Originally Posted by
Victor Plotkin
After some very good results (the best for me was a draw against Iran) we lost 0-4 to Holland. They are a very good team and rating gap is almost 200 points/board, but still... losing 0-4 is very unpleasant.
We are still in Hall A, but bad outcome in our next match against strong Romanian team would send us back to Hall B. Like on famous "Expulsion from the garden of Eden" picture.
As some of readers know, Eric lost on time on board 1 to Giri. Actually, it was first lost on time in my career as a chess player/captain in classical TC, however Eric had a very difficult position, and we were losing that time 0-2 with 2 bad games remaining, as Razvan was likely already losing on board 3.
A good video is available, but I can add some points from my perspective.
Eric made move 40 and both Anish and match arbiter (English lady) did not pay any attention. Giri was ready to make his next move (number 41) and show goes on. However, another match arbiter (there are arbiters for every match, he served on match Germany-Slovenia next to us) came to the table and started talking to our arbiter. Eric's clock was on 30:28, and after move 40 you must have at least 30:31 - as a result of increment and addition of 30 min after move 40. That means, Eric made his move 2-3 seconds later and lost on time.
After some verification with computer the results was approved by the deputy chief arbiter. Likely, not the best choice for this important position as deputy chief arbiter. He talked 90% of the time with Anish, which was wrong - he had to discuss this issue with Eric and explain him the situation.
Absolutely, Anish is a famous played, but arbiter still better follow the logic and talk to Eric instead. After all, Giri had no issue with the clock, Eric did. I have to mention that arbiter's level is relatively low and not appropriate for such an important event. We have better arbiters in Canada.