This can be done with MonRoi PCMs too, in conjunction with its PTM unit.
CCA provides the top boards at its larger open events with MonRois. (Using them is not required, though most players do use them. Even if neither player in a game uses it, though, the game is still tracked on a MonRoi by a TD, usually Jon Haskel, or an assistant he’s solicited.) Players who use them can get a complete printout of their game immediately after its conclusion. The MonRoi also provides places for both players to sign on-screen for the result, as well as an arbiter (when applicable). Plus, the game can be shown live, not only on a MonRoi display in the hall, but also on MonRoi.com.
In fact, I believe there was a proposal for FIDE to require games to be broadcast with a 15-minute delay, precisely to limit cheating possibilities. (Working off memory here…I thought I remembered reading that on ChessBase.com.) Poker tournaments shown live on TV have a 5-minute delay, I believe, for the same reason.
Both MonRoi and eNotate do this easily. A player can flip between algebraic notation and an 2-D diagram of the board with a tap of the stylus. In fact, I watched a dispute get resolved in the Open section at the 2011 Manhattan Open with the help of a MonRoi unit. This dispute resolved the reconstruction of a position. Said reconstruction would have been rendered much more difficult without it.
There’s no “mining” involved. As stated earlier, the algebraic move list is readily available to the arbiter on both devices. It’s also worth noting that the move list can’t be edited from the algebraic move list.
As for battery failures, those sometimes occur with digital clocks. In either case, players are responsible for ensuring their device is sufficiently charged to run properly. My Dell PDA has never run out of battery power during a tournament game, though I do travel to tournaments with a dock that keeps a spare battery charged. This is probably overkill, though. When CCA provides MonRois for Open section players, they are charged in between rounds. I’ve never seen a problem where one has run out of power, even in a six-hour game.
I don’t disagree with this. I would merely note that such literacy can be attained without the use of a scoresheet.
…except in the cases where players don’t have complete or legible notation.
It’s worth noting that keeping up notation in time pressure is pretty much always easier on an electronic scoresheet, even in a delay time control. And you have the added advantage of having clear notation after the game, which you certainly don’t always get when there is a time scramble at the end of a control with a paper scoresheet.
I’m a traditionalist myself. I like longer, one-round-a-day tournaments. I still own a couple of good analog clocks. And when I started playing tournaments (about a month after Bill Buckner let Mookie Wilson’s grounder through), I used descriptive notation faithfully. But all of those things I listed now are basically anachronisms, gone owing either to technological advancement or circumstantial necessity.
The horse is already out of the barn with respect to electronic scoresheets. The only real reason they haven’t become significantly more popular than they already are, IMHO, is because cost is a barrier for the MonRoi, and the effort to find a device is a barrier for eNotate. When someone develops a lower-cost, single-solution hardware alternative to MonRoi PCM, even more players will adopt it. Better to get ready now, I think.
I made the mistake of relying on memory for the certification details, and combined your recommendations with USCF’s certification. (This doesn’t seem unreasonable, BTW.)