However, ... if By Geurt Gijssen The following is a very important sentence in the Laws of Chess: However, the game is drawn if the position is such that the opponent cannot checkmate the player’s king by any possible series of legal moves. This sentence is written in Article 6.9 and Article 7.5b. Also important are the sentences written just before this one in the same Articles: Article 6.9: If a player does not complete the prescribed number of moves in the allotted time, the game is lost by that player. Article 7.5b: For the second completed illegal move by the same player the arbiter shall declare the game lost by this player. I will paraphrase Article 6.9 for illustrative … [Read more...]
Some Observations and Interesting Cases
by Geurt Gijssen I recently arbitrated at a chess tournament that included many “amateurs”. I made some observations and in some cases I had to take decisions and then explain them, although they seemed very obvious to me. Notation 1. There were some players who wrote the moves in their own scorebook, although official scoresheets were put on each board before the start of the round. In my opinion only scoresheets provided by the organiser may be used during the game. The reason is that a player who uses his own scoresheet may refuse to show this to the arbiter and even refuse to deliver it after the finish of the game. This means that some checks to some claims are impossible. To … [Read more...]
What are the Preferred Tiebreak Criteria?
by Geurt Gijssen Question Dear Geurt, In Blitz games without an increment, you often see players try to flag the opponent by aimlessly shuffling pieces around. I have often wondered why this way of winning games, without showing any plan, can be allowed. The old 10.2 (now G.5) was designed to avoid this in all types of positions, but is only available in Standard/Rapid games without increment, or if all the Blitz games are supervised by a dedicated arbiter. In the final Armageddon game Socko-Foisor of the 2008 World Women Chess Championship, N vs. N occurred on the board, and Foisor tried to appeal to the arbiters for a draw with hand gestures. The arbiters, after flag fall, declared the … [Read more...]
Still Many Things to Explain
Question Can an Italian Regional Arbiter with a FIDE Licence officiate a FIDE Rapid/Blitz tournament in another country? Regards! Arbitro Regionale Vincenzo Zaccaria (Italy) Answer I refer to Article 0.3 of the Introduction of the FIDE Rating Regulations effective from 1 July 2014 in the FIDE Handbook: All arbiters of a FIDE rated tournament shall be licensed otherwise the tournament shall not be rated. Based on this Article, yes it is possible, in my opinion, because I do not see any restriction regarding the nationality of the arbiter in a FIDE-rated event. The only requirement is that he needs to be licensed. Question Hi Geurt, Regarding the very last question in your August … [Read more...]