Drunken Tkachiev falls asleep behind the board, makes the headlines
4 September 2009, 12.40 CET | Last modified: 14:45 | By Peter Doggers | Filed under: Reports | Tags: Alcohol
Besides a well-performing Nigel Short, the Kolkata Open currently has another story that is actually making the headlines all over the world at the moment: “Drunken Grandmaster caught napping”, “Chess star dozes off, concedes game.” French top GM Vladislav Tkachiev apparently “showed up drunk at the venue, slept through his moves several times over and eventually had to be carried off”, according to one of the reports.
Vladislav Tkachiev | Photo: Frank Hoppe
The organizers decided not to include the story in the round reports on the tournament website, but international media have jumped on it: during the third round of the Kolkata Open, world’s number 58 and former European Champion Vladislav Tkachiev (2669), who recently won the French Championships ahead of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, came to the venue drunk, fell asleep several times during the game and eventually lost by exceeding the time limit. His opponent Praveen Kumar (2354) was declared winner.
Eventually Tkachiev had to be carried off, according to Express India, who seem to be the first source of the story that’s currently being picked up by international media:
The match lasted over an hour, with the French player repeatedly dozing off while contemplating a move. Each time he fell asleep, players around would try to wake him up with a shake of the shoulder. Some even offered him water, and Tkachiev, having briefly refreshed himself at the change room while his opponent waited, dozed off again and eventually had to be carried off.
According to the Hindustan Times, Tkachiev was
so badly under the influence of alcohol that he could hardly sit on his chair and after 11 moves, fell asleep resting his head on the table. Attempts to wake him up proved futile and the game was awarded to the Indian on the technical ground of Tkachiev being unable to complete his moves within the stipulated time of an hour and 30 minutes.
We haven’t been able to find the exact rate of play (the always reliable Mark Crowther mentions “2 hours for the entire game”) but it seems that the arbiters waited until the French GM’s flag fell before declaring the game as lost (which is what The Hindu is writing as well).
In any case, according to the Hindustan Times, Tkachiev was warned and reprimanded by the organisers afterwards but allowed to take part in the remainder of the competition. This refutes the statement by some media that Tkachiev was disqualified – a conclusion that they might have drawn for themselves as being a logical punishment in sports!? What do you think? Is it a wise decision, or should the organizers have expelled Tkachiev from the tournament to set a precedent?
Update 12:55: in a phone call to the organizers we learnt that the rate of play at the Kolkata Open is 90 minutes for the whole game, plus 30 seconds increment from the start. Tkachiev’s flag fell indeed while he was sleeping. “He did play a few moves. We decided to give him a warning because he convinced us that it wouldn’t happen again,” Kenneth Sinha said.
Update 14:45: as Stefan Löffler points out, Tkachiev did more or less the same in the last round of the Dresden Olympiad, where he didn’t even show up for his game. The French team lost a full board point before they had even started, and with it the last chances for a medal. In a video message the French GM apologized, and said it wouldn’t happen again…
Links:
- Reuters: “Drunk grandmaster checkmated after dozing off”
- New York Times: “Drunk grandmaster checkmated after dozing off” (copying Reuters)
- Reuters: “Drunk grandmaster checkmated after dozing off”
- The Guardian: “Drunken chess player Vladislav Tkachiev caught napping at tournament”
- Express India: “Drunk chess star dozes off, concedes match at Kolkata Open”
- World News Australia: “Drunk grandmaster checkmated during doze”
- ABC news: “Drunk grandmaster checkmated during doze”
- Marca: “Un gran maestro se presenta borracho a un torneo internacional”
- Bild: “Großmeister schläft betrunken ein”
- Nu.nl: “Schaakgrootmeester met stuk in zijn kraag krijgt reprimande”
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Vlad is a Marc Helder wannabe….
Expelling from the tournament seems a better punishment i think, because probably the focus in the next round will be more on his behavior then chess and that isn’t good for the tournament.
It should be wise if the Frenchman withdraw from the tournament on his own decision. You have to have some guts to go back in the playing hall after being drunk the previous round.
This stories aren’t good for chess, if the world 58 shows up drunk for a game. It is just a sign he don’t takes his sport seriously.
“It is just a sign he don’t takes his sport seriously.”
No, it is a sign of being alcoholic…
Why expell T. from the tournament? He had a weak moment, so what?
Tkachiev is my hero. He manages to combine a 2669 rating with a total lack of interest for the practical side of the game itself. How cool is that!
@Frank: I know the (other) guy you are talking about, what do you mean? Marc Helder can handle alcohol better, or: Tkachiev is lacking the (once) fashionable haircut?
Chess and alcohol was always a good combination. At least it’s fun, so what the organizers did is ok.
I read about a guy in Germany who chucked up over the board (he was drunken), the arbiter decided after it happened the second time to abort the game (and declare the guy as loser) because of unplayable field conditions
I have known Marc for a long time, but i have never seen him drinking anything other than beer. Nevertheless, he is never drunk (or it’s just that I don’t know how he is when he’s sober). However, great guy!
@Peter Visser, I thought I explained in my post why. It is ok for people to have week moments, but should the focus the next rounds going to him for the wrong reasons?
Hilarious! I’ve heard lots of stories about players playing with hangovers (Kramnik
), but I’ve never heard about a drunk player falling asleep. Actually I’m relieved the organisers reacted so calmly, it shows there’s common sense and it keeps the sport human.
it just sounds a lot like the behaviour of an alcoholic. if that is so, its a sad story and someone should try to help him, and hopefully he can get better. If not, well then its like Arne said. :p
guitarspider,
There is a story about Pal Benkö (I don’t have the source at hand, I’m doing this from memory) who was in the same condition as Tkachiev. The arbiter, well aware that noone may interfere with an ongoing chess game, hushed everyone, kept the other players from waking him up, and… fell, stepping backwards, from the stage. Benkö didn’t notice anything and lost on time.
Tkachiev for president of FIDE!
I just called Marc (since he is a friend and teammate of me). He found it very funny and offered to give Tkachiev a few pointers ..
We did wonder who frank and thomas were
A naturalized Frenchman with a drinking problem, is the new French Champ following in the footsteps of Aljechin? Drinking before a match is symptomatic of a big problem, as previous respondents have pointed out. Tkachiev need to shake of the booze one day at a time b4 it ruins his life.
I may be wrong, but I think I “caught” Marc Helder drinking coffee in the early afternoon
.
As far as “who I am”: I won’t give details such as my last name or own club. But I have played against the lower teams of your club, and over the last years we also occasionally met (and played each other once or twice) at some small regional tournaments.
Vlad has not got to answer or be accountable to anyone. I know has has drank many times before playing. This time he just had one too many…..so WHAT. Chess and drink go beautifully together.
Yep, apart from the sad side of a good chessplayer evidently being an alcoholic, I find it a jolly story. A warning by the organisers was a fully appropriate reaction, no need to expel a player for a slip.
By the way, I have no idea about the others but my play deteriorates to unbelieveable depths after even one beer.
People like Vlad give the chess-world colour. If my oppo would doze off out of drunkness I would laugh my ass off. Let him drink, let him smoke, give the guy a break. Although in a team-match it might be a different story….but the again.. why? Maybe its says something about the french team-spirit?
GM Vladislav Tkachiev is only human, and personally, he may be going through a lot. Losing the game was punishment enough. So let’s give him a break and let the man play Chess. Anyway, this is a nice story to tell my friends tomorrow!
As Frans mentioned team spirit: Tkachiev had already missed (or was late for) the last round of the Olympiad – apparently also related to whatever he did the evening before. This may have been the only forfeit that was universally accepted, even by his teammates.
Later he presented his excuses to the French federation and all French chess players, promising that such a thing wouldn’t happen again in either individual or team competitions. But Joel Lautier, responsible for selecting the French equipe at the forthcoming European team championship, didn’t nominate Tkachiev (at a moment when he was about to become French champion) “because some minimum discipline is required to be part of the team”.
This information is from http://schach.twoday.net (in German) with links to videos (in French).
Thats exactly why chess will never be a serious professional sport. Imagine some athlet coming drunk at the start of his game in some other serious sport? Not only would he imediatelly get expelled from the competition, he would be sanctioned by his club as well as the international governing bodyfor getting the game into disrepute. And rightly so.
But not in chess. In chess you don’t have to follow comon sence, you can ignore doping control and get away with it, if the stipulated rules don’t suit you you can just threaten not to play, etc.
Chess players are way over-paid. They should only play for peanuts.
Hahahahaha this is sooo funny
Doping working the wrong way hahahahaha
Lol @ Frank with (marc) ” never being drunk”..
As for Tkachiev, I -for once- totally agree with Arne!
@me
Re: “Thats exactly why chess will never be a serious professional sport. Imagine some athlet coming drunk at the start of his game in some other serious sport? Not only would he imediatelly get expelled from the competition, he would be sanctioned by his club as well as the international governing bodyfor getting the game into disrepute. And rightly so.”
Whoa, man, do you need a drink!
@me
You’r so right! Alarm FIDE and have them make some rules against this un-Olympic behaviour. How will chess ever be taken serious as a sport? Have these GM’s no sense of responsibility? FIDE should no longer allow not only smoking but obviously also drinking before the game. And hey, no more sex before playing either, you horny grandmasters, that’s unprofessional too!
/sarcasm mode off
If we are gonne expell players who are inebriated, we might as well start expelling pleyers who stink, are badly dressed or behave peculiarly. Leave the guy alone, the only one who will suffer from this is himself.
The homepage of the organizing Alekhine Chess Club in Kolkata (link from the “round reports”-link here above) has a beautiful “celestial arpeggio”-tune in the background.
)
After listening some minutes I feel like falling asleep even without a drop of alcohol. Let´s baptize it Tkachiev’s Lullaby!
I think the organizers took the right decision. In a country with a tradition of non-violence (Mahatma Gandhi, Madre Teresa of Calcutta!) nothing else was to be expected.
Today in the fifth round Tkachiev was playing on the table next to his 3d round opponent Praveen Kumar. That must have been fun !
Does FIDE have a department that helps players with addiction problems?
It should.
I dont c the problem here. Who cares if he sleeps at the board. His oponents cant complain now can they.? He will loose ratingpoints and will not be invited to tournements again. Not because of his behaviour but of his low rating.
Serious. WHATS THE F_ckin problem here????????
“Chess star Nigel Short, the biggest attraction at the event, expressed his disgust at the incident, advising the organisers to promptly eject him from the tournament.”
Another man with issues.
Tkachiev is a shadow of Alekhine (drunk, great at chess & loss under the influence of alcohol).. Maybe, like Alekhine, he will also be the World Champion some day (if he turned to milk!)
KOLKATA: Fourth-seed Vladislav Tkachiev on Friday tendered an apology for playing in an inebriated state in the 4th Kolkata Open Grandmaster
Chess tournament at the Alekhine Chess Club.
The French GM, who turned up at the venue drunk and dozed off after playing 11 moves in Round Three of the meet, tendered apology for his behaviour, a tournament organiser said.
“We had a meeting this morning and he was warned of his behaviour. What has happened is unfortunate and to ensure that it does not happen again we have sent him a warning. He then apologised for it,” said the organiser.
The World No 58, who boasts of an Elo 2669 points, during his tie against C Praveen Kumar arrived in a drunken state around 2.30 pm and fell asleep after 11th move.
Desperate attempts to wake him up went in vain and when he got up eventually in the evening he was told that the game was awarded to Praveen on the technical ground that he was unable to complete his moves within the stipulated time of an hour and 30 minutes.
“He just fell asleep and there was no complaint against him. So we did not take any action against him and left him after issuing a warning. He was allowed to continue in the tournament,” the organiser said.
The 36-year-old, who hails from Kazakhstan but represents France, won against Vaibhav Suri in his Round Four tie.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/chess/top-stories/Drunk-GM-apologises-for-his-behaviour/articleshow/4974442.cms
Coco, your comments make me laugh, but where did you get the sentence about Short?
If by drink you mean alcohol then:
NO, I don’t need a drink. I have never and will never NEED a drink.
Tkachiev’s World Cup invitation should be imediatelly revoked. He should also be fined for getting the game into disrepute (one of the laws of chess).
No wonder people think that chess is only for crazy people when the only “chess news” that make it to the mainstream media are like this one or toiletgate.
I for one have no desire for the uptight and serious chess that “me” seems to envision. Matches like Anand-Kramnik have shown that if events are well organized, chess already gets lots of media attention for all the right reasons. Stories like this will always happen because chess is strictly a sport of individuals, and some will always cross boundaries. Giving Tkachiev a second chance is clearly the right and sensible thing to do, should he continually behave like that, well, he’s not going to get invited anymore. The “problem” will just take care of itself, why make a fuzz? Incidents like these add colour to the world of chess and they make outsiders realize that there is a professional chess scene. When toiletgate went on lots of my friends who had never touched a chess board before suddenly got interested in chess and in what was going on, go figure. A bit of scandal never hurts in the media age. “The drunk chess genius” is just one of these master narratives of chess we will never get rid of, just like “the wunderkind” or “the crazy attacking genius”.
A letter by GM Kogan – in his own words a good friend (since childhood) of Tkachiev – gives a new turn to the story. According to him, Tkachiev’s drinking problems are related to “severe depression and bad old Russian habits (Vodka!)”. So he may be seriously ill and in need of help (rather than just having a few too many drinks in the evening every now and then). Even if self-inflicted to some extent, depression and alcoholism are illnesses like flu or cancer – not free and conscious choices one makes. It may be in Tkachiev’s own best interest to undergo therapy and skip/decline the invitation to the World Cup?
Kogan’s letter was addressed to the organizers, it remains unclear [actually I doubt it] if he wanted it to be shared with third parties and published by Chessbase.
“You’r so right! Alarm FIDE and have them make some rules against this un-Olympic behaviour. How will chess ever be taken serious as a sport? Have these GM’s no sense of responsibility? FIDE should no longer allow not only smoking but obviously also drinking before the game. And hey, no more sex before playing either, you horny grandmasters, that’s unprofessional too!”
Are you really that stupid or are you just pretending to be?
They can do all of these things just not ON or NEXT to the board!!! There is a time and place for everything you know. Otherwise next time you play a game your opponent may just take a piss right next to you. But of course this is perfectly acceptable behaviour for you. Afterall you can’t prevent people from pissing, can you?
Come on … The guy drank too much , so what ? Bringing the “sport” into disrepute ? weak argument , if anything , it makes publicity to Chess showing that it isn’t only an activity for no life and narrow minded asocial nerds .
Had Tkachiev not been drunk , Chess will still be an acticity without much interest from sponsors .. it’s chess ffs , an intellectual activity practiced by a niche and only watched by amateurs of that niche , it’s not football or rugby or whatever sport or spectacle watched by millions of people who never practiced it . Only Blitz chess had a “spectacle” value , and that is by the way what Tkachiev is promoting . People outside the niche of chess can’t stand spending more than 5 minutes watching a game they barely can understand (if they actually know the rules in the first place .. )
To hear N.Short immeditately taking advantage of the situation and asking publicly for him to be expelled was a real pity , but i was not surprised anyway , fits well with the guy .. he lost the little amount of class he had to my eyes here .
Anyhow , it’s not because i’m French , but Tkachiev is really a nice guy , yes he has alcohol and depression trouble and needs help instead of hypocrites to bash him gratuitously (i wish those who bash him the best in case they have misfortunes in their life … i wish them to find a helping hand on their road , instead of selfish people with ill-intention trying to get them to sink deeper ) , but he will fix these problems hopefully , it’s a remarkable chessplayer and a blitz champion , he barely works on chess but still manage to play some great games and compete at the highest level near 2700 level , imagine if he was working hard every day like some Top GM .
I also wanted to say something , might not be known here , but thet fact that Joel Lautier didn’t take him into the French team this time (because of last Olympiad , when we were about to win a medal and Tkachiev did not turn up for the last game ..) . I understand Lautier decision (because here it’s a teamsport) who said he wanted the most disciplined professionals in the team , But , he should have given Tkachiev another chance IMHO , Tkachiev had Not drunk for a few months recently , and he won the French Championship deservedly …… Lautier should have encouraged this attitude and trusted him instead of dismissing him for his past alcoholic behaviour ..
So had Lautier included him in the team recently , it’s very likely Tkachiev would not have fallen again into alcohol again , this inclusion would have have given him a feeling of being trusted and would have strengthened his resolute for staying sober and not disappoint people around here . Since he was not selected into the team despite being French Champion , it kinda backfired in his mind along other private disappointment i suppose , so he began to drink again , ruining months of efforts to stay sober … and this is what happened .. i think it’s sad cause he deserves better than this , what he needs is a helping hand and encouragements basically … anyway …
This reminds me of a tendency in us audiences to cheer and glorify something which is destroying a creative person. I personally suffered both alcholism and depression for years until finally made it to the other side. (Well, I didn’t make a news like this of course, since I have no particular talent or gift to get a headline for.) But I sincerely hope that GM Tkachiev, clearly a talented man, will pull himself out of this in near future. He is still young. It is not too late.
LOL. So now it’s Lautier’s fault that he was drunk?
Poor little boy. Can’t handle life and needs to run away (with a bottle). What a weakling.
No , defintely not Lautier fault , this is not what i said … i precised well in my post that i understood his decision … I said that Lautier could have given him another chance because i “think” that it would have had good effects on Tkachiev and helped him to continue on a good track (sober ) .
Weakling ? ok … IMO real weakling are cowards hiding behiond internet anonimity to slag someone they do not even know …
At least I don’t run away from life.
P.S.: I don’t see you posting with a full name either.
Who told you he ran away from life ? He has won a couple of tournaments , is national champion and his life is not only about chess like other GM , he does other things . You do not know what happened in his personal life really …
Alcolhol in chess is not new … Mikhail Tal or Aljechin were also alcoholic , did you wanted them to be expelled from tournaments ?
Vladislav is a colourful character , creative , kind , passionned and with a striking natural talent , he’s a good asset to chess . I would not like the world of chess to be made only of serious looking nerds or uniform politically correct guys , that is boring .
I say ok Tkachiev made some mistakes , he’s through depression and alcoholism , it is a difficult situation to manage , but let’s help him by encouraging him to quit alcoholism and feel better rather than making him the scapegoat or whatever , this is just a period in his life , it won’t last long and he will not be the last to fall into alcoholism and depression , but ok that’s just me ..
Getting yourself intoxicated by alcohol, drugs or any other addictive substance IS running away from life. He can’t confront life as it is, so he runs away into a state where the perception of this world is better. Thats cowardness my friend.
And by the way, he should not be punished because he was drunk, he should be punished because he appeared into the playing hall drunk! If someone pissed at the table, he should not be punished because he pissed, but because he pissed where he isn’t supposed to.
Like I said earlier – there is a time and place for everything. Getting drunk is personal decision, getting into the playing hall is a big no no.
You can drink how much you want and your boss won’t have anything to say, but if you get to your work drunk…….try it.
Get what I’m saying? There is a time and place for everything!
Hey me, as said by Coco Loco, you DO need a drink (a strong alcoholic one, with a blowjob to boot)!
Thanks Ianis for your posts. Just a slight correction: France wasn’t “about to win a medal”, but had at most theoretical (or hypothetical) chances going into the last round – even beating Azerbaijan 4-0 would have put them at best [didn't calculate the tiebreaks] in 5th place.
@ me: Staying away from alcohol is easier said than done. Once you are an alcoholic, you remain an alcoholic for the rest of your life – all you can do (strange choice of words) is “quit practicing”. And in chess, alcohol is generally accepted. Maybe the whole thing started when someone (unaware of Tkachiev’s situation) insisted on offering him “just one drink”?
But I agree with you that Tkachiev should rather have stayed in bed and not enter the tournament hall. Then he would have forfeited, which would come down to a footnote – only a few sources mentioned his Olympiad forfeit. So maybe showing up and trying to play was his main mistake, out of a false sense of duty and professionalism. The result (of the game) was the same, but the story made headlines worldwide.
anonymously judging people from a distance is also cowardness.
life of grandmasters is tough, it is not like steady work, back to the family play with the kids, watch some tv in the evening and all over again.
it is no coincidence that many GMs have or had at some time drinking problems.
let the man alone, this incident is no big deal, and also it is not the first time to have happened in chess, just the first time to have such publicity.
Thanks Thomas , indeed you are correct , i did not remember exactly . You are spot on when you said someone might have innocently offered him a drink when he was in a sad mood , then the bad habit got the better of him sadly .
I also agree it is interesting that this news made the headlines , i mean it obviously occurs rarely in tournaments , but that says something about the relation between the chess world and the medias IMHO
it is quite hard to draw the medias to pay attention on the game by other means than speaking about the scandals or excesses of some top players (in mainstream media , i read stuffs about toilet gate , Fischer antics , Kasparov with a big ego and killer instinct before man vs machine match , now yesterday about Tkachiev drunk etc.. but never about the tournaments , great games , style of players etc..).
“Getting yourself intoxicated by alcohol, drugs or any other addictive substance IS running away from life.”
That’s about as stupid as saying that engaging in any pleasant diversion is running away from life. Of course it can be abused, but having a beer is not the same as waking up in a gutter. Moderation in all things…
Drinking one beer is not getting yourself intoxicated with alcohol. Unless you are an infant.
Tkachiev was beyond “drunk”. He was already passing away at the table. Couldn’t even sit, thats how drunk he was. So please don’t tell me that these kind of things happen often in tournaments.
I would actually give the full point to Tkachiev. Since he was the one and only contender who played in the true spirit of Alekhine, the denominator of the chess club.
Please “me” do me a favour and move on.
@”me”: Not sure if you drink alcohol at all, but it seems you don’t get the point:
- Many people can enjoy one or two beers, with no consequences the next day.
- Even after five beers (talking from my own experience, yes it happens to me occasionally): The next day, I might have a headache, I may not play my best chess, I may be inclined to accept a quick draw [the latter points also apply if the headache is related to having a flu], but there would be no scandal.
- But for an alcoholic, once he starts drinking he cannot stop.
It is even conceivable (not that I would accuse “Anonymous” of doing so) that the person offering a drink to Tkachiev knew about his addiction and set a trap for him. Of course it would stilll be Tkachiev’s responsibility to say no.
BTW, regarding both Short and Lautier, I wonder if they knew about Tkachiev’s situation. Until very recently, Tkachiev’s reputation was simply “a happy party animal” – to my knowledge, only Kogan’s letter and Ianis’ post mention the other side of the medal.
Regarding Short’s reaction: It also depends if other players were really affected by Tkachiev’s behavior. If he was just silently asleep, I would say no big deal – it’s anyone’s own choice if he keeps looking at Tkachiev rather than at the position on his own board. If he was snoring aloud, or if he kept bumping into other people when he was awake and walking to the toilet, it’s another story.
Your reaction to the simple truths “me” is trying to establish is at least amusing. “Me” is right when he says: “There is a time and place for everything”
Tkachiev has problems with alcohol consumption and this is well known for several years now. Maybe he is a very nice guy I don’t know, but I DO know that anyone who is concerned about his life and profession should criticize the incident. It’s a very serious matter to appear drunk for work, simply because you are paid to do your job as best as you can.
The total lack of discipline in todays chess world is striking. But it is not always a bad thing.
Most GMs have very active lives outside chess and a lot of them drink to the point of being characterized as alcoholics, Tkachiev is just one of them…
Need treatment for alcohol affect your reasoning with the passage of time may become an alcoholic, hurting his game.
@Ruddolf (in particular): Maybe I need to clarify that what I wrote was an explanation for Tkachiev’s behavior, not an excuse. He is obviously ill and in need of help. It is up to him to search for and accept such help, with a role for others close to him (friends, family, French federation?). And clearly such help should have come at an earlier stage, but instead he was mostly described (glorified?) as just a happy party animal, exaggerating once in a while.
And as Ianis has pointed out, Tkachiev seemed to be on the right track recently (not drinking for several months, winning the French championship).
Can anybody tell me the moves of this game?
Bringing it out of its boring confines
Tkachiev not one to adhere to stereotypes
Atreyo Mukhopadhyay, Hindustan Times
Kolkata, September 06, 2009
First Published: 23:28 IST(6/9/2009)
Last Updated: 23:35 IST(6/9/2009)
Most of those following the Kolkata Open chess competition will inevitably remember Vladislav Tkachiev for the ‘doze-after-overdose’ act.
Even otherwise, the Russian settled in France after a stopover in Kazakhstan doesn’t conform to the average Indian’s idea of the staid world of chess.
His love for alcohol is as well known as his profound talent, he is hardly seen without a cigarette when he is not playing, his fascination for the blitz form —what T20 is to cricket —once led him to say “blitz changes reality…the light seems brighter and beer tastes sweeter” and he had initiated a ‘chess beauty contest’ with brother Evgeny. Lack of funds shut down the venture within a year after inception, in 2006.
Tkachiev is turning up in dark glasses after the drunken third-round forfeiture on Thursday. As he spoke about the aborted beauty contest, the stubble on his face turned golden in the fading light giving him the look of a true maverick.
“The idea was to show that women who play chess are not just intelligent. They are sexy, beautiful and why not have a contest to find out the best. Another important reason was to make the game popular by bringing it out of its boring confines,” Tkachiev told HT.
According to their plans, women chess players would send ‘offbeat’ photographs of themselves to be posted on the contest’s website.
They received about 400 entries with WGMs Natalija Pogonina, Maria Manakova and Almira Skripchenko amomg them. Tkachiev said there were a few Indians too, but couldn’t recall the names.
“We had planned an awards gala with $10,000 for the winner… There were no sponsors, we couldn’t sustain it.”
The contest drew criticism but WGM Anna Zuzulia, representing Belgium in the Kolkata Open, said she was okay with the idea.
“Most people think women chess players wear glasses and are abnormal. That’s not the case.”
Tkachiev has moved on in life. He seems to know that not everyone appreciates everything he does and accepts it with a witty smile.
“What happened that day?” someone asked. “I lost,” came the amused answer after a pause.
Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com
Arbiters Reply,
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5743
He should have been thrown out of the tournament immidiately and given a 6 months suspension from all FIDE events, no matter who he is or if people like him or not.
[...] tournament reached international attention due to the Tkachiev-incident, but enough has been said about that – let’s return to chess. Nigel Short was among the [...]