In a recent blitz tournament (G/5 no delay, 14H in effect), a player called me over and wanted a draw ruling. I looked at a position where both sides had two pawns, but with proper play, neither side could make progress. But then I noticed that the claiming player had no time left on the clock and it came out that his opponent had already claimed the win on time before I had arrived. I told the player he had lost on time and that he had no claim of draw by insufficient losing chances. The player I ruled against lost out on $72 which instead went to his opponent.
If the claimant had 0.1 seconds left on his clock, I would have probably then pulled out the delay clock put back 1 second for the claimant, and watched for progress.
I noticed that many digital clocks were set to give off a tone when either player flagged. Isn’t this considered a nonstandard clock setting?
42B1 says they are legal. I personally don’t like it.
It seems it is an aid to part of the game that the players should be responsible for noticing. In the pre-digital days, the flag fell and you had to notice it and claim it. Now we have flashing lights and beeps. It’s not the same.
I’m with you. I think any setting with beeps or flashing to indicate end of time should be off. This is how I set my digital clock because I’m used to the pre-digital days of making your own claims.
It seemed to me when digital clocks were first discussed in the rules the beeps were to be be turned off. I could be wrong wrong on that.
I don’t mind the flashing light so much, but the sound ought to be off simply to avoid distracting others, regardless of one’s views about players making their own claims.
The 4th edition stated that it was “highly desirable” (or words to that effect) that the clock indicate a time forfeit audibly and/or visibly. It said the same about “halt at end”, a feature which causes BOTH clocks to stop when one player’s time expires (thus avoiding the possibility of a double flag fall).
But attitudes have changed, and this language was removed from the 5th edition. Those features are still legal, but they are no longer recommended.
Seems like there’s a fundamental philosophical question here.
Did the advent of digital clocks provide indicators (lights/sounds) that are anathema to the intent of flag rules? If so, lights and sounds should be banned.
Or were the flag rules written as they were because analog clocks couldn’t provide an audible signal, or any visual other than a literal flag fall? Of course there were wind up alarm clocks way back when so the audio technology was available at some point, but talk about disruption to a tournament!
Had digital clocks been envisioned at the time, would the flag rules have been written differently in the first place, in order to take advanatge of any technology possible to end the game timely and remove any ambiguities?
It sounds like the 4th edition took the latter approach. But habits and traditions die hard, perhaps that is why wording was amended in the 5th edition?
Until this discussion I hadn’t thought about it much, and was predisposed against light/audible signals as against the (pre-digital) flag rules. But now that I think it thru, maybe they actually better accomplish the underlying purpose of the rules.
I set the chronos for my son to no beep on end and no stop on end. This can work either way for him, since it is now up to the players to watch the clock.
An example: If my son’s clock has stopped, and the other player keeps playing, then is good for my son. If the other players clock has stopped, but my son keeps playing, then bad for him.
The way I understand the rules if both clocks have stopped before either player notices, then a draw, unless checkmate occurs first before noticing the clocks have stopped, then the person mating wins.
My son understands and knows the settings on his clock and that the other players clock may be set differently.
Interesting discussion. I was just in a tournament today (playing) and my opponent lost on time. The TD questioned why the chronos clock did not beep or flash, as to whether I had really won on time. For my next game, I modified the chronos clock to beep at the end of the game. Now, I think I’m going to change it back to silent.
I never have agreed with the alert at end, but it’s legal:
42B. Signaling devices. A clock that calls attention to the fall of the flag with a special noise or light is both legal and highly desirable, providing it causes no disturbance to other players. [4th edition]
Not necessarily. If there are two time controls, and the move counter is turned off, the clock will proceed to the second control when the first runs out.
The philosophical differences predated the advent of digital clocks, by decades.
In small grandmaster tournaments, there are enough arbiters to watch all the games, so FIDE allows arbiters to call a flag down without a claim from the opponent. In large open tournaments, this is impractical, so USCF wants the opponent to make the claim, even if a TD happens to be watching.
Bill is correct, at least in general. If I remember correctly, the logic behind setting the sound/claim to on for digital clocks is that it impartially calls the flag for both players and does not require a TD to observe the fall.
In my events when someone asks, I recommend that they leave the sound off, primarily to keep the room quiet. However, being on the downhill side of life and directed for a long time, I tend to want the players to call the flag which is probably why I make that suggestion. Thankfully the rule book states desirable and not mandatory.
You may want to check the proceedings of the FIDE Congress (specifically the Technical Commission meeting), I believe that as of January 2007 any clock that has an audible flag-fall setting is no longer legal under FIDE rules unless the setting is disabled.
