“A daily newspaper cannot publish for 200 years without getting some things wrong. This one has made its share of mistakes.”

The Guardian (May 7 2021)

November 29 2021 — On Sunday, I decided to watch the third game of the World Chess Championship 2021 between reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen and challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi. Although I do not trust The Guardian when it comes to intelligence matters, I thought that the online UK newspaper could at least report accurately a chess game. Follow us on Twitter: @Intel_Today

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Research from media regulator Ofcom has rated the Guardian as the most trusted newspaper in the UK among regular readers.

The Guardian was also rated the most trustworthy online UK newspaper brand – ranked as such by 73% of regular readers.

According to the report, the Guardian was the second most trustworthy online news source overall, one percentage point behind the BBC. It was regarded as accurate by 74% of regular users – the joint top score alongside the BBC.

Well, let’s go back to game 3 of the World Chess Championship 2021. As soon as I saw the White 5th move (5. Kf1), I had a mild heart attack.

After the next one (6. Ke1), I began to wonder if Nepomniachtchi may have been poisoned with Polonium or novichok?

After a few seconds, I realized that I better go to a serious source of information.

The real game actually began with a well-know classical opening [Ruy Lopez, Closed, Anti-Marshall System 8.a4 (ECO C88)] :

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4

Please, note that this is not a simple typo as you can observe these moves in the chess diagram posted by The Guardian. [No castle, and the King is really on e1!]

Ask yourself a simple question. If The Guardian journalists can not report accurately a list of chess moves, what is it they can do right?

“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.”

Albert Einstein

REFERENCES

What we got wrong: the Guardian’s worst errors of judgment over 200 years — The Guardian (May 7 2021)

The Guardian is most trusted by its readers among UK newspapers, finds Ofcom — The Guardian (August 13 2020)

World Chess Championship 2021 — Wikipedia

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Is The Guardian a reliable news source?