Concerns and controversies at the 42nd Chess Olympiad

There are several concerns and controversies related to the 42nd Chess Olympiad, which took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 1–14 September 2016.

Mindful particularly of the cheating incident of Sébastien Feller at the 39th Chess Olympiad (2010), combined with the general increase of cheating incidents, the World Chess Federation (FIDE) strove to have greatly enhanced security in Baku. Some of these were already introduced at the Chess World Cup 2015 (also in Baku), which included transmission delay of (some) games, random security checks of players, ban for bringing pens and watches into the playing hall and installment of electronic checkpoints for players at the entrance of the playing hall (see below).

In an interview during the preparations (May) for the Olympiad, Israel Gelfer (the Chairman of FIDE's Anti-cheating Committee) said that the issue of anti-cheating became important in the last couple of years, with the development of telecommunication technologies (mobile phones, watches and even glasses) that have caused a problem which cannot be ignored. Gelfer explained that they are trying to balance between their will to fight against cheaters and at the same time not to create an unhealthy atmosphere in the chess world. The usual electronic scans before and after the game were of course prescribed, while novel procedures included: having a special anti-cheating arbiter (Klaus Deventer) with approximately 15 arbiters under his authority, one of whose charges was to carry out 30-40 checks during the round; and that players MUST inform their Match Arbiter when leaving the playing area. Both of these later came into difficulties with their implementation (see below).

Due to a small number of embassies, Azerbaijan can be more difficult to obtain a visa when compared to other countries which have hosted the Olympiad. This issue was briefly raised during the 83rd FIDE Congress, and Azad Rahimov noted the country had a positive experience with the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, where all participants could receive a visa on arrival at the airport without any problem. In a similar manner, in April 2016, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed an order on simplifying the visa procedures for travellers to Azerbaijan in connection with the Chess Olympiad, allowing them to get visas in the country’s international airports.

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