Fresh complaints at FIDE Rapid and Blitz: Woman player fined 100 euros for sports shoes; Nihal Sarin made to wait 3 hours, gives urine samples thrice | Chess News

FIDE’s ongoing World Rapid and Blitz Championships has run into fresh controversies after more players complained on social media about various issues. This comes just days after some of the top grandmasters like Ian Nepomniachtchi, Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier Lagrave and Pentala Harikrishna complained about former World Champion Magnus Carsen being provided additional facilities like a private lounge between games at the event in Samarkand.
Indian teenage prodigy Nihal Sarin complained that he was made to wait for three hours and had to give three urine samples to FIDE’s dope testers after his event ended on Thursday. Meanwhile, Anna-Maja Kazarian, a Dutch chess player and popular streamer, said she was fined 100 euros FIDE, the world governing body for the sport, for wearing what the organization’s arbiters deemed “sports shoes”.
Sarin complained about the futility of dope testing at the event.
In a series of tweets, he said: “Has FIDE ever caught anyone doping in the hory of anti doping tests using urine samples? I gave a urine test after the final game – I’ve been through this in previous FIDE tournaments and I always thought it was inconvenient. Today as usual I drank a lot of water and gave the test. It was deemed too diluted. So I had to wait and eat food, etc and give it again. It was deemed too diluted again. So had to go through the same process again. Third time lucky. (It took me) three hours I think and it’s already past midnight as I reached back my room. All I’m asking is – is this needed?”
Later, he said: “I thought doping test is compulsory on every medal winner of the tournament to protect the sport. Has it been done on every medal winner of every FIDE tournament in the last 20 years? What if they were doping and the medal had to be stripped? (I am trying to make a point)
“Is there a drug out there that can make me play better than the top seed consently providing me an unfair advantage? If yes then I think a drug test makes sense but I don’t think such a thing exs,” he added.

The rapid portion of the World Rapid and Blitz event ended on Thursday with Magnus Carlsen winning his fifth title while Anastasia Bodnaruk secured the women’s crown. Two Indian stars Vidit Gujrathi and Koneru Humpy were in the fray to claim the title, but lost out in heartbreaking fashion.
Bodnaruk defeated India’s Humpy 2.5:1.5 margin in a tiebreaker match to secure first place. Vidit, meanwhile, had his chance to be joint top but blundered in the final game there ending fourth.
There was further controversy after a woman player complained she was fined for wearing sneakers.
“One of the arbiters stopped me and asked me if I could change my shoes because they were “strange shoes” and considered “sports shoes”. It hurts to even walk in those and I definitely don’t want to use my Burberry sneakers for sports,” Kazarian tweeted.
Later she posted an update that she had been fined FIDE. “You are issued a warning for not complying with the official dress code. You will be charged a 100 euros fine. Committing further infringement will result in not being included in the pairings for the next round,” a note from FIDE read.
The incident angered many chess players. Chess legend Susan Polgar called out FIDE for their double standards since many male players were spotted and photographed wearing sneakers in the chess hall during the event.
“This (Burberry) shoes from a female player, were NOT allowed, and she said she was fined 100 euros. But there were photos of male players wearing sneakers, and they were not penalized. Why the double standards?” Polgar tweeted.
In another tweet, Polgar said: “This is stunning! FIDE, how about doing something regarding men who sexually harassed/assaulted women in chess instead of picking on a female player’s perfectly fine shoes?”
American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura posted: “Some animals are clearly more equal than others.”