Am I violating 20c. Use of Notes prohibited.

Running Chess Tournaments
1

I know that we have had various discussions about this before. But before it seemed more or less hypothetical.
I have actually done something that may have crossed the line.

A little back ground first. I decided one of my main playing flaws was that I wasn’t even thinking a half a move ahead most times. I would make my move and then set there and say to myself now what is he going to do. Or worse yet oh #&$%& I’m in trouble now. So in order to correct that I decide to basically play a game with myself by predicting my opponents move before they made it. Then if I was correct I would write their move right justified in their score column. If I completely missed it it went left justified. If one of my candidate thoughts happened I centered it.

Now in reality I can still try to predict my opponent’s move and just write my sloppy score sheet like normal. In the past I have right justified pawn moves just so that they stand out. (Now that I think about it that could be wrong on the same level because it assists you in seeing if you are making too many pawn moves.)

Here is the score of the actual game where I first did this. Well it is actually the only game.

1.b4 |e5 |
2.a3 | d5|
3.Bb2 | Bd6|
4.e3 | Nf6|
5.Nf3 | e4 |
6.Nd4 |Bd7 |
7.c4 |c6 |
8.c5 | Bc7|
9.h3 |Qe7 |
10.Be2 |h5 |
11.Nc3 |g5 |
12.Qc2 | g4|
13.O-O-O| Be6|
14.f4 | exf |
15.gxf |gxh |
16.Nf5 | Bxf5 |
17.Qxf5 | Qe6 |
18.Qxe6+| fxe6 |
19.Nxd5 | exd5 |
20.Bxf6 |Rh6 |
21.Bg5 | Rg6|
22.f4 |Rg8 |
23.Bxh5+| Kf8 |
24.Rxh3 | Nd7|
25.Bg4 |Nf6 |
26.Be6 | Rg6|
27.Bf5 | Rxg5 |
28.fxg5 |Ng8 |
29.Rh8 |Be5 |
30.Rh7 |Ne7 |
31.Bd7 |e4 |
32.Rf1+ |resigns|

The columns aren’t lining up but you should get the idea. I was white so those moves are all left justified.

So the issue is that even though I have only written down legal moves the location of them has added extra information which I am asking the higher powered TDs etc if it violates 20c.
If so I will stop doing so.

This same thing could be done in other various ways, like a little heavier writing etc. Can’t do this on an electronic score keeping device :slight_smile:

2

As a practical matter, I don’t see the offense (similar to the hypotheticals posed ages ago about using different inks, etc.). You’ve only written things that are expressly permitted for scorekeeping, so I don’t see a problem.

3

What you are doing is similar to those players who write down the time after each move. This is an aid to help them with overall time management in their chess games. I have never heard of that practice being not allowed or complained about.

Larry S. Cohen

4

I could actually do that to accomplish the same thing. Whenever I predict the correct move I write the time down.

The problem is that by doing so maybe I am violating the spirit of the rule by creating something that is a form of hidden note. It would be clearly wrong if I were to say circle the moves that I predicted.

On a side note I feel it did help slow down my play, although there were a few instances where I thought I don’t care what he moves, this is a good move no matter what he responds with.

5

I’ve moved this topic from USCF Issues to Running Chess Tournaments.

6

FWIW, the noting of time used is explicitly allowed in the rules.

I see no problems with your method, both in the letter and spirit of the rules:

  • The letter of the rules is being adhered to by just writing allowable information on the scoresheet, and only writing down moves after they happen.

  • You are using this method to help you analyze your play after the game, so the “spirit” is OK by me.

If I was asked by one of your opponents to rule if you were taking “notes”, I would say no. However, other TDs could (and most assuredly, someone out there does) have a different opinion.

-Matt Phelps

7

In my opinion,

  • It’s against the spirit of the rules. It’s not just for later analysis; you are using it to improve your play in the current game by inducing yourself to think more.
  • There’s no way to stop it. If it was too blatant, you could just switch to a more subtle method of calling attention to certain moves. You could always even do a similar thing by moving captured pieces back and forth on the table.

In your position, I would try to find a method of inducing myself to consider my opponent’s moves more without having to use any external props like my scoresheet. But I wouldn’t bother complaining about it if I were your opponent. In fact if I knew your code it might actually help me.

As Matt Phelps notes, writing down the clock time is explicitly allowed.

8

Unless I knew that you knew and … :slight_smile:

But seriously you are correct. I could simply go through the process and pretend that I was going to use my system yet not actually do it. Oddly enough I generally put my games into my ipod A(Shredder) afterwards just to go through them at least once. When I do that I throw away my paper score sheet because I then have an electronic pgn file. I did that with the game that I posted so I had to create the predicted moves from memory to create what I posted. So there really is no need to actually do it once I have created the pattern of thinking before moving.

Thinking before moving?? Am I violating rule 98c?

9

If you have made your move, pressed the clock, and written down your move, wherever it is in the box on the score sheet, the move is done. Putting it in a different part of the box is not an “aid to memory” as the move is completed. I don’t see why you cannot put a dot by this written and completed move to look at the move after the game. That dot is not going to help you in the present game. If I do not place a dot, I can get around that by using a heavier marking pen to write a move that I “guessed” correctly. Or go over the move with a different color pen to remind me to look at that move next week. Every new prohibition will lead to new ways to hack it.

I know one player who selects his candidate moves and places a piece or pawn in front of himself for each possible move. As he rejects them, he sets the piece aside. If he likes a particular candidate move and wants to think about it further or for future use, he tucks the piece in his hand. Tremendous aid to move selection and memory. That seems to fit within the letter of the rules.

I have also seen players write a box, Informant style, by a move to show that it is a forced move. I presume this is another “note” and an “aid to memory” that must be banned and punished with forfeiture.

Recently while explaining the moving and writing procedure to a new student, an 8 year old girl, she said it was “stupid.” She said, “Why can’t I write my move down first? It helps me to remember that I am playing an important game. Sometimes I don’t see everything at first. Why do they want to rush me into making mistakes? I might forget to write my move down. This is stupid. It is my move and I should be able to write it down whenever I want to. Who is hurt if I write my move down first?” I explained to her that the rules are designed to have similar procedures for those writing down their moves and those using electronic devices to record their move. To that she said, “That’s not fair. Those people are getting an advantage in being able to write their move faster. That should not be allowed.” She likes the digital clocks especially with touch sensors, but thinks you should be able to talk to the clock to set it for the correct time rather than have to push buttons. Buttons and rocker arms, in her opinion, are too easy to break. She has seen people playing Bughouse. She does not like banging pieces or the clock. She thinks chess players are very “rude” to each other and argue too much. Very strong willed child.

10

And after you record your move and predicted opponents move, is there a problem when your opponent asks to borrow your score sheet?

11

No

Realize I am only writing down my opponents predicted move after he or she makes it.

12

No, sorry. I thought you were doing it before the opponent moved. Thanks for the clarification.

13

IIRC, the FIDE rule prohibits all notes, not just those that are an aid to memory.

14

So the question is, is deliberately right justifying some moves to indicate whatever a note?

15

I suppose I am not understanding why this is still a question…but the answer, just as it was the last time this was discussed, is “no”. (Even if you happen to write the clock times down as some sort of reminder, the answer is still “no” since clock times are expressly permitted to be noted.)

16

I think it is the process itself, regardless of how it is done. Writing down the time etc every time your opponent has made your predicted move, right justify, or even spreading your score out a bit e 4 vs e4. Are you creating notation on your score sheet that violates the spirit of the rule? Even though this secret notation is a side effect of making one think before moving? I grant it is a crutch, but no worse than writing one’s move down and reevaluating before moving.

17

It is actually a lot cleaner than writing your move before moving. That becomes a note that can be used to remind you make that move. Writing down a move after it was made is not a note to remind you to make a specific move.

Can anything be picked apart and looked at suspiciously? Sure. My handwriting is sloppy. Somebody could claim that when my writing a move hits the top of the box then that means I should make a queen move, when it hits the bottom of the box that means I should make a rook move. In actuality I’m just sloppy.

18

IIRC, generally annotations are not permissible notes except for clock times and draw offers (the latter of which are required under FIDE rules, right?) Or is my memory wrong.

So - if a “!” is not allowed commenting on a quality of one’s move or the opponent’s move, then would a “>” meaning “guessed right” or a “<” meaning “guessed wrong” be allowed? If not, would one be allowed to write the moves in a different color to convey the same additional meaning? And if not, should one be able to shift the position of the written move to likewise convey an additional meaning?

Is the purpose (at least of the FIDE version) of the rule, that no information other than factual move/time/draw offer info can be made? That is, no commentary, nothing interpretive - all such items would qualify as a “note”, would they not?

19

Suppose one “pretends” to write down their move before making it, pretends to cover it up, reviews the board and then makes the move and writes it down - but no graphite ever leaves the pencil to paper, nor any ink from pen to paper. Is this allowed, or not?

20

Sometimes people can walk too far down the road to extremes.

Here are two quotes from the USCF Rules:

In the second, 20C quote which is most applicable, it talks about the use of notes made during the game as an aid to memory being forbidden.

Well, the placement of the letter or number of groups of them in the box or area where the move is designated to be written is not a note itself. It is just that, the placement of the writing in the box. Even the spacing of the letters and numbers is not a note either.

Now, if having something written to the left, center or right in the box has significance to the individual, it is only a cue to that person having an unwritten meaning to that person. It is not a note suggesting moves, concepts of what to think or look at on the board or anything else, by itself. If the person writes the move in the left side of the box, for instance, to remind him that his opponent’s move was one he had predicted, so what? Just because he had or had not predicted his opponent’s move and signified that by the placement of the move in the box, it is not an aid to memory. That placement is not giving him information that he might have forgotten. Really there is no information in the writing of the move in that part of the box that would aid a player to remember anything specific about that game.

My sister was cleaning out our deceased parents’ home when she found my lucky pencil from my school days. This is a burgundy Autopoint mechanical pencil. I would use this pencil for taking exams from 5th grade until near the end of high school. Now, there’s nothing remarkable about that pencil except it was mine when I was growing up and used it for school.

At about the same time, I decided to quit using my eNotate system and go back to writing the game score while playing. I now use that lucky pencil in all my rated games. I also bought a small, black clipboard (Office Depot) that is identical to the ones they use at the St. Louis Chess Club for the US Championships. I have a pad of score sheets on it and that is what I use.

I have decided that every time I see that lucky pencil, just as I am picking it up before making my move, it will remind me to look at the board one more time for possible Checks, Captures or Threats by my opponent after I make that move, blunder check. By Wayne’s idea of the spirit of the rule, I am using that pencil as a note or other aid to memory. Well, I’m sorry but this is certainly not a note as an aid to memory (the pencil has no writing on its side or anything). It is just a physical cue to remind me to perform that blunder check each and every move.

So, the placement of the written move in the score sheet box, the type of print used (printing, cursive or whatever), the laying of the pen or pencil on the scoresheet after using it, or anything else like this is not a note as an aid to memory.