VAR in chess. At the U6-U18 Western Asia Youth Chess Championship 2023 in Kyrgyzstan, new technologies were used to help arbiters
Thanks to technologies and the idChess platform, for the first time in chess, an assistant system for arbiters has appeared that allows you to track controversial moments in the game and make the right decisions.
What is VAR
VAR (Video assistant referee) is a set of technological solutions to help referees at sports competitions. In many sports, various technologies are already used to help referees make decisions. For example, there is a line-calling system (Hawk-Eye) in tennis that shows the projection of the ball on the line at controversial moments. A similar system is used in volleyball.
In recent years, the VAR system has become widely accepted in football: VAR in football is a video surveillance system from different points of the football pitch. During the match, the video assistant referee team constantly checks for errors related to certain actions. Video assistants pay attention to goals and situations leading to goals, penalties, and situations leading to penalties, mistaken identity, and red cards. The VAR team contacts the referee only in case of clear and obvious errors or serious missed incidents. At the same time, the match referee has the right to watch the video recording of the moment and make a decision.
In the English Premier League, the technology appeared in the 2019/2020 season and the percentage of correct decisions in key game episodes increased to 94%. A year earlier, the figure was 82%, that is, almost every 5th decision of the referee in important moments was wrong.
In all sports listed above, the final decision remains with the human referee. In other words, VAR systems provide additional information but do not make decisions for referees.
How VAR works in chess based on the idChess technology
idChess is an intelligent platform for recognizing chess games that allows you to make broadcasts of chess competitions available to a wide audience. Games are recognized in real time via the mobile application using the artificial intelligence technology. During the game, the technology recognizes moves and records them in chess notation for players.
Tournament organizers use the tournament version of idChess to broadcast competitions. Recently, games were broadcast using idChess at the World Cadets & Youth & Blitz Chess Championship in Batumi (Georgia) and the Children’s Chess Cup of Kazakhstan in Astana, and many other competitions
The use of VAR in chess can be divided into three stages:
- Controversial moments
- One of the players called the arbiter to note the violation
- A controversial situation has arisen, for example, the first payer claims that the second one touched a chess piece but did not move it, and the second player denies this
- The arbiter missed the moment and can only be guided by the presumption of innocence
- VAR review and recommendations
- If there is a broadcast using the idChess platform, the arbiter can pause the game broadcast in the mobile application and watch the recording of the game using VAR, which shows the behavior of the players.
- Decision making
- The arbiter watches the game and makes a decision.
The VAR technology allows you to increase the number of correct decisions made by chess arbiters and make the decision-making process simpler and more transparent for both arbiters and players.