Thursday, October 9, 2008

From gold to silver for Ecuador

So Ecuador, a small mountainous nation in South America have to give up their Gold medal to second worlds most populous nation and chess world power, India, in the 1st World Mind Sports Games Pairs Blitz event because GM Matamoros of Ecuador reportedly displaced a piece by accident with his shirt sleeve when he reached to press his clock! I took a moment to view the sudden death playoff game between GM Sasikiran Krishnan (2694) of India, playing the white pieces, and GM Carlos Franco Matamoros (2525) of Ecuador playing the black pieces, and by the look of it, there is no way white would be able to stop black Queen's passed pawns. We are not sure if Sasikiran eventually lost his concentration that cost him the match because of his protest and by calling the attention of the arbiters. Anyway, Sasikiran and the Indian team filed a protest and consequently India's plea was heard and in a sudden twist of faith, India bags the Gold medal. On the one hand rules is rules and that's the way it is, even in the most absurd situations like this one.

Oh how I hate blitz...

You can replay the final and highly controversial sudden mach over HERE

For more of this story you can visit the FIDE website

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