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Following the withdrawal of German grandmaster Elisabeth Paehtz from the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix in New Delhi, the German Chess Federation published the official statement supporting the decision of the German representative.
The complete statement by the German Chess Federation:
ELISABETH PAHTZ WITHDRAWS FROM FIDE WOMEN’S GRAND PRIX IN NEW DELHI
Elisabeth Pähtz has decided to withdraw from the FIDE Grand Prix in New Delhi. Given the inappropriate conditions and the questionable management of the tournament by FIDE and the local organizer, we support this difficult decision.
Zhansaya Abdumalik’s withdrawal had created a situation where several players would have six games with white pieces and four games with black pieces and vice versa. The integrity of fair competition is no longer given.
Elisabeth Pähtz explains: “I cannot accept that every player does not start the tournament with the same conditions. The intended solution of new pairings with a fair distribution of colors failed due to the ultimatum of a single player. Even though I would get 6 whites and 4 blacks, it is unfair for the other players. I wanted a fair and equal tournament for everyone. The events of past two days were an emotional rollercoaster for most of us and the fight and the indirect blackmailing of one player against new pairings was the last drop for me to leave.“
There were also several organizational problems on site that are inappropriate for a tournament in the World Cup qualifying cycle.
After arrival in New Delhi, one player was not picked up and was not transferred by the organizer as agreed, and all other players were transferred alone and unaccompanied into taxis in the middle of the night. The players felt extremely insecure.
The room allocation in the hotel was chaotic. Despite the known arrival times, there were initially no rooms available for several players and they had to wait several hours at five in the morning in the hotel lobby. Others had to vacate their room the next day after moving in.
To this day, there is still no FIDE contact on site. At every FIDE event it is customary and stipulated in the regulations that there is a “technical delegate”. This person acts as “FIDE Supervisor” and is the contact person for (organizational) problems of all kinds. Unfortunately, FIDE failed to send a responsible person to New Delhi in good time and to check the venue and the hotel in advance.
As the German Chess Federation, we regret that our national player was confronted with such circumstances in a tournament of the World Cup qualification cycle, which led to her withdrawal from the tournament. We are surprised and disappointed that after the “FIDE Women’s Year 2022” such mismanagement can occur at such an important women’s tournament. We expect FIDE to work through what happened and make changes for the future.
