Technical Meeting
FIDE Deputy President and Chairman of Appeals Committee George Makropoulos, Chief Arbiter Panagiotis Nikolopoulos, one of the organizers Edlira Cimbi, the players and their teams discussed the regulations and the tournament conditions of the Women’s World Chess Championship Match.
The Chief Arbiter Panagiotis Nikolopoulos drew the attention of the participants to "zero tolerance" rule which requires chess players to be seated at their board when the games are scheduled to start. He also noted that players are free to offer a draw anytime according with the regulations and “no-draw offer” is not specified for the match.
An important point of the schedule is that after 4 games the players would change the colors. This means that the player who would have white in the first game, would change it to black in game 5 (therefore playing with white in games 1,3,6,8,10). As explained by George Makropoulos, the reason for such a rule is that after every two games the players would have a rest day. Without changing the colors one of the participants would always have a rest day before her white game, which might give a certain advantage in preparation.
Playing Conditions
The photographers and cameramen would have an opportunity to sneak in only for the first 5 minutes of the game to make their footage. Only the official photographer is allowed to be on stage during the game.
Everyone entering the playing hall, including the players, would be checked on metal detector as no electronic device can be present in the hall. Two common toilets are reserved for the players, and Deputy Chief Arbiter Carol Jarecki is the one to follow the player to the toilet room.
Therefore, the players can be secured from any outside contact during the games. These steps protect the players and spectators from any possible conflicts!
