The players had to follow all the games all the time to find out when they could get a few minutes for not only bathroom breaks, but smoking and eating something, and seeing to it that they were at the board well in time before the next game not to take any risks. So the nonsensical longer bathroom breaks would have been difficult to fit in anywhere, even if not combined with eating, smoking etc. Naturally better to just schedule rounds for 10, 12, 14 and 16 instead of treating the players like cattle, but it’s FIDE after all.

Different versions of what happened exist but I believe more in Wang Yue’s saying that they were not informed before they had been forfeited than the version that both players were informed twice but just didn’t bother to turn up, and the official tournament bulletin’s calling the Chinese players explanation “ridiculous” sounds rude. But instead of speculating more I will leave the subject for good

gg, this is of course plain nonsense. There was a break of ten minutes after the last rapid game of the previous round finished – I guess this is an undisputed fact, maybe the only one in the entire controversy.

Whether players were (personally) warned or not, several versions circulate. Whether the interviews were translated correctly, hmmm, do you know the original (Chinese?) version???

Yes, Onischuk does sound convincing, the players had to be in the playing hall all the time, throughout the day. No time for bathroom visits unless they were very fast, or a cigarette, if you are a smoker. The report that they had been warned a couple of times but for some reason just preferred to forfeit did, not too surprisingly, show itself to have no foundation in reality, just like their interviews have been translated to say approximately the opposite of what they actually said. Very badly organised by FIDE, as usual.

I propose that the tournament organizers provide an arbiter for each player who holds the hand of his assigned chess player and follows him EVERYWHERE (holding his hand of course). That arbiter is responsible for hand-leading his player to the right table at the designated time. The role of this hand-holding arbiter can be taken by players parents (they have practice).

That is what it must be done, because chess players absolutely can not be handled like adults, but like children.

P.S.: I apologise to children older than 5 years.

Castro, have you even bothered reading Onischuk’s interview?

“No one knows the exact time of the next game. I mean everyone can miss the start of the next game. [...] It means that each participant must come into the playing hall every five minutes, in order not to miss the start of the next game. It is awfully uncomfortable.”

But here we have another situation in principle. The participants of the tie breaks are ready for 14 additional games. But no one knows the exact time of the next game. I mean everyone can miss the start of the next game. Today the Chinese players were unlucky, tomorrow – someone of us can be in the same situation. Now tell me, what is good in the fact that two brilliant chess players lost the opportunity to fight for the World Cup because of an unfortunate misunderstanding. Not only they who suffered. Their fans suffered with them. Chess in general suffered.”