Last January 18th, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) surprised with the announcement of a new competition model that can be evaluated by fulfilling a series of criteria: hybrid chess. But, what does it consist of and what are the conditions for it to be evaluated?
The increase in the practice of our sport during the pandemic has triggered that FIDE has sought ways to try to "officialize" this digital discipline. However, the presence of electronic doping, also known as cheating, has been one of the main adversaries in online games.
Therefore, the new FIDE regulations propose to evaluate games played on an electronic device, but in a physical place with the presence of an arbiter. This place could be a hotel, a game room or a simple room. The players will have to have the camera on, fulfill with the dress code and, obviously, will be forbidden to use headphones or any other electronic device.
In addition, the referee, as in the face-to-face games, may inspect the players' clothing, lockers or bags for electronic devices or any other element that may be distorting the correct course of a game.
New configurations
In these games, some small tricks will be allowed in order to better manage time. Among these measures will be the intelligent move, the pre-move and the automatic queen promotion:
- Intelligent movement. It consists of clicking on the destination square without dragging the piece to it when there is only one piece that can go to that square.
- Premove. It consists of making a move before the opponent makes his move. In 0.1 seconds from the opponent's move our move will take place. This is especially useful in recaptures and in time constraints.
- Automatic queen promotion. When a pawn reaches the eighth line squares, it can immediately promote a queen without us choosing which piece we want. The queen is the piece most often promoted, but there are positions where only a knight coronation saves the game.
What happens if a disconnection occurs?
If a disconnection occurs during the game, the time will continue to run. When the player manages to recover the signal, he/she may use the remaining time to play the game. Therefore, in the case of time-controlled games, if the prescribed number of moves is not reached because of a disconnection, proceed in the same way as when the flag falls.
What happens if I want to leave the room?
The main key aspect of this section is that it is forbidden to leave the playing hall without the referee's permission.
How will these tournaments be evaluated?
In order to be able to evaluate these tournaments, the organizers will have to register the event one week before its start. The application will have to provide all the relevant information and then the FIDE Qualification Commission will decide whether the tournament can be evaluated or not. According to the FIDE, "this is a precautionary measure to protect the rating system from any unforeseen circumstances".
What is Grand Masters and public opinion about this initiative?
From YottaChess we have interviewed different Grandmasters to know their opinion, we will tell you on February 5th, follow us and stay tuned on social networks, you will be surprised by their opinion!
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