Losing their heads

Chess players tend to fidget while they think. They crack their knuckles, stir their coffee, and bounce their legs. I have watched Boris Gelfand and Daniil Dubov twiddling a captured pawn in their fingers, with notable dexterity, despite being deep in thought. It’s a common tic, so when Sam Sevian reached out to pick up a piece while contemplating the position shown in the first diagram, I presume the motion was entirely unconscious.

But it was odd for several reasons. First, it wasn’t Sam’s move, and the unwritten etiquette is to refrain from fiddling while the opponent is thinking. Stranger still, his outstretched hand didn’t settle on a stray pawn. In fact, he picked up the enemy king, which must have come as a shock to his opponent, since it was still very much alive and soon to capture a pawn on b2.

Fun fact – the pointy bit at the top of the king is called a finial, like the decoration at the end of a curtain pole. Sevian revolved the king in his hands, and the appendage broke right off. His opponent, Hans Niemann (yes, him), made a natural gesture of bemusement at this behaviour. Instead of replacing the king’s body on its square, Sevian casually plopped it back on the other side of the board, his glare offering no hint of apology.

All this was captured on video (www.spectator.co.uk/kingshead) in one of the most bizarre incidents I have ever seen at the chessboard. After the game, Niemann was keen to downplay what took place, insisting that there had just been a misunderstanding. Apparently, Sevian had muttered something about gluing it back on. Maybe so, but many observers, myself included, found it hard to look past the obvious Freudian symbolism.