From http://chessmaine.net/chessmaine/2011/04/7th-houlton-open-tournament-re.html
Comments on this ruling? My comments are at the bottom of the link. Does it make any difference that Morin was the only TD listed on MSA?
Alex Relyea
Moderator Mode: Off
Well, it is obvious from the pictures what was wrong. They were using an analog clock…
I think Morin acted correctly in restarting Haines’s clock after Haines had moved a pawn to the last rank but had failed to replace it with another piece, and that it made no difference that Morin was the TD for the event. I disagree with the suggestion that you posted on the MECA web site that Morin, as a TD playing in his own event, should have stopped the clocks and helped his opponent find a piece to put on the promotion square.
Let me ask you this, Alex: if you had been the TD for this tournament and had been watching the game, would it have been been permissible for you to reach over and stop the clocks to give Haines time to find a piece to put on the promotion square? Of course not. Rule 8F7 says “If the desired piece is not available to replace a promoted pawn, the player [my emphasis] may stop both clocks in order to locate that piece and place it on the board. A player who cannot quickly find such a piece may request the assistance of the director.” It doesn’t say that the director can provide this assistance without being asked. Since Morin couldn’t have helped Haines by stopping the clocks if he’d been a non-playing director, he shouldn’t be faulted for not helping his opponent in this way as a playing director.
I agree with Bob on this. The mistake was made by Haines, who pressed his button, starting Morin’s clock, before he had replaced his pawn with another piece. Morin, whether he was TD or not, had every right to immediately press his button, restarting Haines’s clock.
At that point, Haines had every right to immediately stop the clocks while he looked for a promotion piece, and he could have even asked Morin, as TD, to find the said piece. But it was entirely Haines’s responsibility to do this, and if he lost the game because he didn’t, he lost it because of his own error.
Bob
As a TD, I bent over backwards to avoid even the possibility of a charge of bias or advantage to myself if I had to play in a tournament in order to make it an even number so as to avoid giving byes. That meant taking Black when I could easily justify a pairing giving me White. And leaving my clock running when dealing with issues on another board. When you are a TD, the tournament direction matters, public relations, and rules interpretations come first before your own comfort and rating points. While Mr. Morin is technically within his rights as a player, as a TD he should have given the other player more slack and stopped the clocks. He should not have assumed that the other player knew the minutiae of the rules. Few know the rules in detail. Though Mr Haines does not look like a newbie, think how bad it would be for a new player to feel that he was cheated somehow by the TD of the event. Might make him quit the game entirely, a black eye for chess and the USCF.
Now I know how punctilious some TD’s are about following ther letter of the rules. Before you rear up in self-righteous horror to defend Mr. Morin, remember that TD’s are not supposed to play in the events they direct. This preserves the notion that they are impartial arbiters of the event. When you are making a ruling on your own game, how impartial does it look to other players and outsiders? BTW, it is 2011. Time to modernize. When are people going to start using digital clocks with delay and have sets with extra queens? Surely, people in Maine have heard of digital clocks. 
Well said by Tmagchesspgm – and the best reply so far in this thread. A TD playing in his own event should put directing above playing, and should bend over backwards to be fair – more than fair – to his opponents.
Bill Smythe
No disagreement.
It is here that we disagree. Yes, Morin should have bent over backwards not to show favoritism to himself, even at the expense of showing favoritism to Haines. But what you have suggested goes beyond showing favoritism. Rule 8F7 says that if a player hits his button with his pawn still on the far rank, his opponent may immediately hit his button without moving. It does not mention anything about him pausing the clock instead, even as an option. Nor does the rulebook say that if the TD witnesses this situation, he should or is even permitted to pause the clock. In short, we have a situation in which there is no judgment call for the TD to make.
Now, if Haines showed signs of being confused about what to do (if, e.g., the piece to which he wanted to promote was not at the side of the board - something which the article does not mention), then Morin should have told him that he had the right to pause the clock while a piece was being located. But there is no indication that this happened.
A better alternative, in my opinion, is for the TD to explain rules like this at the beginning of the tournament. Keep in mind that a new (or an experienced) player who loses a game because of a rule of tournament play that he didn’t know is likely to feel cheated even if he wasn’t playing the TD.
Bob
This isn’t a better alternative. There are a lot of “rules like this”. The Rules of Play section of the rule book is 102 pages long.
Yes. And some of them deal with the basic rules of chess, which anyone playing in a tournament should already know, while others deal with what to do if a player has already done something wrong.
Rules I would explain are:
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You can summon the TD if you have a question about the rules.
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Clock basics:
(a) who determines placement
(b) the proper delay setting
(c) pause the clock when summoning the TD on a fallen flag
(d) when using the opponent’s clock, find out from them how everything works -
Neither a spectator nor a player in another game can give advice on:
(a) what move to make
(b) forgetting to hit your button
(c) a fallen flag -
How a move is completed
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How a move is determined for:
(a) normal moves
(b) captures
(c) castling
(d) promotion -
How to promote if the piece you want isn’t at the side of the board
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The touch move rule
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Summon the TD if an illegal move is made.
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Checks don’t have to be announced.
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Recording of games is required except when under time pressure.
I see nothing wrong with a player restarting the clock of a player who did not complete his move. It is never the opponent’s job to guess what piece the player is promoting to, even if 99% of the time it’s a queen. I play in my own club’s events and I also play in other director’s events. In both cases I would hit back my opponent’s clock and say “complete your move” if he didn’t, at a minimum, declare what the pawn became.
While I agree that a player who is also a director should not favor himself as a player, the reverse is also true. It is not the director’s job to unsolicitedly obtain a promoted piece for a player in any game including his own.
If a player doesn’t know the rule and doesn’t inquire, it is not up to the TD to give advice unless asked. In the stated case Morin the TD owed it to Morin the player to treat him the same way he would any other player. He also should not have given favoritism towards his opponent Haines which he would not given to any other participant. TDs deserve a level playing field as players too. I find no fault in Morin’s actions.
If I am close to promoting a pawn I start looking around for the piece a few moves before I promote so I know exactly where to get it when my pawn reaches the 8th rank and I locate the piece on my opponent’s time. If Haines had done this, we wouldn’t be discussing this subject.
I wonder what would have happened if Mr. Haines, after Mr. Morin pressed his clock button, just pressed his button back? He seems like a pretty big “boy”; the tussle among the artwork would have been interesting.
When a TD plays in his own event, and a small one at that, he is already tipping the playing field. Whenever he makes a ruling one has to wonder whether the decision that was made might also be a favorable one for his own chances in a tournament. That is why TD’s should avoid playing in their own events. Never assume the players know the rules. Posting some of the most important rules or having a rules handout for the players is a good idea. Also a good idea to post a “Rules of Chess Etiquette” for the players as well.
Mr. Haines was clearly wrong and in violation of the rules to start his opponent’s clock before he completed his own move. That his opponent was the TD is irrelevant. Starting a fight would be grounds for forfeit and/or ejection at most clubs.
Most local chess clubs would not exist if the director was banned from playing. When I took over directing at the Nassau Chess Club there were only about 4 rated tournaments per year. I expanded it to about 12 because I wanted to play more. Had I been prohibited from playing, I would have let someone else direct. Based on the numbers, my directing more events was popular as the club’s attendance grew quickly. It’s not as if I was directing for the money as my only fringe benefit for directing was a free entry which amounted to about $1/hour.
One need not question the rulings of a playing TD if the ruling would have been identical had he not been playing. I bring my rule book to the club. If anyone wishes to know what the rules are, they only need to ask to look at it.
Another TD who misses the joke. Lighten up. A sense of humor should be part of the TD kit. Be careful that you are not so rulebound that it takes the fun out of it for the players.
If you want to play that badly, then just play. Teach others to TD. This helps to build the TD list in a club and strengthens the overall quality of the organization. Too many small clubs fail because one guy does everything and the players become complacent. Even if you have a small club, having three members acting as TD’s shares the load. Developing club TD’s isn’t that hard.
As a TD, I have on occasion brought an extra queen to a board when I happen to see one side is about ready to promote, their original queen is still on the board and one isn’t available on an adjacent (unused) board. I viewed it as a courtesy and helping facilitate, not interfere in, the game… but is that actually providing assistance that I shouldn’t?
Giving a player a queen could be considered making a suggestion that the player promote to a queen. It would be safer to do nothing unless asked. I have had numerous scholastic players think that they can only promote to a queen if their own got captured. During the game is not the time to give this information to a player unless it is in response to their unsolicited question.
If, in addition to bringing a far-away queen to the board, you also bring a rook, knight, and bishop, then I suppose you are avoiding the possibility of tricking the player into queening when he should underpromote instead.
On the other hand, you could be accused of assisting the player by reminding him that underpromotion is also legal.
Hence Tim Just’s standard advice: do not intervene.
Bill Smythe
It occurs to me that with delay clocks being the standard now, a player can hit the clock after pushing the pawn, and even if his opponent immediately hits the clock, now the original player has 5 seconds to leisurely pick up the piece, place on the board, and then hit his clock again.
Hopefully a player wouldn’t do that just to save 2-3 seconds.
Rob,
Take the next step and think about a game played with an increment time control. The player would gain the increment time upon pressing the clock after the incomplete promotion and would again gain the increment time after completing the promotion. (In other words, the player would gain two increment times for one move.) It is true that the opponent would also gain the increment time by pressing his clock immediately in reaction to the incomplete move. However, if the player is in time pressure and the opponent is not, then the increment time is in some sense much more valuable to the player in time pressure.
When the rules were updated to accommodate increment time controls, this rule was changed to allow the opponent to stop the clock (rather than pressing his own clock) to compel the player to correct the irregularity without the opponent’s clock running.