Chess has had a grand history of over 1, 500 years. Originating in India, its rules and format have evolved to today’s modern chess as it was played from medieval castles and enlightenment cafes to now computers and international tournaments. There are entire histories of different play styles and theories to do with this game’s seemingly infinite possibilities. Chess has stayed around for so long because there is beauty at its core. It is not merely just moving pieces accordingly like any other boardgame. Chess is an intense, mental rivalry between two players in a constant struggle to checkmate the other while considering boundless strategies and factors. 

The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix wonderfully depicts the passion and competition behind chess and the limited series demonstrates the game is available to everybody. Since rejoining this timeless classic from my childhood, I am amazed by how creatively or logistically chess can be played – from Karpov’s boa constrictor style to Fischer’s creative, forcing attacks. I was surprised and impressed to find out players could lose as much as 6, 000 calories playing tournaments and who else played. 

HG Wells, considered the founder of science fiction and a brilliant adventure novelist, commented in his essay Concerning Chess (1901), ‘the passion for chess is one of the most unaccountable in the world.’ Despite chess’s prestigious history, there is more popularity surrounding Esports, but these glorified video games do not matter quite as much. The chess games played by today’s grandmasters are ones to be remembered by history and studied by future generations. Although chess is underappreciated, when an arbiter interfered in the final round of a recent international tournament, this disrespectful act shocked the community.  

In the final round of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament, a game between GM Alireza Firouzja and GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek was disrupted by an arbiter. It is a disgrace not only for an international grandmaster game to be interrupted but also for someone whose job is to ensure the games are well organised and remain undisturbed. This is the equivalent of a referee defending a goal shot! 

What makes this story upsetting is that the players were only a couple of moves away from time control, Alireza did lose time as footage shows the arbiter forgetting to pause the clock, and the situation did cause Alireza to blunder from his winning position. This allowed his opponent to force a draw, thus preventing Alireza from bigger prize money and a potential spot for the top ten in the world. But what is most devastating is that Alireza is a young talent. He is playing an international tournament with a well-known grandmaster at only 17 years old. So, he is a strong eventual candidate for contesting future world champion, and this potentially historic moment was denied to him. 

After the incident, The FIDE Vice President, and also grandmaster, Nigel Short, referred to the FIDE Laws of Chess, particularly Article 12.2.4 ‘The arbiter shall ensure that the players are not disturbed.’ Another grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura commented, ‘it was a very important game for Alireza and the way that the arbiters interfered is a hundred percent wrong.’ To which Alireza responded, ‘(Hikaru) really understood me in this situation. And I really appreciate it.’ In the end, Alireza provided this comment for Tata Steel: ‘The fact that they understood that they made a big mistake was good. I am happy that they said it will never happen again. In general, it was a great tournament.’ Still, the hashtag justiceforalireza trended on social media. Expressing their regret, the organisers of the tournament released this statement on social media: ‘We deeply regret the situation preceding the tie-break. The players had been brief about the rules and starting time of a possible tie-break. Out of respect for Firouzja and Wojtaszek the arbiter did not approach until after the 60th move to ask them if they preferred to continue their game at a table further down the row […] This situation unintentionally disturbed Firouzja and we deeply regret this.’ They added, ‘We will take the implementation of a tie-break into careful consideration to prevent a situation like this from recurring in the future.’

Previously, chess possessed a political context, specifically the conflict between the US and the Soviet Union. During the Cold War, the American world champion at the time, Fischer threatened to pull out of a 1972 match with his Russian opponent, Spassky. However, the national security adviser persuaded him otherwise, imploring that it was important for the US to get a win over the Soviet Union. More interestingly, there was the dramatic Karpov-Korchnoi matches. Karpov being a symbol of Soviet national pride, and Korchnoi being a defector from it. So why has chess turned from geopolitical events that grabbed the world’s attention to its games being disgraced by its own tournament arbiters? 

First, international relations are not as tumultuous as they were in the Cold War era. Second, while chess is still growing, video games are growing faster. On the contrary, the chess world has adapted to modern technology with the use of calculation engines and online streaming. Now, the very platforms which allowed Esports to develop are now allowing people to see the intrinsic beauty of the game and why it has kept players transfixed for over a millennium, and why it will continue to do so. 

To a certain extent, chess will always seem a little underground due to elitism. I doubt it will be embraced by the mainstream unless it takes the form of something like The Queen’s Gambit. Nevertheless, I highly recommend watching a YouTube video or two on the games played by grandmasters. They really show how complex and beautiful the game can be. Chess is an eternal game that has stood the test of time for a reason, which is why it is so wrong to interrupt an international grandmaster’s game.

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