Friday 2 October 2020

Well, that escalated quickly

 This.

After the Armenia Eagles upset the St Louis Arch Bishop's in the final of the chess.com Pro Chess League, the chatter about how unlikely the result was quickly started. The comments section in chess.com quickly filled with people both suggesting that something fishy was going on, and others who though such complaints were sour grapes. Then GM Wesley So joined in, and the whole discussion really took off.

After 2 days of claim and counter claim, chess.com announced that the Armenia Eagles had been DQ'd and first place was to be awarded to St Louis. More significantly, chess.com were very public about their reasons, and that GM Tigran L Petrosian was to be given a lifetime ban from the site. Normally titled players who get suspended or banned aren't publicly name (their accounts just get shut down), but not this time.

The latest news is that Petrosian plans to defend his reputation in an online press conference, so it may be worth stocking up on popcorn.


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