Armageddon at the US Women's Championship 09.06.2008– At the 2008 Women's Chess Championship IMs Anna Zatonskih and Irina Krush tied for first, then played rapid and blitz tiebreakers, and finally a very dramatic Armageddon game, which Anna won in the last possible second. Irina has protested in an open letter that her opponent was making moves before she had completed her own. You can watch the scene in a forensic video – in slow motion.
Background
The 2008 FKB US
Women's Chess Championship took place in Tulsa, OK, from May 13 to 21. The
final standings, at the end of nine rounds, were as follows:
#
Player
Title
Rating
Pts.
Perf.
1.
Krush, Irina
IM
2479
7½
2498
2.
Zatonskih, Anna
IM
2458
7½
2500
3.
Rohonyan, Katerina
WGM
2309
6
2369
4.
Abrahamyan, Tatev
WFM
2239
6
2376
5.
Tuvshintugs, Batchimeg
WIM
2278
5½
2327
6.
Battsetseg, Tsagaan
WIM
2254
4½
2250
7.
Zenyuk, Iryna
WFM
2233
3½
2172
8.
Epstein, Esther
WIM
2184
2
2037
9.
Airapetian, Chouchanik
WFM
2092
2
2048
10.
Jamison, Courtney
1979
½
1836
A playoff was required between Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih. After two game
at 15 (+3) and two games at 5 (+2) were all split, a remarkable Armageddon
game was started to determine the result of this grueling finale. The rules
of this game called for one player to name the times (with black having draw
odds) and the other to chose which color she wanted. No time increment. Irina
ended up with white and 6 minutes, while Zatonskih had 4½ minutes and
the draw odds with the black pieces. A tense game ensued and both players entered
severe time trouble. Krush lost on time with 0:01 left on Anna’s clock!
It doesn’t get any closer than that. Here are YouTube videos that captured
the decisive phases of the final:
In the above YouTube video we get an overview of the 2008 US Women's Chess
Championship, with a very nice jazz background, and interspaced with the drama
of the Armageddon playoff.
Above is the highest quality video of the Armageddon we were able to find.
In the second half Anna Zatonskih talks to friends and then to the public about
the game.
Open Letter from Irina Krush
May 30, 2008
I would like to explain what really happened in Tulsa, which has so far been
obscured by the final tournament report that you published.
Anna and I were tied at 7.5/9 points at the end of the tournament. We started
our G/15 +3 second increment playoffs approximately fifteen minutes after my
six hour, 106 move game against Rohonyan ended. We split these rapid games with
one win each, then went into the blitz stage of G/5 + 3 second increment, which
we also split with one win each.
We then proceeded to the final Armageddon game, that was to be played without
increment. As the defending champion, I was told by the organizers that I had
to choose how the time would be divided, and Anna would choose the color she
wanted to play. I decided that White would be given 6 minutes, Black 4:30. Anna
chose to be Black with draw odds.
The relevant part of the game is not that I had the initiative throughout,
and maintained a winning position until the end. The relevant part is, of course,
the clock, since I was deemed to have "lost" the title of US Women's
Champion due to my time running out while Anna had 1 second left.
So, about the clock. Tom Braunlich, one of the organizers of the event, wrote
in his report "At one point Anna had 2 seconds left compared to about 20
for Irina." This is a plainly incorrect appraisal of the time situation.
Then Tom, in an attempt to explain how my 20 seconds ran out before Anna’s
2, wrote that "Anna’s draw odds were a big advantage here –
she could blitz out moves hardly thinking (just moving the piece nearest to
the clock), while Irina actually had to do something with her moves since she
had to win." Unfortunately, this statement also has no basis in reality.
Despite having a winning position, I didn't need to "do something with
my moves" – all I needed to do was move quickly and the person with
much less time would flag first. And, in fact, that's what I did. I moved instantly,
as can be seen very clearly in the video you've posted of that game. I moved
instantly, all the while having a significant time advantage until I got to
0 seconds while Anna had 1. How could this have happened?
First of all, let’s establish what the true clock situation was. Tom
was certainly off in his estimate, but the essence of what he said was absolutely
true: I had a large lead in time, let's say 8 seconds to 3 at one point, or
as Anna herself says in her interview, “I realized that I had two seconds.
I was so shocked that I am going to lose right now. She has six (seconds). I
played Rb8-e8 because it was so close to clock.” So let's take 6 seconds
to 2. Watching the video, seeing me move instantly, how could 6 seconds lose
against 2?
And that's the crux of the matter. My opponent, seeing herself on the verge
of losing on time, began playing moves before I had completed mine. She
made her moves before I hit my clock, and as soon as I pressed the clock, it
was punched back at me. That is how my lead in time was chipped away at, and
this process began during the advance of Anna’s c-pawn, quite a few moves
before the game ended.
If you really want to examine the action, in slow
motion, here
is the critical part of the Armageddon video in Windows Media format
(WMV).
Note that you can use "View – Show enhancements" in
the Windows media player to get tools that allow you to slow down the
video or replay it frame by frame, in full screen mode, if you wish.
The ultimate forensic tool. Other media players (e.g. Media Player Classic)
also have slow-down functions. You can also replay
the game, as far as we have been able to reconstruct it
(the official version is incomplete), on our JavaScript board. –
Editor
Obviously, making moves before your opponent completes theirs is illegal. Were
it legal, White, having the “disadvantage” of the first move, would
always lose on time to Black if the adversaries were to settle into the rhythm
of Black using White’s time to move their pieces.
The sad thing is, no one stepped in as this was happening. No arbiter, no organizer,
did anything to ensure that fair play was being observed in the final moments
of the game. It was a free-for-all, where the person with the worse blitz habits
“won”.
People have pointed out that I should have registered my protest during the
game, or immediately after. Unfortunately, while I was certainly in disbelief
as I watched my opponent complete 3 moves with her last remaining second and
saw myself lose on time despite starting out with a large time lead, during
the game and immediately after, I had no clear grasp of how she had accomplished
this. It happened too quickly for me to understand, but that doesn’t mean
that it didn’t happen, and that it should be ignored.
An injustice that wasn’t brought to light at the moment it occurred is
no less of an injustice. Moreover, in our particular situation, it is not an
injustice that is difficult to redress. As no one in our tournament was in any
way affected by our playoff, no games need to be replayed, no scores adjusted,
no ratings recalculated- all that needs to be changed is the way the ending
of this story is told.
It has been announced that Anna, by virtue of conserving 1 second on her clock,
is the 2008 U.S. Women’s Champion.
I fervently dispute Anna's claim to the sole possession of this title. I do
not believe that a Champion emerges through one second they have managed to
keep on their clock through illegal means.
In my view, a winner of a tournament is someone who at some point, perhaps
in some minuscule and barely perceptible way, lifts themselves above their competitors.
I would be interested to hear any view that holds that Anna, through legal techniques,
did anything to earn the title of Champion over me.
I’d also like to address my reaction at the end of this game, when I
knocked a piece off to the side of the board before walking out of the room.
This may seem like poor behavior to some, but I believe that my reaction was
nothing compared to the aggression leveled at me by my opponent during the end
of this game. Knocking off a piece and storming away had no power or intention
to take away anything my opponent had been working for during this tournament.
When my opponent moved on my time, however innocuous that may appear to be,
I believe that she was committing one of the worst transgressions possible:
depriving me, through unfair means, of the just rewards of my labor. That is
where the aggression lies in this situation, and not in my expression of frustration
and anger over being wronged.
I am pained that this incident has raised doubts about my sportsmanship. I
have never in my entire career been accused of showing poor sportsmanship. I
have never displayed any outward sign of anger or aggression at the end of a
game, within sight of my opponent or spectators, or anywhere in the vicinity
of the playing area. I have never failed to shake my opponent’s hand at
the end of a game. I lost two games to Anna in the playoff, and both times I
offered my hand in resignation, even though this isn’t even required protocol
in blitz chess. And I have never been accused of cheating or violating my opponent’s
rights in any way. I want this point to be clear: my reaction at the end of
the final game had nothing to do with “losing” and everything to
do with the way it happened and my perception of something unfair having occurred.
And although the following piece of information is not entirely necessary as
I feel perfectly capable of defending my sportsmanship all on my own, it is
rather funny. Guess what Frank Berry, the sponsor and organizer of the US Championship,
stated I should get an award for during his closing ceremony comments: that’s
right, “sportsmanship.” Thanks, Frank.
I had hoped to resolve this matter in a friendly way, without being forced
to voice my indignation in public. Four days ago, I wrote a letter to Anna explaining
my position, urging her to study the video of our final game, and if she agreed
with my conclusions about what happened, to write a few sentences for uschess.org
where she’d communicate her non-objection to sharing the title with me.
In any case, I told her, I looked forward to hearing what she had to say. Unfortunately,
I have not heard back from her, and since there is no guarantee that I ever
will, I decided to go ahead and make my views known to the chess community.
What do I hope to accomplish through this letter? First and foremost, I want
the truth to finally be relayed to the American chess public. As I’ve
mentioned, the final tournament report that was offered to you was misleading,
and I have yet to see a retraction of its false assertions. Secondly, I believe
that to continue into the future, unthinkingly parroting that Anna Zatonskih
is the 2008 U.S. Women’s Champion with no regard for how she “won”
this title, is a travesty of truth and justice. I believe I have at least as
much right to this title as she does, and I would like this right to be acknowledged.
To this end, I am asking for responses to this letter from Frank Berry and Bill
Goichberg, the President of the USCF. This event was held under their auspices,
and I would like to know what they think of the results, given the evidence
of what transpired.
I’d like to use this opportunity to say that despite the unsatisfactory
ending of the Championship for me, this letter in no way expresses my feelings
about the organization of the Championship as a whole. I had a wonderful time
in Oklahoma, and wish to thank Frank and Jim Berry for their unwavering kindness
and hospitality on all my visits to their home state, as well as to Tom Braunlich,
who, in his capacity as organizer, was solicitous and helpful throughout the
event.
To conclude, I will state that sharing the title would be an acceptable outcome
for me, but I would certainly welcome any initiative to decide the title in
over-the-board games, with real time controls that don’t degrade the participants
into clock punching monkeys.
The bottom line for IA Frank Berry and Jim Berry, who were the directors present,
is that no protest of the outcome was made at the time when something might
have been done about it. Instead the protest came many days later.
Frank stated, "I'd have to say that by not raising an objection at the
time Irina essentially agreed to the result by quickly walking out and not protesting
immediately. Once agreed to it is next to impossible to over-rule... even in
the face of video evidence that might show questionable bending of the rules.
I was there to rule in case of an objection raised by one of the players. I'd
have to say at this point the result stands as posted that night. It was wild...
but who expected otherwise?"
Also, neither TD believed it was their responsibility to step in and stop the
game during the time scramble. Here is what Frank noted about what discretion
the director has in such situations:
"A few areas of the USCF rule book ( # 5 ) are appropriate:
11D1 Illegal move in sudden death time pressure: A director should not call
attention to illegal moves in sudden death time pressure. (Both players could
be seen making questionable moves in the video)
21D Intervening in games. The director's intervention in a chess game shall
generally be limited to the following:
21D2 Correcting illegal moves observed. Correcting any illegal moves observed,
unless time pressure exists...
21F. Player requests for rulings. A player has the right to stop both clocks
to ask the director to rule upon a point of law, procedure or conduct. (This
was not done by either player).
Since this was not a FIDE qualifier event we were going by USCF rules. ...
"
Frank also has said (along with Larry Kaufman and Bill Goichberg, among others)
that this experience makes it clear that if an armageddon playoff game is used
is should include a short increment or delay, such as 1 or 2 seconds, to lessen
the awkward effects of a possible mutual time scramble. Of course, if you did
that you would have to greatly alter the relative starting times of white and
black to re-balance the draw-odds equation.
Addendum
(3) Making a Move — Is it illegal to move before the opponent punches
the clock? Apparently not.
One thing that is clear to me from this controversy is how "unclear"
the rules for making moves are. This has been a subject of much of the internet
discussion following this event — was what Anna did on several moves actually
illegal? From what I understand, the USCF rulebook doesn't address the question
directly of moving before your opponent punches the clock. I think that the
fact that this close final playoff game was videotaped has brought the issue
to the forefront. When things like this happen in blitz tournaments it all occurs
so quickly that it can hardly be appreciated.
The difficulty arises due to some ambiguity in the rules themselves, which
define a move as not being made (or "completed") until the clock is
pressed. You can’t make a move before the opponent completes his move
(by pressing the clock). But does that mean you can’t start your move
until then, or just that you can’t make (or complete) your move until
then?
Here is some evidence from two highly respected directors who say that you
can begin your move before the opponent presses the clock:
(1) FIDE Rules — This all was very recently addressed by the well-known
International Arbiter Geurt Gijssen in his article on chesscafe.com
this month: As you can see, Mr. Gijssen interprets the rules (the FIDE rules,
see USCF comments below) to mean that what Anna was doing was not illegal. You
must allow the opponent to punch the clock before you complete your move, but
you can begin your move (i.e. start moving the piece) before the opponent completes
their move by pressing the clock.
This is not what many people believed the rule to be, including me. Many think
you cannot start your move until the opponent has hit the clock. But when you
think about it, such a rule would be very hard to enforce and there are many
occasions in time trouble when this is inevitably what is done, due to the extremely
fluid and fast nature of such play. As Gijssen says, "Can you imagine how
many quarrels we would have in Blitz and Rapid games?" Is it really even
possible to determine if a player has touched a piece before the opponent punched
the clock? We are talking about small fractions of a second here during a time
scramble. It is all happening so quickly, it seems impractical to require the
player to not start his/her move until the opponent’s clock is punched.
Is a player who “jumps the gun” by a tenth of a second really making
illegal moves? You offer a queen trade, the opponent takes it; and immediately
you follow with your automatic recapture before the opponent hits the clock,
hitting your clock as quickly after them as you can. This is simply a very common
thing. Gijssen's interpretation of the rule makes the punching of the clock
the determining factor, something that is far more easily observable and verifiable.
(2) USCF Rules — Mike Atkins, one of America's most experienced tournament
directors, supported this same interpretation with regard to USCF rules in his
posting on the CLO forum after he viewed the video:
"I have directed hundreds of blitz tournaments over the past 15 years and
helped write the new USCF Blitz rules that are a modification of the old WBCA
rules. After watching the video several times, there was nothing illegal except
for the piece being knocked over and not replaced. …
I clearly saw Anna making moves while Irina was moving and you can see Irina
doing the same thing. This is not illegal. Both players were moving extremely
fast. Top blitz players have to do this to survive. If they wait politely until
the opponent has moved and punched their clock before moving, they will lose
every time. Anyone ever see Hikaru [Nakamura] or Jorge Sammour-Hasbun play blitz?
I've seen MUCH MUCH worse at major tournaments, with players moving so fast
I couldn't keep up with them - I wish EVERY blitz game had a video as it clears
up all arguments.