Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Knights Dance
Games with rapid, blitz and bullet format are the most popular nowadays. In those games there are plenty of mistakes and blunders. But they are a lot of fun. That’s why Rapid and Blitz Championships broadcasting are the favorite for chess fans around the world. And the World Rapid and Blitz Championships held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in Dec-2023 offered a funny game that caused a wide debate on social media. I’m referring to the following game played by two Russian players, GM Daniil Dubov and GM Ian Nepomniachtchi in round 11.
Immediately named as the “dance-of-the-knights-game”, it lasted only 42 seconds and both players agreed to a draw. But the drama came after the next round that happened at the end of the same day.
The Slovakian Chief Arbiter Ivan Syrovy published the decision of punishing the players with zero points each. The reason was that they had done something “to bring the game of chess into disrepute.”
Decision of Chief Arbiter.
Nepomniachtchi didn’t disagree with the punishment and ironically commented: “I think this is quite fair, I have no problem. Obviously all the moves were played, and I understood that there’s a good chance of being fined in this or that way. The way he decided to act is one of the possible ways”
However, he criticized the decision not being taken immediately after their game. But instead leaving him and Dubov at the venue for another 90 minutes after the games ended at around 10 p.m.
What was the reason for such a funny game? As Dubov later explained, the reason was a protest for the unnecessary delay that happened after round 6. In such round the Chinese GM Yu Yangyi played against the American GM Andrew Z Hong. Hong lost on time but he claimed a clock malfunction arguing that he played his move and pressed the clock. However, after a few seconds he saw that his clock had flagged even though his opponent had not made any move.
Subsequent deliberations lasted about one hour and eventually the Appeals Committee awarded the game in Yu’s favor, concluding that Hong had likely tried to press the clock but failed.
But going back to the initial “dance-of-the-knights-game”, losing that game was at the end significant for Dubov. He finished the championship in second place half a point behind the winner Magnus Carlsen. It had also financial consequences because Dubov earned $50,000 for second place instead of $55,000 for join first.
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