you can’t touch

Chess is a global game. Fide has almost 200 member federations. We all play together the same game, same rules, with the same pieces, but we all come from different backgrounds. We, as a multicultural society, need to understand that a handshake, being the most common greeting as it is – is not the only option. We must respect cultures/individuals who, for viable reasons prefer a non-physical greeting. We must expect and respect.

On the other hand (pun intended), those non-contact greeters must understand that they cannot just reject the physical contact greeting overture, but must counter it with a non-physical gesture of respect. Cultural respect must be exercised both ways.

Non-contact players would serve themselves right if they would communicate with their respective organizers and arbiters, explaining the situation. That would allow the arbiters to communicate with their opponents prior to the game and most certainly avoid any confusion and embarrassment. In an interview with Sagar Shah, Yakubboev accepted responsibility for failing to inform arbiters or opponent in advance about the issue.

I can understand that this is not a perfect solution because women may correctly claim “why is he shaking hands with other men and not with women? Am I less of a person”?

What happens, for example, if a player refuses to shake hands with Caucasians and Asians and is only willing to shake hands with New Zealanders and Australians?

Gender Tension

Physical contact between the two genders is a sensitive issue in many cultures. It goes both ways. Some men are unwilling/forbidden from touching women, and so are some women towards men.

As organizers/principals/arbiters, our personal opinions about the matter are irrelevant. The only fact we should account – is this specific behaviour, conducted in a bona fide practice of genuine values, or is it masking an intent to disrespect and/or humiliate the other party. That would determine the outcome.

Here in the Yakubboev-Vaishali Incident, it seemed clearly the handshake rejection had nothing to do with offending. True, it was poorly handled (pun intended) by Yakubboev, but there was no apparent ill intent from him towards Vaishali. From my experience, Yakubboev is a polite and fine young man with impeccable manners. Vaishali on her part, responded gallantly, accepting Yakubboev’s apology, and... she won the game.

At the Prague Chess Challenger event, which took place a month after the Tata Steel event, Yakubboev was paired against Indian WGM Divya Deshmukh. He greeted her pleasantly with a Namaste before and after the game. It seems that the whole matter is settled, and the Namaste gesture might prove to be a widely accepted alternative gesture to the handshake.

Conclusion

Our world is diverse. We need to find a way to maintain respect and honor between all chess players all over the spectrum regardless of gender, race, religion etc. We must further educate ourselves, and bring out to light, the various intricacies of our global multi-culturalism. What is perfectly normal and mundane for some, might be a crying murder for other chess family members. It should be noted, and taken under advisement, that a decision to refrain from any physical contact could also be attributed to health considerations and might have nothing to do with cross gender limitations.

For the organizers and arbiters, I would suggest that every action of a participant must be adjudicated by its specific facts and merits and the response be in accordance with maintaining respect, dignity, and honour for all.

Source: February issue of the ECU Magazine

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