I bought an etching tool and etched my name on my device.
Which means that an organizer may, if s/he chooses, designate the MonRoi as the standard score sheet.
S/he is equally free to designate paper as the standard score sheet.
True. I choose to use electronic devices because it simplifies game entry into a database post game. So in my case, I could choose to pay the EF and participate in the event or not. I suppose those with scorebooks could do the same.
But what if somebody comes along and turns the knobs on your Etch-A-Sketch, thus erasing your name? 
Bill Smythe
My tool was a bit more permanent.
Chess players of any age can be such space cadets about everything except the game on the board in front of them (OK, sometimes they space out on THAT, too). Really expensive – and unlabeled – clocks get left at the board after a game, in the skittles room, in a corner somewhere, etc. all the time. My standard announcement before the last round includes, “Please remember to bring your stuff with you.” Anything stolen is way more likely stolen between rounds, not during a round.
Back to the original post:
Shelby, the main objection to the scorebooks from a TD perspective is the visibility issue. I suggest concentrating on selling (or developing!) spiral bound books that open and lie down flat.
Maybe you can also sell binder clips, or book weights (such as these archipelagofiles.com/2016/03 … check.html) for those with the current style of scorebook.
-Matt Phelps
To keep the scorebook open, one player at the US Open had a heavy statue that he placed over the pages to keep the book open. It also did double duty as his good luck charm.
I tend to ignore my opponent’s scoresheet/scorebook/electronic device. It is very intrusive and disturbing to the other player to look over to find out what move was written down. I don’t care if he changes his mind, erases or scratches out his move, and writes down another one. I don’t consider this note taking but part of the natural process of decision making. That process was described in Russian literature on chess psychology as a method of lessening errors. It also does not matter to me if s/he doodles on the scoresheet. She can even write “Be Happy!” on the top of her scoresheet. None of this will change the result of the game.
Restrictions put on players tend to make them not to want to play in tournaments. If they don’t play in tournaments, they have no need to purchase a club, state, or USCF membership. Quit hurting players, vendors, and organizers by putting unnecessary restrictions on the players. Let them use their expensive leather bound scorebooks in peace.
I really want to use Pocket Fritz while I play. See there are some GMs in the tournament, and want to be able to analyze their games while I’m at my board. Letting me do this will increase your revenue.
Alex Relyea
I’m glad you are so open minded. Others, are not however. The rules have been put in place to remove even the “appearance of impropriety” (as the saying goes) and anything that helps improve the feeling of fairness (for everyone) is a good thing, in my opinion. I don’t think it’s too much of a burden to put on the players to make it evident to all that they are not cheating.
It also makes the job of the TD a little easier. Which almost all of us here can appreciate
-Matt
No one is suggesting that you be allowed to use a PocketFritz to play. When an organizer makes an arrangement with a book/equipment vendor to sell authorized products, such as scorebooks, then putting a restriction on their use hurts the vendor’s bottom line. Having a vendor at an event is an attendance draw. It seems to me that the vendor should receive some compensation in return if scorebooks are banned. How about the vendor not paying the organizer anything as compensation for applying a scorebook ban?
I think it is funny that there is the idea that a scorebook is going to be the preferred method for cheating at a chess tournament. There are enough low tech and hi tech ways of transferring information to players that are far superior to perusing a scorebook. At best, a scorebook is only going to show you that you played a rotten opening against that player before. If you can’t remember that, no amount of extra help is going to work.
Banning scorebooks is a lazy solution to the problem of cheating. It provides the false sense that you have done something, when in fact you have done nothing at all. To really stop cheating you have to enforce no talking rules, force players to stay in their seats for the length of the game without walking around, employ expensive electronic devices to sweep the room for phones and other devices, and hire more TDs to observe the players and their behavior. No organizer wants to incur all of those expenses or force behavioral changes on the players.
This is concise and supports why. Far from being a useless thread, this particular entry supports forbidding the active use of Monroi or other electronic notation devices during tournament play and I heartily endorse this view.
Really, forbidding the active use of Monroi, Plycounter or any other, approved or certified electronic device is a case of throwing out the baby with the bath water.
Cheaters will cheat no matter what score keeping system is used. And, more importantly, cheaters using electronic score keeping devices are easily found and then flushed out.
It does no such thing. It merely supports the internationally recognized best practice of providing and requiring the use of a standard score sheet. There is no reason why an organizer can’t make the standard score sheet an approved electronic score sheet if s/he sees value in doing so.
Scoresheet choice is in the same league as pairings. The tournament staff, not the players, get to make that call.
Is a MonRoi an internationally approved scoresheet?
Yes.
No.
The MonRoi contract with FIDE has expired, and FIDE has not renewed it. At the present time, there is no electronic scoresheet approved by FIDE.
I stand internationally corrected.
It looks like the Monroi people probably didn’t want to pay more money to FIDE so they are no longer approved.
I believe they do the same thing with clocks.
Thanks, Ken. So a Monroi may only be used as a score sheet (whether organizer-provided standard or otherwise) in a US Chess event.
Very good advice