Controversial Blitz Finish
The 2017 Canadian Closed Chess Championship (Zonal 2.2) took place June 27 - July 1, 2017 in Montreal.
GM Bator Sambuev and IM Nikolay Noritsyn tied for first with 8/9. They played four rapid games (15m + 10s) with White winning each time. They then played two blitz games (5m + 3s) with the first game being drawn and the second ending with a Sambuev win. However, the final blitz game is controversial: Noritsyn attempted to promote to a Queen, but not finding one on the table, he placed an upside-down rook on the board and hit the clock. The TD stopped the clock and said that according to the rules the upside down rook is not an illegal move, but it is a rook and not a Queen. There was no time penalty, and the game continued. On the next move Sambuev promoted to a Queen with check, and won a few moves later.
AFAIK, this is the correct application of the FIDE rules, which state: "A player may stop the chessclock only in order to seek the arbiter’s assistance, for example when promotion has taken place and the piece required is not available." (FIDE Article 6.12.b).
With 5 seconds left, and no queen in sight, and the National Championship on the line, Noritsyn did not do this, and it cost him dearly.
The controversy comes from two sources:
1. It is an embarrassing oversight by the TD and Arbiters that there were no spare Queens next to the clock for such an important game. Had there been spare Queens, Noritsyn would certainly have promoted according to the rules and the game -- and the National Championship and Zonal 2.2 -- could have continued normally.
2. When Noritsyn was looking for the captured Queen to promote, Sambuev was holding three captured pieces in his left hand, including the Queen.
It is not clear (to me) that holding on to captured pieces is a violation of the rules. In fact, it is common for players to fidget with captured pieces. However, here it does seem to have had an effect on the outcome of the game: had the captured Queen been placed at the side of the board as is customary, then Noritsyn could have found the Queen and promoted normally.
Some chess players will think Sambuev's holding captured pieces is just a common response to tension, and think it's no worse than what Gelfand and Nakamura do habitually.
Other chess players, being an unnaturally suspicious lot, might assume that Sambuev did this on purpose and should be forfeited based on FIDE's Article 11.1 (about not bringing the game into disrepute) and 12.9 (about penalties TDs may impose). Before doing so, they might want to watch the video of the game in question and perhaps play along with the notes to that game below.
The game below is based on the HiDef video of the second blitz game uploaded to YouTube by Nikolay Noritsyn. The annotations are unusual: instead of commenting on the quality of the moves and alternatives, I have noted what happened to the pieces after they were captured. What I counted is that about 1/2 the time Sambuev captured a piece he put it in his left hand, and about 1/2 the time he put it beside the board.
What, if anything, is to be made of this?
Links
FIDE Rules
HiDef Video of Blitz Tie-break 2
..
[Event "Canadian Ch blitz playoff 2"]
[Site "Montreal"]
[Date "2017.07.01"]
[Round "10.6"]
[White "Sambuev, Bator"]
[Black "Noritsyn, Nikolay"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D36"]
[Annotator "John Upper"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[SourceTitle "youtube: v=qBNEcRgHkvE"]
{Time Control: 5m + 3 sec. In the following comments: . "Time:" indicates the
time remaining for White and Black. . "@" indicates the time (in mm:ss) in the
video, which can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBNEcRgHkvE .
.. Both players made all moves (including castling) with their
right hands, the only exception is that Noritsyn uses both hands when promoting. .. After each capture, Noritsyn placed the captured piece next to
the clock on his right. Sambuev sometimes placed the captured piece next to
the clock on his left, and sometimes placed it in his left hand, and once on his right (see notes).}
1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 c6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. cxd5 {@0:36 Sambuev
captures pawn a places it beside the board.} exd5 7. e3 Be7 8. Bd3 O-O 9. O-O
Re8 {Times: 4:59 - 5:06} 10. Qc2 a5 11. Ne5 Nf8 12. f4 N6d7 13. Bxe7 {@2:02:
Sambuev captures the Be7 with his right hand, and puts it in his left hand,
which is just below the table top. You can see he is fidgiting with the B, but
not as much as Gelfand fidgets with a captured N.} Qxe7 14. Rf3 f6 15. Nxd7 {
@2:25 Sambuev captures the N and puts it at the side of the board.} Bxd7 16. h3
g6 17. g4 Qd6 18. Qf2 Ne6 19. Kh1 c5 20. Rg1 cxd4 {Times: 3:43 - 2:34} 21. exd4
{@5:51 Sambuev capture the pawn and puts it beside the board.} Nf8 22. h4 Re7
23. f5 g5 24. hxg5 {@7:09 Sambuev captures the pawn with his right hand and
puts it in his left hand, which is now holding a B and a P.} fxg5 25. f6 Rf7 {
Times: 3:22 - 1:52 @7:41 While thinking about his move, Bator put the captured
B by the side of the board, but keeps the pawn in his left hand.} 26. Qe3 {
@7:46 After playing this move, Bator puts the captured pawn beside the board
and puts both hands on the sides of his head.} Ne6 27. Qe5 Qxe5 {Nikolay
caputres the White Q and puts it beside the board.} 28. dxe5 {@8:33 Bator
captures the Black Q and puts it in his left hand. Since he had put down the B
and P, his left hand holds only the Q.} Bc6 29. Kh2 Re8 30. Rf5 h6 {Times: 1:
57 - 1:17} 31. Ne2 Nc5 32. Nd4 Bd7 33. Bb5 Bxb5 34. Nxb5 {@11:16 Sambuev
captures the Bb5 and places it beside the board.} Nd3 35. Nd6 Rxe5 {Times: 1:
28 - 0:30} 36. Nxf7 {@11:42 Sambuev captures the R and places it beside the
board.} Kxf7 37. Rd1 Rxf5 38. gxf5 {@12:26 Sambuev captures the R and places
it in his left hand, which now holds a R and Q.} Nf4 39. Rc1 Kxf6 40. Rc7 d4 {
Times: 1:07 - 0:14} 41. Rxb7 {@12:48 Sambuev captures the Pb7 and puts it in
his left hand, which now holds a Q, R and P.} d3 42. Rd7 Kxf5 43. Kg3 Ke4 44.
Kf2 h5 45. a4 h4 {Times: 0:36 - 0:11} 46. b4 axb4 47. a5 h3 48. a6 h2 49. Rh7
d2 50. a7 {@14:17 Noritsyn reaches to the collection of captured pieces beside
the board, which has a Rook, two Bishops, one Knight, and three pawns, but no
Queen. [screencap] While Noritsyn grabs the Rook, Sambuev puts the three
pieces in his left hand on the table next to the other pieces.} d1=R {@14:19
Noritsyn places an upside-down Rook on the board and presses his clock. As he
does so, Sambuev is reaching for his own Queen from the collection of captured
pieces by the side of the board, and still has his left hand on the three
black pieces (Q, R and P) and which he releases by @14:22. .. [screencap] ..
The arbiter stops the clock and explains that an upside-down Rook is not an
illegal move, but it is a Rook. . [screencap]} 51. a8=Q+ {@ 15:10 Sambuev
promotes the pawn and puts the promoted pawn in his left hand.} Nd5 52. Rxh2 {
@15:27 Sambuev captures the h2-pawn and puts it beside the board.} Rd2+ 53. Kg3
Rd3+ 54. Kg4 Kd4 55. Qa7+ Kc4 {@15:55 While thinking about his move, with his
left hand Bator picks up a black pawn from the captured pieces. His left hand
now holds a white and a black pawn.} 56. Qa6+ Kd4 57. Qa1+ Nc3 58. Rh8 Kc4 59.
Qb2 Rd4+ 60. Kxg5 {@16:26 Sambuev captures the pawn and puts it by the right
side of the board.} Rd5+ 61. Kg6 Rd6+ 62. Kf7 Rd7+ 63. Ke6 Rc7 64. Rh4+ {
@16:41 Black resigns. Handshake. End of video. .. Sambuev made 12 captures:
5 went into his left hand, 6 went to the left side of the board, 1 went to the
right side of the board. Up to the critical moment (Black promotion @14:17)
Sambuev had made 10 captures: 5 went to his left hand, 5 went to the left side
of the board.} 1-0
merida
46
..
