Indian GM SL Narayanan forced to remove shoe, socks in tournament

Indian Grandmaster and the bronze medal winner at the recently concluded World Team Chess SL Narayanan was, on Sunday, forced to remove his shoe and socks during a tournament. The 24-year-old took to social media to share his ordeal addressing FIDE.

Narayanan stated that as he went to play in the first round of Bundesliga, he was among the five players selected by the arbiter of the event for a random check. While he was being checked, the metal detector sounded the alarm following which he was asked to remove his shoe and socks. But, despite that the alarm kept beeping even on his naked foot.

"Today I felt humiliated. And if I prefer to remain silent about it, I'll not be doing justice to myself and other sportspersons," Narayanan wrote.

"Before the first round, I was one of the the 5 players picked by the arbiter for a random check. During the check with a metal detector, there was a beep sound. So, I was told to remove my shoes and they checked again. Beep. Now, I was told to remove my socks. The arbiter then ran the metal detector on my naked foot and we heard the beep again," he added.

Narayanan further wrote that he was then told to move aside so that they could check the next player. While the other player was being scanned, the metal detector beeped again and they realised that it was the carpeted floor which was triggering the metal detector.

"All this happened in the middle of a playing hall. I held a sock and stood with a bare left foot. Imagine how I might have felt," he wrote.

"The arbiter apologised to me. But this whole situation could have been handled better. The arbiters should probably start checking the floors first and maybe start asking the players if they have had any kind of surgery before instructing them to remove shoes and socks," he concluded.

Replying to SL Naryanan's tweet, FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky that since this was not an event accredited by the world body he can only readdress the question to the organisers.

"Sorry for such an unpleasant experience. However as it was not a @FIDE_chess event, I can only readdress the question to the organizers of the particular Bundesliga leg - because FIDE Protocol implies the clothes could be requested to be taken off in the dedicated separate area," Sutovsky replied.