Chess grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk refused to submit to a WADA-sanctioned steroid testing at the Chess Olympiad in Dresden earlier this year. (Yes, the World Chess Federation (FIDE) tests its players for anabolic steroids.). Ivanchuk went into a “rage” when asked to submit a urine sample (”The Great Chess Doping Scandal,” December 11).

Who knows what was going through Ivanchuk’s head when, on Nov. 25 in Dresden, the last day of the Chess Olympiad, he lost to Gata Kamsky? What we do know, however, is that when the game against the American ended, a judge asked Ivanchuk to submit to a drug test. Instead, he stormed out of the room in the conference center, kicked a concrete pillar in the lobby, pounded a countertop in the cafeteria with his fists and then vanished into the coatroom. Throughout this performance, he was followed by a handful of officials.

The World Chess Federation (FIDE) has aspirations of becoming an Olympic discipline. As such, it must adopt the anti-doping code created by the Worldn Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). WADA tests “athletes” in all “sports” for the same prohibited substances. The International Olympic Committe (IOC) requires adoption of the WADA code as a prerequisite to becoming part of the Olympics.