Controversy in Uzbekistan as Vantika Agrawal’s draw turns to loss because of ‘arbiter’s fault’ and bizarre FIDE rule

Vantika Agrawal protested on social media how her draw in round 3 had unfairly been changed into a defeat and because of bizarre rules, there was no way to get it changed. Vantika was taking on Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov of Uzbekistan.

“My game in 3rd round of President’s Cup in Uzbekistan ended as a draw. I submitted the scoresheet with the right result. Then when I checked the pairing (for round 4) it was published as a loss for me. I immediately mailed them and informed them but they said that it’s FIDE’s rule that they can’t do anything,” Vantika Agrawal lamented in a social media post.

“So I want to ask FIDE why they made such a rule. If it’s arbiter’s mistake why should I suffer I have spent lots of money to play this tournament,” she added.

ChessBase India reported that it is likely that Vantika could get her point back after the fourth round, which is happening on Sunday.

Vantika Agrawal was one of the top stars for the Indian women’s chess team as it won a gold medal at the recent Chess Olympiad. Vantika Agrawal was, in fact, one of India’s standout stars in 2024. She won the individual gold medal at the Olympiad in Budapest on board 4. At the recently concluded Tata Steel Chess India tournament in Kolkata she ended joint third in the 10-player field in blitz and third in the rapid section, finishing above much-vaunted compatriots like the grandmaster trio of Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli and Vaishali besides Divya Deshmukh.