Upholding fairplay: Chief arbiter who protects integrity of chess

PUNE: Ivan Syrovy of Slova- kia is not just a global-level chess arbiter. His innate sense of right and wrong and calculations are quite strong too. The 43-year-old had penalised Russians Ian Nepom- niachtchi and Daniil Dubov for playing pre-arranged draw with dubious moves known as ‘Dance of Knights’ in the World Rapid and Blitz championship at Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in Dec 2023.

“I had to take action against them, regardless of their names,” Syrovy told TOI on Thursday about the Nepo-Dubov incident.

“It was a clear case of not just pre-ar- ranged draw but bringing the game into disrepute. You have to decide when to make the de- cision and how to make it.” Syrovy, who started as an arbiter in his teens and is working at the top level for 20- odd years now, is in Pune as chief arbiter at the ongoing Women’s Grand Prix. It’s quite rare for a highflying arbiter to rise out of slumber and take proactive action against well-known players. Too many short and agreed draws go unpunished so frequently that they no more raise question marks about the integrity of the 64- square cerebral game.

“The agreed draws are not forbidden and the provision for it can make circumstan- tial sense,” said Syrovy. “You are allowed to be below your best playing strength.”

What he implied was that Nepo and Dubov went below the level of accepted behaviour.

“There are grey areas with regards to an agreed draw... where players can be given the benefit of doubt. But the Nepo-Dubov case was so blatant that there was no question of giving benefit.”

Nepo was twice world championship finalist at that time and Dubov a former sec- ond of Magnus Carlsen . Syrovy knew that the play- ers would appeal against his verdict of half a point puni- shment to each player and rearranging pairings of the Swiss League tournament according to their reduced points tally.

“Hence I did not take the decision in haste. I waited for one more round and the day’s play to end and allowed the appeals commit- tee enough time to deliberate without delaying the last round pairing of the day and wasting other players’ time,” said Syrovy. “I felt happy and vindicat- ed when the appeals commit- tee upheld my decision after deliberating for many hours.” Did he fear for the backlash? “If you start worrying what will happen, then you will end up making a bad decision.”