Controversy erupted during India's clash against Uzbekistan in Round 9 of the Chess Olympiad 2024 when Russian grandmaster and Uzbek coach Vladimir Kramnik registered an official complaint about the existence of phones inside the playing hall. (More Sports News)
The Indian team, featuring some of the hottest talents in world chess, entered the contest as the only unbeaten outfit at the 45th Chess Olympiad being held in Budapest, Hungary.
With eight wins in eight rounds in the Open section, India are in prime position to win their maiden Olympiad crown. And the Uzbeks are the defending champions.
Breaking the news, Mike Klein reported: "Here's a developing story from inside the playing hall. I am not sure you caught it on camera but Kramnik, the captain of the Uzbekistan team registered an official complaint about the existence of phones inside the playing hall."
Kramnik, a 14-time World Champion, also won the Olympiad three times with the Russian team. Born in Tuapse, the 49-year-old is known for drawing his fair share of controversies -- including violating chess.com's terms of service and was in fact banned from tournaments after he was caught playing on Denis Khismatullin's account.
It's worth taking note that Kramnik had helped the current crop of Indian players including R Praggnanandhaa and D Gukesh, now two of the finest brains in the board game, back in 2019 and 2020 as a trainer. Now, he's guiding an equally impressive line-up of Uzbek players. Two years ago, Uzbekistan won the title in Chennai, India.
"To catch you up, ChessBase India do have permission to record the Indian boards in the Open section and they used four individual cellphones on tripods to film those," Klein told chess24. "I spoke to ChessBase India earlier in the tournament, and they said those phone are all on aeroplane mode. In fact, they have to be, in order to be able to last six hours without the battery dying."
After the end of Round 8, India led the Open section with 16 match points, two more than Uzbekistan, who were joint second with Hungary. China, the United States of America and Iran followed with 13 match points each. And the champions will be crowned after the end of the 11th round, scheduled for September 23.
"I took advantage of Kramnik's smoke break to ask him outside about the situation. He told me, the popular American chess journalist continued, 'that it's against FIDE regulations for phones that can transmit to be inside the playing hall.' However, Kramnik was quick to tell me he was not actually saying that they [India] were being used for any sort of inappropriate reason but simply stating that their [phones] existence was now allowed."
"Interestingly, only the phone on Gukesh's board 1 was removed from the playing hall. It was taken to the fair play room, and I have just been told it has just been returned to Gukesh's board... Kramnik said he has no problem with cameras in the playing hall because cameras cannot transmit."
India vs Uzbekistan Open Section Round 9 Board Pairings
D Gukesh vs Nodirbek Abdusattorov
R Praggnanandhaa vs Javokhir Sindarov
Arjun Erigaisi vs Shamsiddin Vokhidov
Vidit Gujrathi vs Jakhongir Vakhidov
The result of the India vs Uzbekistan clash will have huge implications in the fight for the gold medal. For India, seeded second, Gukesh has been the standout performer.
The 18-year-old World championship challenger produced a sensational endgame to beat Wei Yi of China on Thursday and helped India maintain their winning streak.
Result Updates:
Three out of four games have ended in a draw: D Gukesh vs Nodirbek Abdusattorov; Javokhir Sindarov R Praggnanandhaa; Jakongir Vakhidov Vs Vidit Gujrathi.
The final board, Arjun Erigaisi vs Shamsiddin Vokhidoz, was still on at the time of reporting.
