the schedule and result table is wrong.it's aronian-shirov and wang-kramnik in round 2.

According to 12.2 of the the Laws of Chess:
"Players are not allowed to leave the ‘playing venue’ without permission from the arbiter. The playing venue is defined as the playing area, rest rooms, refreshment area, area set aside for smoking and other places as designated by the arbiter.

The player having the move is not allowed to leave the playing area without permission of the arbiter."

The distinction of "playing venue" and "playing area" implies that, when on move, a player cannot go to the toilet without permission.

I´m afraid Kramnik is not in very good shape.
Dortmund was a disaster and now I´m not so sure of his strenght.
Aronian seemed upset in the pictures above and the arbiter´s attitude seemed square minded and "burocratic".
I don´t like this tournaments system.
I prefer a 6 player double round robin!

in the standings with football system it should be 4/6 ...etc

On the photo in the middle:

The arbiter: "Please get back!...you have to pee on that spot"
Aronian: "Are you mad? I can not pee in front of this public"

PK: no the article you quotemakes it clear toilets are part of the "playing venue". And permission is only required when a player wishes to leave the playing venue and not for leaving the playing area. Whether a players is having the move does not seem to be relevant. So it seems the arbiter was wrong to forbid Aronian to go the toilet after he had completed his 40th move.

When you have to go, you have to go

She is pointing at the glass, so maybe she just wants a sample for testing?

As a player, I always knew I can't leave the board when it's my turn to move. In fact, as PK correctly underlined, rules contemplate "playing venue" and "playing area". the playing area is a part of the playing venue, the one where games takes place. and while as a general rule the players have free access inside the playing venue, in their own move, their 'freedom' is restricted to the PLAYING AREA. After all, the rule says playing area, so theoretically the player is allowed to stand up and even stroll around in his own move, but inside the playing area. In practice, players don't stand up only to look other games in their own move unless it's a team event, and even then it's more common to do it on opponent's move. As a result, the arbiter is right as he forbid access to the bathroom, but he can't actually oblige Aronian to stay sit. To me, it seems the arbiter was totally correct: Aronian 'announces' his intention to leave the playing area in his own move, but the arbiter says he can't.

Having to ask permission to go to the toilet? What is this, third grade?

The toilets should be part of the playing area where players are free to move about. If that is not the case it's badly organized.

Not sure what the official rules actually say about leaving the board when it's your move. Is this unspecified?

It seems pretty much normal to me

Weird things happen in China! You have to ask permission to go to the toilet!! How on earth is the arbiter supposed to know if you REALLY NEED to go?

@redmar: please read also the last line of 12.2 that I posted, it should be clear enough

> Not sure what the official rules actually say about leaving the board when it’s your
> move. Is this unspecified?

Hello? Why are you not sure? pk above cites the relevant article. Aronian needed the arbiter's permission according to the laws of chess, but maybe needed to leave with or without permission more.

> The toilets should be part of the playing area...

I sincerely hope not.

@vaughn Thx, corrected.

@Luis the /2 stands for 'out of two games', not 'out of six possible points'

@pk Thx, added to the article. We also contacted international arbiter Geurt Gijssen, who also mentioned this article 12.2 and added:

"This article needs to be followed unless the tournament rules specify otherwise. And, if the players pass the press room when going to the toilet, the organizers need to take measures to prevent this. For example put a person in the corridor who sees that there is no contact between the players and the people in the press room, and who can close the door of the press room when a player heads for the toilet."

It seems to me that the Laws make it pretty clear
"Playing venue" is clearly defined as the following components 1) playing area, 2) rest rooms, 3) refreshment area, 4) area set aside for smoking and 5) other places as designated by the arbiter.

The player having the move is not allowed to leave the 1) PLAYING AREA without permission of the arbiter. so technically Aronian broke the rules BUT arbiters need to start thinking instead of being robots. Understanding the purpose or intent of rules is key to being a referee. In this case it is to prevent cheating so deal with that aspect of the rule not a robot rule enforcer.

If someone told me to wait as an adult to go to the bathroom I would probably do the same thing that Aronian did and leave.
There are only 4 people playing then it seems perfectly reasonable to accommodate the player. Forcing him to make a move under duress is absurd and misses the point of the rule (to avoid cheating) and could have potential for abuse by both unethical TDs and players.

When will arbiters THINK and FIDE stop trying to dictate a solution to every possible outcome.

Its funny to me that a player can be forfeited for a phone making a sound (or in fact makes no sound) but if a watch beeps or a pager goes off thats perfectly acceptable.... but thats another issue.

I think the problem here is the venue's, because players must pass the press room - where game analysis and commentary is ongoing - on the way to the rest rooms. Of course, when we look at the players in this event, it is doubtful anyone providing commentary could actually help them.

Still, this had to be a foreseeable problem and the organizers had months to make arrangements, so blaming the player doesn't wash.

Why Wang Hao speaks Chinese during press conference?

"Made in China" very funny Peter :)

"Why Wang Hao speaks Chinese during press conference?"

Uhm.....perhaps because he is Chinese AND the tournament is in China (hence most journalists are Chinese) ???

In fact he used Chinglish.

These reports and videos are of the highest quality (as usual). In particular, the editing that places a smaller video at the corner of the screen of positions being discussed by the players is a lovely professional touch (especially useful for amateurs like me who even after going through the games on this site would otherwise not be able to fully visualize the positions being alluded to in the interviews). Peter asks highly relevant questions of the players, and does so with exceptional clarity and articulation. To many, a career that includes trips around the world to exotic places like Shanghai may seem like a dream position, but one can see the enormous amount of work involved. I really hope that Chessvibes will also be at the 2010 Chess Olympiad in Khanty Mansiysk and every major upcoming tournament.

Score system is 3-1-0 as far as I know:

http://www.bilbaofinalmasters.com/2010/en/torneo/fase-de-shanghai/reglam...

well it makes no sense not to be allowed to go to the toilet on your move, because if your opponent realises you want to go they can just blitz moves to keep you there and wait for you to lose control of the position or more!

This is a point where the rules should wait after reality. One typically cannot go to the toilet between moves about 35-40. Then comes move 41, entire hour to pee et c. but alas, you are white and it is your move. You are happy to waste five minutes, you stand up, but some annoying person appears and stands on your way. The most appropriate thing to do is to simply walk over him or her; Aronian was nice enough to even discuss the matter.

"For a moment the Spaniard thought his opponent had lost on time, because the clock suddenly showed 1:00 (a full hour) for Aronian, but this was because of the internal move counter which puts the machine on 1 hour plus 10 seconds increment as soon as it has been pressed 40 times."

What does this mean? That after the 40th move the remaining time from the first period isn't added to the extra time so the player has exactly 1 hour for the rest of the game or that Aronian played his 40th move with just a few seconds left on his clock?

@Bartleby: Right, I missed that or somehow completely misread the whole thing. So there really is no issue. Aronian couldn't hold it in a little longer? (And of course I also do not expect the toilets to be next to the boards or something. ;))