I played in a blitz tournament Saturday where the organizer supplied boards and sets. Although billed as the state “Blitz Chess Championship”, it was not a rated event. Something I found initially disconcerting was that nearly all the vinyl boards had advertising on them, most with ads for a pressure washing service on a8 and h1, but at least one board had some promotional material right in the middle. Links to a couple snaps I took are below:
Now, I have to admit that once I started playing, the ads didn’t bother me at all – evidently, the old brain filtered them out quite nicely. The tournament was well run, low key, friction free, and I can appreciate why an organizer would want to squeeze out some promo bucks in return for supplying the boards and men.
Still, the camel’s nose in the tent and all…, so I’ve been wondering, in a rated event, could I refuse to play on such a board and demand my own (or my opponent’s) “vanilla” board be substituted if the organizer couldn’t provide one that was ad-free ?
As a TD, I would consider an ad-free board more “standard”.
However, the organizer may have some contractual obligation to the advertisers in return for their sponsorship of the event, that may require the use of boards with advertising on them.
Once play started, I didn’t notice the corner stuff. It was not a distraction. There were many more boards than games, so AFAIK, nobody played on boards with the logo in the middle. I know some people are more sensitive to factors such as noise and lighting, so I assume ads under the pieces might prove distracting to some.
When I started this thread, I was trying to get a reading on what a player’s rights might be in such a situation. Do any official regulations apply? What are the limits? When does this sort of thing become non-standard? Rated game, for example, I assume neither the organizer nor the TD could force you to use Renaissance pieces. So, it seems relatively tasteful ads on the corner squares are acceptable. How about on the whole first rank? How about Staunton men embossed with “Coke”? How about ads on every square?
There are “standard equipment” specs in the Rulebook, but since I’m in Indianapolis I don’t have one handy. If the equipment is clearly “non-standard,” you can’t be forced to use it. More commonly the situation is ambiguous (“The dark squares on my board are a better shade of brown than his!”), and the TD has to make a judgment call. without seeing the board in question I can’t make a ruling.
I suppose the whole thing falls under acceptable variations. If Fox, say, were sponsoring a tournament, they might very well want you to use a Simpsons chess set, and I don’t see how you could refuse. Granted that it’s non-standard, and granted that a lot of people would have a problem with it, but as long as it is announced, I don’t know that it’s unratable.
Egads, I’d hate playing on that board. In blitz, no less. Who wants to take the split second to filter out the ads?
Unfortunately, there’s nothing in the equipment standards section that says the squares on the board must be blank.
Further, the rulebook says “If the organizer of the tournament provides equipment conforming to the following standards, the players should expect that the organizer or TD would require the use of that equipment.” (39A)
Even so, I’d hope an organizer/director who put advertising on the playing squares of a board (not the borders) would allow either white or black to substitute a blank board, even though the rules say black has the choice of equipment. This would seem to be a pretty easy request to grant. TDs have enough to do without making this an issue.
(BTW, this very sensible thread probably belongs in the “chess tournaments” forum, away from the lawsuit mayhem.)
It specifies a color for the squares. An ad is not a color. Most of the time this is a quibble. Once in a while it’s not. That’s why it’s a judgment call.
If I were the organizer, I’d try to strong-arm the advertiser (in advance, of course) into putting the ad material around the edges, not on the squares.
Boards that are advertizing a company that sponsored the tournament have been around for a long time. I don’t think its nessesarilly all that common, but certainly its been going on since at least since the 80’s, and probably before that.
As long as the advertising is understated, its usually not a problem. In the case of the advertising taking up the 4 center squares, some people might see it as a distraction.
Usually the edge and a single corner square is the more common placement for advertising.
