A short win for Short

In the GM B group at Corus Nigel Short had one of the quickest wins of his career. 1.e4 c5 1-0
His opponent, Bulgarian Ivan Cheparinov arrived at the board after the start of the game , and after Short had moved, and played 1. ... c5. Short, who had left the board between moving and Cheparinov's arrival, returned to the board and offered his hand to Cheparinov for the traditional pre-game handshake. Cheparinov declined the offer. Short then presented his hand a second time, Cheparinov declined a second time, and Short appealed to the arbiter under a new FIDE Rule

Any player who does not shake hands with the opponent (or greets the opponent in a normal social manner in accordance with the conventional rules of their society) before the game starts in a FIDE tournament or during a FIDE match (and does not do it after being asked to do so by the arbiter) or deliberately insults his/her opponent or the officials of the event, will immediately and finally lose the relevant game.

After a discussion between the players and the arbiter, the game was awarded to Short. Full (and better coverage) can be found at Chessvibes.

Now for my 2 cents.
For starters it is a silly rule. To try and regulate the players behaviour like this is only asking for the kind of trouble we see here. Also I'm not sure it does, or should, cover a tournament like Corus. FIDE may have a case for enforcing this rule in events they directly control (like Candidates Tournaments or World Championship Matches), but not for events organised by others. If the organisers have a problem with the behavior of players in their event, they have the right to either exclude them from the tournament or (more likely) not invite them back next year.
On to the players themselves. If Cheparinov had a problem with Short (via Topalov and Danilov it seems) then he could have just refused to play him, and chalk up the loss to principle. In fact I was reminded just the other day by a player at Street Chess (no names) of how he dealt with an opponent who cheated him (and it was cheating even if uncaught) one too many times. He just simply refused to play him when paired and drank coffee for 15 minutes. He felt the point loss was worth avoiding an unpleasant situation. (As a post script the opponent tried similar tricks on a couple of other players and was warned off as a consequence).
And as I drift further away from the issue at hand, I also remember a letter I received when editor of Australian Chess Forum. The author wanted to know what they should do if they saw their opponent not wash their hands after using the "facilities" prior to the game. Would refusal to shakes hands be acceptable?