Credits: X
Five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen accused Indian prodigy Nihal Sarin of making illegal moves. Carlsen alleged that the Indian chess player’s several moves were illegal in his battle against Carlsen’s Alpine SG Pipers teammate Daniel Dardha in the Global Chess League. The three-member committee, however, ruled that the result of the said game that ended in a draw will stay.
Notably, an illegal move is when a player places a piece on a square that they cannot as per rules. During the game, a frantic scramble during the game led to Sarin dropping pieces on the board. However, the chair of the GCL appeals committee confirmed that the Indian didn’t make any illegal move. However, he admitted that there were a few ‘illegal situations’ that occurred during the game.
There were no illegal moves made by Nihal: Victor Bologan, Chair of appeals committee
“There were no illegal moves made by Nihal, but illegal situations provoked by him dropping the pieces and pressing the clock. That’s also illegal. So the appeal was partially upheld. The arbiter should have given a warning during the game. If that was given, and Nihal continued making rule violations, there could have been a loss handed to the player (Nihal),” Victor Boloan told the Indian Express.
He added, “Even though everything was going very fast, the arbiter should have interacted. The result cannot be overturned now because the arbiter didn’t act in the best way. For the first irregularity, he can give a warning which doesn’t affect the result of the game. If there was already a warning that existed, and after that if there was an illegal move, we could take a decision based on the fact that this action directly influenced the result of the game. If there was a warning in the first place, we would be forced to consider changing the result.”
