The boards are scrambled, even muddy. 2023 has been a tumultuous year, in which world chess has experienced a strange succession of controversies that seems to have no end. Oblivious to almost everything, although he was recently fined 10,000 euros for his episode with Hans Niemann, Magnus Carlsen has extended his legend in Samarkand. With his two new titles, rapid and blitz titles, he certifies his superiority at any speed and has 17 crowns in his career. Theirs is indeed the Silk Road.

Unfortunately, it's not the most talked about thing in the historic city of Uzbekistan. Nor of the gold won by two Russian chess players, Anastasia Bodnaruk in rapid chess and Valentina Gunina in the so-called blitz. Not even the spectacular role of several children has hogged the main spotlight.

The fact that a World Cup is played by several children between the ages of eight and 10 (the reader already knows Faustino Oro) and that all of them have defeated several masters deserves a separate analysis.

The last negative episode was led by the Russians Daniil Dubov and Ian Nepomniachtchi, who lost precisely against Carlsen the great opportunity of his life to proclaim himself world champion. When it was their turn to face each other in the eleventh blitz game, they agreed to a draw without a fight, a practice as ugly as it is widespread, which no federation has managed to eradicate.

This time, however, they were in a funny mood and instead of making a few routine moves before signing the equalizer they came up with the idea of putting into practice a strange dance with their horses. The prank lasted 13 jumps per head. The hardest thing for the grandmasters was to hold back their laughter.

The horses went around the board, playful, before returning to their original squares. After a while of playing, if someone arrived at that moment and took a picture, they would think that not a single piece had moved.

The referees didn't do anything live, but when the next round ended they communicated the decision to give a zero to each player. Both appealed, but the appeal committee certified the punishment, which for many is even insufficient.

The head referee, Ivan Syrovy, explained that it was clear that the players had agreed on the result before playing. A video even surfaced in which they were heard planning their little misdeed. Nepo and Dubov appealed, but they were unsuccessful in their claim and, of course, did not win the favor of specialized public opinion.

What to do with the boards?

Some grandmasters expressed their "disappointment" with their colleagues and Norway's Jon Ludvig Hammer opined that they should have been expelled from the tournament. The compatriot and friend of Carlsen explained that normally you can't tell if a draw has been rigged, but in this case it was clear that they played inferior moves on purpose, which proves their intentions.

Dubov also showed an alarming lack of combativeness throughout the tournament. Against his compatriot Vladislav Artemiev he managed to draw in just two moves and there was no judge involved. Despite everything, the Russian finished at the top and was the only one who challenged Carlsen for the victory until the last breath. Without the half-point he lost by babysitting with Nepo he would have been closer to winning the World Championship.

The incident has reignited the debate about the damage draws do when they are not the true result of an even fight. Some propose various formulas so that a game cannot end in a draw, but the International Federation has not found the perfect solution. Proponents of draws argue that some are true works of art, as can happen in a 3-3 draw in soccer, for example.

Those who justify even a draw without a fight argue that the system is to blame, because against certain opponents winning requires too many risks. In some tournaments, the score has been changed and three points are given for the win and one for the draw, but the model has not been imposed either.

The atmosphere in Samarkand was already hot, on the other hand, because the Netherlands' Anna-Maja Kazarian was fined 100 euros for breaching a dress code that was already criticized since FIDE made it public. The chess player, a modest FIDE master who works mostly as a streamer, was asked if she could change her shoes because they were "strange" and considered sporty.

The worst thing about this decision is that FIDE fights for chess to participate as a sport in the Olympic Games, but then punishes shoes that are too sporty. "This is ridiculous," says the player from the Netherlands, while several of her colleagues claimed that several male chess players had not been fined despite also playing in sneakers or with other wardrobe breaches.

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