TV "Blunders" 9.22.2010 #2: Gashimov vs Azerbaijan Chess???

Very few of the world's "elite" are not present at this year's Olympiad (we already mentioned the absence of reigning world champ Anand). One of them is Azerbaijan's #1 player: Vugar Gashimov. Why?

Rumor (although more like "truth gossip" if you ask me -- just Googling the issue will bring up several blogs and articles with the quotes and stories to back it up) has it that Grandmaster Gashimov refused to play black against Nakamura in the last round of the World Team Championships not too long ago.

Hard to blame him though -- From Grandmaster Gashimov's perspective: He was not playing well; had been given a large number of black's already (and playing black against the world's best over and over again is probably no picnic); and Naka was on a rampage... BUT, in refusing to play his team lost out on a chance for a medal (though Naka was playing like a beast anyway, so it likely wouldn't have mattered).

However, what does matter is that his own "country men" lead by Zugar Azmaiparashvili decided that his "behaviour was unbecoming of a representative of Azerbaijan"... though from what I can tell, no other "direct" reasons were given in explanation for his absence.

Basically, the team captains decided that despite his presence clearly giving the team a MUCH better chance of success -- they didn't want someone who wasn't going to be a team player when it counted.

Right decision? Wrong decision? Much more to this story then is being told???

We gave our opinions on today's show, and now is the time for your feedback!