VietNamNet Bridge – The unexpected incident happened in the seventh round between Le Quang Liem and the world’s No. 13 player—Ivanchuk, when both players accidentally violated the rules of the tournament.

The world’s No. 13 player - Vassily Ivanchuk.

The game which was forecasted to be the tensest of the Festival Tradewise Gibraltar in the seventh round between Le Quang Liem and the No. 1 seed Vassily Ivanchuk, became the biggest scandal of the tournament on January 28.

Many Vietnamese fans watched live when the match on chess websites did not understand what was happening when the screen showed the 15th move, in which Ivanchuk made a weak move, then stopped and did not show anymore.

The live TV images from the competition showed that Liem did not appear on the chessboard. Ivanchuk was there alone for a while and then disappeared.

Then, the official website of the tournament noticed that Ivanchuk and Le Quang Liem had violated the rules of the tournament when announcing a draw after the 14th move. Under the tournament’s rules, the players do not allow to declare draw before the 30th move.

After discovering that the game referees and organizers discussed and decided to require both players to play the game again, they could not be found.

The organizers tried to find the both players to make the situation clear. The organizers said the problems began to arise when Ivanchuk, who played the white chessmen, proposed and Le Quang Liem accepted the draw in the 14th move. Both signed the record without the recognition of any referee. So no one warned them that they were not allowed to end the game in a tie before the 30th move. Then both returned to their hotel rooms.

After seeing Liem and Ivanchuk, the organizers conducted a long discussion with both. Liem and Ivanchuk explained that even though the law is stated in the charter, but they have never been announced before the tournament. The organizers recognized this shortcoming.

Le Quang Liem.

Finally, the organizers accepted a draw game between Liem and Ivanchuk and also announced that it would start reminding the laws from tomorrow.

After round 7, Liem has temporarily slipped to No. 2 with 6 points, after Russian player Nikita Vitiugov (6.5 points). Vitiugov had a win before Kiril Georgiev in an important game to rise.

Yesterday there were many draw games in the leading group resulting in changes when Gata Kamsky (USA, 2740) and Nigel Short (England, 2690), rose to No. 3 and 4.

In Round 8, Liem will face Nigel Short while Nikita Vitiugov will meet Kamsky.

Compiled by S. Tung