You would think the sheer ignominy of pathetic non-games nicknamed "GM draws" would be enough, but no. John Henderson brings to our attention this tidbit from the interesting notes of Jerry Hanken on the just-finished US Open in Los Angeles:
"We had our first test of the draw rule Monday in the 6-day schedule. In accordance with the Rulebook, we are requiring that players stay at the board and play at least 15 moves and 1/2 an hour before they can agree to a draw. This is not a new rule. The Rulebook says "It is unethical and unsportsmanlike to agree to a draw before a real fight has begun." Penalties for such behavior are at the discretion of the TD. In keeping with this rule, we wrote and posted a notice to all players that this would be the way we enforced the rule.
Two GMs chose to ignore this rule and tried to draw in 1 move! Admonished by International Arbiter Carol Jarecki, they returned to the board, played four more moves, and disappeared without turning in a scoresheet. marking the result as a draw."
For the rest of the story, go here and scroll down to August 13. What I really don't understand is why Mr. Hanken over-politely declines to name the culprit GMs. Why? Name them, shame them, nothing wrong with that at all. If they choose to do it they should live with the repercussions of their actions. Why protect them from their own destructive (to the game) behavior? Celebrate them when they fight, criticize when they don't. It's the only way.
It would have been history repeating itself if the game in question had been Shabalov-Ehlvest, which is in the books as a 20-move draw. At the World Open in July they were almost double-forfeited when they phoned in a draw. The "castling" score (0-0) was even on the initial results page but it turned out the arbiters (one of whom the same Carol Jarecki who was in Los Angeles) let them come down and "play" a short draw at the board later.
