Friday 23 January 2009

No Penalty for Ivanchuk

FIDE have completed their hearing into Vassily Ivanchuk's missed drug test at the Dresden Olympiad. (Some background here and here). The panel have concluded that due to the deficiencies in the drug testing procedures there was no refusal by Ivanchuk. Consequently the panel have ruled that Ivanchuk should receive no penalty. Full statement here.

The general consensus amongst chess blogs was that this was always going to be the end result. It was just a matter of FIDE finding a plausible explanation for what happened. I must say however that I am surprised that FIDE have admitted that they (or their personnel) were to blame for the failure in the testing procedures. In the normal course of events FIDE would now investigate who was responsible for the failure and take the appropriate action, but I'm sure that the FIDE Medical Commission is probably happier for the whole issue to fade away.

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