Narayanan's first loss of the Bundesliga 2022-23 season

India no.7 and World no.69 - GM S L Narayanan | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

GM S L Narayanan tweeted the following about 12 hours ago

He also wrote the same on his facebook profile:

 

Today I felt humiliated. And if I prefer to remain silent about it, I'll not be doing justice to myself and other sportspersons who go through similar experiences.

 

I played in the Bundesliga today. Before the first round, I was one of the 5 players picked by the arbiter for a random check. During the check with a metal detector, there was a beep sound. So, I was told to remove my shoes and they checked again. Beep. Now, I was told to remove my socks. The arbiter then ran the metal detector on my naked foot and we heard the beep again.

 

At this point, I was told to move aside and the next player was asked to step forward. It is hard to explain how bad it felt as if I was guilty of something I had no clue about whatsoever.

 

All this happened in the middle of the playing hall. I held a sock and stood with a bare left foot. Imagine how I might have felt

 

Meanwhile, the metal detector beeped again when the other player's foot was scanned and that prompted the arbiter to check the floor. It was the carpeted floor that was triggering the beep and not any human.

 

The arbiter apologised to me. But I must say how embarrassing it was. And mind you, this happened just minutes before my round.

 

The fact that the arbiter apologised is appreciated. But this whole situation could have been handled better. Yes, we need such vigilant arbiters to prevent cheating in chess but at the same time they should act in some professional way

 

Arbiters should check the floors first before asking weird question like if they had any surgery or not. before instructing them to remove the shoes and socks.

 

Perhaps, FIDE and tournament organisers will bring about a change and save players from going through such humiliation.

 

S L Narayanan then went on to lose his game against the Czech Republic no.1 GM David Navara. This was his first loss of the season for the team SV Deggendorf.

How the chess universe reacted

FIDE CEO GM Emil Sutovsky responded

Magnus Carlsen's Head Coach, GM Peter Heine Nielsen shared one of his own experience

French GM Romain Edouard

IA Chris Bird