Scandal in Online Olympiad!
ChessCom fails Fair-Play test!?
News just in. The Armenian team refused to play the second part of today’s match against India in protest. Apparently one of the Armenian players was forfeited when ChessCom’s internet connection had a glitch for his board. Note: the Armenian player’s ZOOM connection was always active as this transpired.
Once ChessCom corrected the technical issue and the internet connection was no longer a problem, the Armenian team wanted the game to continue. FIDE refused. The Armenian was declared lost!
More details as news come in!
Appeals Committee Farce?
Apparently the original forfeit result was appealed by the Armenians, but an Appeals Committee of three individuals upheld the decision.
It was only then that the Armenians decided to withdraw from the tournament.
One last salient observation: the President of FIDE no doubt had himself appointed by Sutovsky to be one of the 3 members of the Appeals Committee!
Dvorkovich no doubt also had Sutovsky appoint the other 2 members, Michael Khodarkovsky (FIDE VP) and Sava Stoisavljevic (Assistant to FIDE COO Willy Iclicki!).
This is how things get done when a Russian Oligarch is at the head of an international organization? An appeals committee that has not a single chess player on it and only represents the interests of FIDE?
One priceless caveat: the Appeals Committee decided that Armenia did not have to pay the cost ($200) of the appeal!! So generous…it must be nice to be a billionaire oligarch!
I would be surprised if Armenia ever again agrees to participate in any FIDE online event…
Armenian Chess Federation Communiqué
Is Sutovsky really Donald Trump’s idiotic twin brother?
