[caption id="attachment_106963" align="alignleft" width="300"] Diego Maradona playing chess at a promotional event in 2011[/caption] As the news of Diego Maradona’s passing reverberated around the world, football fans all over were plunged into mourning. The controversial genius from Argentina is remembered for many things, but the most iconic moment in his colourful career came in the quarter finals of the 1986 World Cup when he scored a goal with his hand. The referee failed to notice the infringement and the goal was given. Argentina went on to win the Cup. “It was a hand of God,” Maradona was to say later.  Curiously, Garry Kasparov used the same quote after a controversial incident during a game against Judit Polgar in 1994. It happened in the famous Linares tournament which was known as the “Wimbledon of Chess”. 

 Black to move

1. Polgar – Kasparov (1994)

  Here, Kasparov played 36...Nc5. Upon seeing that this will allow 37.Bc6, winning an exchange for white, he grabbed the knight and played 36...Nf8 instead in one swift motion. Judit, aged 18 at the time, was stunned and looked inquiringly at the arbiter, but did not complain at that point in the game. Kasparov won the game eventually. As it happened, the key moment was caught on tape by a Spanish TV crew. It showed Kasparov’s hand being free of the knight for six frames (at 24 frames per second, this meant quarter of a second). This incident led to widespread accusations of cheating but Kasparov always maintained the view that he was not aware of his hand leaving the piece, and that his conscience is clear.      It is obvious that such incidents create a toxic atmosphere among the players. The touch-move incident resulted in Kasparov refusing to speak to Judit Polgar for three years. Despite all the tributes flooding in for Maradona, English goalkeeper Peter Shilton is still salty about “that” goal. “That wasn't right. It seems he had greatness in him but sadly no sportsmanship”, Shilton insists. At the other end of the spectrum, noble acts of sportsmanship help foster the community and traditions of any sport. Chess is no exception. Fortunately for us, the World Champion often leads the way.    The semi-finals of the recent Chessable Masters online event featured a curious incident where Magnus Carlsen lost a game in just four moves, that too in the most unfathomable manner.   Ding Liren – Magnus Carlsen (Semi-finals, Chessable Masters)   1.c4 e6 2.g3 Qg5 3.Bg2 Qxd2+ 4.Qxd2  black resigned. This came at the semi-final stage of an event with a total prize money of $ 150,000. So clearly Carlsen had some ulterior motive when he resigned after those inexplicable moves. This was obviously a gift, but why? In the previous game between the two, the following position was reached.

Black to move

Carlsen – Liren

  While for us mere mortals this appears a position with plenty of life left, it’s an “obvious draw” for the likes of Carlsen and Liren. Black will eventually sacrifice his rook for the passed white a-pawn, while eventually forcing white to return the favour by creating a passed pawn on the other wing. Unfortunately for Ding, the “great firewall of China” intervened and he suffered an unfortunate disconnection at this vital moment. His remaining time ran out before reconnecting and this meant that Carlsen was awarded the win according to the rules.  Magnus’ response to this was to ensure that the score was evened out by “throwing” the next game. That’s the mystery of the four-move loss by the World Champion solved then.  It is worth noting that this was the third time such a disconnection disaster struck Ding Liren during this series. On the previous two occasions he was clearly winning, and his opponents preferred to accept the gift gleefully, which shows that moments of mercy are rare in elite-level competitions. Ultimately, Carlsen went on to win both the semi-final as well as the final. If the World Chess Champion can maintain his fierce competitiveness and be fair, perhaps the time has come to rethink this win-at-all-costs argument which is so readily accepted at the elite level of most sports.