Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Chess Champ Kicked Out For Not Silencing Mobile Phone

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 03:13:36 -0400

Chess Champ Kicked Out For Not Silencing Mobile Phone

Contributed by mmasnick on Mon, Oct 13 2003

By now, you should know not to let your mobile phone ring in important meetings,
at the movie theater or even in a restaurant. However, what about a major chess
tournament, when you're one of the players? A chess champion was kicked out of a
chess contest this weekend for letting his phone ring in the middle of the match.
Of course, he wasn't disqualified for the noise, but due to a rule banning mobile
phones because players might use them to cheat. According to the article, the
caller was phoning in to wish the guy a happy birthday - though, I doubt the
present was appreciated. Of course, it's his own damn fault for not leaving his
phone somewhere else or, at least, setting it to vibrate mode.

===================================================================

Chess star kicked out for letting his
mobile phone ring
By Malcolm Pein
(Filed: 13/10/2003)

The former world chess champion Ruslan
Ponomariov has become the first player to be
disqualified at a major event for allowing his mobile
telephone to ring during a game.

The 20-year-old Ukrainian's telephone sounded
during a match between Ukraine and Sweden at the
European Team Championships held in the Bulgarian
city of Plovdiv on Saturday.

The grandmaster's disqualification came after he had
celebrated his birthday and was presented with gifts
by tournament organisers at the start of his game.

The identity of the caller was not disclosed but there
was speculation it could have been a friend wishing
him many happy returns.

The beneficiary of Ponomariov's gaffe was Evgeny
Agrest, the Swedish grandmaster, who appeared to
be well on the way to victory before his cogitations
were disturbed by the call.

Toncho Demirev, from the host nation, immediately
disqualified Ponomariov quoting article 13.4 of the
Laws of Chess.

Mobile telephones are banned in chess tournaments
because players could receive advice during the
game or even use them to access computer
databases of chess moves online.

Ponomariov protested, refused to sign the
scoresheets on which both players are required to
record the moves and result of the game, and slunk
off. The match ended in a 2-2 draw.

This is the latest setback for the former Fide world
champion who was stripped of his title by the
game's governing body last month after he
prolonged contract negotiations for months over a
title defence against world number one Garry
Kasparov that was scheduled to take place at Yalta.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the Fide president and leader of
the Russian republic of Kalmykia, became frustrated
with the demands of the player's advisers and after
two deadlines had been ignored, he cancelled the
match.

Ponomariov, slightly built and softly spoken, dresses
in old-style Soviet suits and because of this has
been dubbed "Little Karpov" after the former Soviet
world champion.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/10/13/wchess13.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/10/13/ixworld.html

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.
http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/