Monday, February 23, 2009

Top seed Mamedyrov WITHDRAW from Aeroflot???

We had heard about Nokia gambit which GM Nigel Short handphone suddenly rang during in one of the tournament in UK. We also heard about new FIDE ruling of 'Zero start' which is when the game has started, if the player is not there it's consider a loss.

Top seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov withdraw from Aeroflot Open after his unexpected lost to GM Igor Kurnosov whom is 100 points lower than him in round 6.

After five rounds of the 2009 Aeroflot Open top seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, rated 2724, was leading, together with Alexander Moiseenko (2676) and Igor Kurnosov (2602). All three had 4.0/5 points. Then came round six, in which the following game occurred. After the game Mamedyarov played through the game with a computer, using Rybka as an analysis engine. Rybka is the latest chess engine use to be analyzed. He discovered a close correlation between the moves of the computer and those of his opponent.

Here is his protest against his loss to the Aeroflot organiser. It was taken from chessbase.

During the game my opponent went out of the playing hall after each move, took his coat and withdrew himself on the toilet. After suspicion of unfair play on move 14 I offered a draw, he refused. We quickly played 11 moves, on the 12th move I played a move which confused my opponent. The next moves from him were given as first choice by Rybka, which quickly allowed him to win the game.

Due to this series of suspicions, having to do with the unusual behaviour of my opponent, Igor Kurnosov, I hereby lodge a protest and refuse to continue participation in the tournament.

I hope that this kind of situation will not occur in the future.

Sincerely,
GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

In the same ChessVibes report, Dutch reporter quotes arbiter Geurt Gijssen as saying, "After the game I asked him [Kurnosov] to show the contents of his pockets, but all that we found was a pack of sigarets (sic), a lighter and a pen." It's still pending on the arbiters decision.

No comments: