JohnG wrote on 04/10/15 at 20:44:00:
Stigma wrote on 04/10/15 at 20:32:04:
I think it was Averbakh who once had to ask the arbiter whether long castling was allowed with the b1/b8 square covered by an opponent's piece.
The way I heard the story it was Korchnoi. I've always assumed the story was apocryphal, though I wish it were true since it makes a nice extreme example to consider when considering whether or not it is important to study specialized topics like theoretical endgames.
There are two different incidents, and I've never seen any real reason to doubt either's veracity. Someone ask Edward Winter!
The first is Averbakh - Purdy, Australian ch 1960. Purdy castled queenside despite the fact that b8 was attacked and Averbakh objected.
The second is Korchnoi - Karpov, Candidates Final 1974 (game 21). Korchnoi wasn't sure if he could castle kingside despite the fact that h1 was attacked. He asked the arbiter and the arbiter told him that he could, so he did.
Today's incident was really weird. I would have guessed that strong players know all the rules, but judging from titled players going nuts on Twitter about this, that isn't the case.
I also note that in my limited sampling of Twitter, the American viewpoint seems to generally be "It's against the rules, he was warned multiple times and told that the next violation would result in a forfeit, what else can you do but forfeit him?" while the European viewpoint is generally "You have to let them decide the game on the board." I'm American, so...