The latest scandal in chess: Walking too loudly
Between allegations of sophisticated cheating, rampant paranoia, and geopolitical strife at the highest levels of chess, the past few years have been among the most tumultuous this ancient game has ever known. So it was hardly a surprise that chess erupted into controversy again at the tournament to determine who would contend for the world championship. This time, the accusation that threatened to derail a major tournament came at a critical juncture and exploded like a piano falling out of a window.
One of the players was pacing around too loudly. The charge was the one move that France’s Alireza Firouzja, an Iranian-born prodigy, never saw coming. At a pivotal moment on Sunday, the 20-year-old grandmaster stood up from the table during his game against Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi, a common way for players to stretch their legs and collect their thoughts when games drag on for hours.
To those in the playing hall in Toronto, where the Candidates Tournament will determine the next world championship contender, this was no ordinary stroll. “Players do that all the time, it’s fine," said Aris Marghetis, the tournament’s chief arbiter. “But he had a very heavy footfall.
It sounded like boots—it was stomp-ish, if you will. So I was beginning to get a little bit concerned." Right around that time, Marghetis’s suspicions were confirmed. The volume of Firouzja’s walkabout on the creaky wooden floors was creating a disturbance.
Azerbaijani grandmaster Nijat Abasov approached Marghetis to complain. Marghetis gingerly approached the refreshment area where Firouzja was pacing and waited for the grandmaster to notice him. That’s when Marghetis informed him of the complaint and whispered that perhaps Firouzja could walk in a larger
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