“The organizers want to present the best Olympiad organized ever”
Interview with the Chairman of the FIDE Arbiters Commission, Takis Nikolopoulos
- You were present in Baku as a member of the FIDE delegation during the last FIDE inspection. You have a lot of experience as an arbiter. What can you say about the organization of the playing venue?
- I can say that the playing hall is very good and it has a lot of space and all the necessary infrastructure for hosting the Olympiad tournament. The team of people, who are in charge of the organization of the playing venue, offices, press-center, is really very good and they are all working very hard. At the last inspection they presented us the plans and we discussed them in details. We suggested some improvements and I believe everything will be ok regarding the playing area and additional offices. All the offices for the Chief Arbiter, for TAP, for FIDE, VIP areas are within the short distance from the playing area. The press area is in a huge building close to the playing hall.
- Is there going to be a special area for the spectators? Will they have a chance to follow the games?
- Yes, the plan includes an area for the spectators with about 700 seats and they will have a chance to follow at least the top boards. Additionally, spectators can watch the games on huge screens which organizers want to put inside the playing area. Those screens will show many games.
- I believe many players want to know how the toilet issue will be solved this time. There were complaints during the previous Olympiad.
- The Crystal Hall was built first of all to host the Eurovision contest and after that there were many other sports and cultural events held there. There is a big number of toilets and special toilets for disabled people, so I believe there will be no problems at all!
- You were the Chief Arbiter during two previous Olympiads. This year Faik Gasanov, a very experienced arbiter from Azerbaijan, is going to be in charge of the whole action. How difficult is it to be a chief arbiter during the biggest chess event?
- It's quite a difficult task to organize 170 arbiters, the number we had in Tromso, to give them instructions how to act. You have to be present in case of any emergency, so you have to be always on alert. If you remember we had a very sad case in Tromso…
I believe that the Chief Arbiter, the Deputy Chief Arbiters and the Match Arbiters, appointed to the Olympiad, have enough experience to handle all situations. Faik is a very good and very experienced Arbiter and I believe everything will be alright.
- I think since the last Olympiad we have been living in a new reality. It seems that 2 years ago during the Olympiad in Tromso there were not so many concerns about anti-cheating measures, even though metal detectors and frames have been used for many years. Are there going to be any changes this year?
- We had many discussions about the anti-cheating measures. Israel Gelfer, the chairman of FIDE Anti-cheating Committee, was in Baku and he is the one who is dealing with these issues. The Committee knows what have to be done and they have their proposals. The organizers are very cooperative and willing to meet any requirements. This was absolutely clear in our meetings. We need to find out what these measures will be. One of the measures we may have is the anti-cheating arbiters.
- Can you please tell us more about the new anti-cheating arbiters. What are their functions?
- The anti-cheating arbiters are existing and actually we are using them in all main events. For example, there were two anti-cheating arbiters in Qatar Masters Open 2015, while during the World Youth Championship in 2015 we had 4 anti-cheating arbiters. They are checking the contact between the players. When players go to the toilets they may follow them, if we have special cases, for example, if someone goes to the toilet too often. They check if players speak between each other, for example, in the smoking area and they inform us if there is any problem. These arbiters have the right to forfeit the players immediately, if they are sure something is going wrong. We inform the players and the captains before the tournament starts that we have such arbiters on the field.
- How does the FIDE Arbiter's Commission help the arbiters to deal with the new regulations and measures?
- The FIDE Arbiter's Commission, in cooperation with the FIDE Anti-cheating Committee, organizes online anti-cheating lectures for the arbiters. During the lectures, which last about 3-4 hours, we explain the anti-cheating regulations, we focus on the anti-cheating guidelines for the arbiters; we explain how the arbiter should react in such cases, we present cases and we answer to questions. In our second edition of the Arbiters’ Magazine we also presented some cases and gave our explanations and guidance as well. Many arbiters are really interested in our lectures and our first lecture was attended by 75 participants in total. 45 arbiters were watching it live and the rest of the people have followed the recorded version. The lecture is on our website and we are giving the key to those arbiters who are interested to watch it. We had already lectures in English and Russian languages. We are also going to have lectures in Spanish, Arabic and other languages, because we want to cover as many arbiters as possible and give them the necessary help.
In our official FIDE Arbiters’Seminars we have included a lecture about the anti-cheating regulations and guidelines for Arbiters. We try to do our best because the position of FIDE is clear – FIDE wants the arbiters to take an active role in the anti-cheating measures, to have us as the main weapon against cheating.
- What do you think is going to be special about this particular Olympiad in Baku?
- I believe that the organizers want to present the best Olympiad organized ever and I am sure that they have all means to do this.