Penalty for not Taking Notation (Scholastic Tournaments)

Running Chess Tournaments
1

I am interested to know what penalties other TDs are using for players who do not take notation. The rule book mentions the time deduction for beginners who do not know how to take notation, or waiving the requirement for those who do not know how. It is not specific about what to do about those who refuse to take notation, and it doesn’t tell us how to know whether someone is being rebellious or ignorant.

Several other TDs (whose judgement I generally respect) are enforcing stiffer penalties (with less warning) than seems appropriate to me. I would like to hear from other TDs around the country to see what you are using. If possible, please address the following issues:

(1) How do you determine whether a scholastic player actually knows how to take notation? Do you use a group announcement, do you talk to him privately, do you ask his coach?

(2) At what age do you impose penalties, if you have age or grade protected sections? Do you require notation of those in their first tournament, regardless of age? What about their second tournament? What about those who are still provisionally rated?

(3) Do you enforce the rule with the same penalties in local tournaments and in state scholastic championships?

(4) How many warnings do you give before giving a penalty?

(5) If you don’t give a penalty, what else do you do, and where do you find it in the rule book (if not under “TD judgement”?)

(6) How many of your reduce the offending player’s clock time to only 5 minutes left (no matter how much time he had when you noticed he was not taking notation), so that he will be in compliance with “no notation required in the last 5 minutes”? If you do this, how many warnings do you give first? What do you do about his opponent, who is suddenly not required to take notation, but has his full time left after the TD penalty against his opponent?

(7) Do you enforce your penalties only when the opponent complains, or anytime you as a TD notice the no-notation infraction?

Thanks for your input. I am not at all sure there is one RIGHT answer, so I am looking to see what other people think is good judgement.

Brenda Hardesty
Senior TD
Austin, Texas

2

The first assumption is that the players have a clock. That’s not true in many of the scholastic events I’ve seen or directed over the years.

Without a clock, there’s really no way to penalize anyone, and I seldom worry about it in sections where the players are all age 12 or younger.

If the time control is Game/30, which is common in scholastic events, most games will be over in 15-20 minutes anyway.

3

Assuming a player in the game has brought it to the attention of the director, and assuming it is not the primary (<=3rd grade) section, a common response to failure or refusal to take notation in Illinois scholastic tournaments is to roughly follow the 15a1c guidelines on page 56 and remove five minutes from the player who is not keeping score (this is different from the suggested rule of thumb of 5% or 10 minutes, whichever is less, but it maintains consistency from tournament to tournament and section to section even when the time controls are different). The player is first given a chance to take score before the time is removed. This avoids having requiring a judgement call on the part of the director as to whether or not a player is capable of keeping score and consistently penalizes the player (in addition to the penalties already suffered regarding three-fold repetition, 50-moves, etc.) so that the opponent does not feel the player is getting a “free ride” regarding the time spent keeping score and the player does not feel that the penalty is capricious.

When there are blatantly obvious extenuating circumstances (such as a player who broke his writing arm after round 2, missed round 3 while at the hospital, and returned to play round 4 with the arm in a cast), I have simply given the player the option of having score taken by a deputy (in the above case the player’s opponent chose not to use the same option even though he was given that option per 35f10).

The reason for exempting the primary section is so that directors do not have to try to determine the capability of kindergarteners or first graders, and so that the entire section is treated consistently. If there is a lower primary (K-1) and an upper primary (2-3) then there may be cause for enforcing it in upper primary. Since most of the tournaments in this area only have one primary section, I opt to keep things consistent throughout the school year for the kids and don’t enforce it in the upper primary of those tournaments that have one. If a player is in a section higher than primary and does not know how to do notation then I give the player a quick lesson in the simple from/to square notation (i.e. 1. d2-d4, g8-f6 2. c1-g5, h7-h6). Here all of the boards have the numbers and letters on the sides so they can readily use that method. I have not run across any primary player that was playing up into a higher grade section that was not capable of doing at least from/to notation.

The reason for only removing the time when a player in the game has brought it to the director’s attention is to remove any perception of bias regarding which games a director opted to impose a penalty on. Sometimes the players will self-impose a penalty even if a director was not called over, but I would recommend that they call the director over anyway just so that reduction can be noted.

This removal of time is done only once during the game and should be noted so that it is not done again if a player tries to make another claim (possible when there are multiple directors). After the round has been going for some time only a percentage of the five minutes is removed (i.e if it is G/45 and the player has already used 18 minutes, leaving 60% of the 45, before the situation is brought to the attention of the director then only 3 minutes, 60% of the 5, is removed). I still give the player a chance to start keeping score, asking him to keep track of the moves from that point forward, and asking for a listing of where the pieces currently are.

Note that this makes it possible for a G/30 tournament to have 5 minutes removed from each side due to having a 5-second delay, to have another 5 minutes removed from a side for failure to keep score, and to have somebody lose on time only 20 minutes after the start of the round.

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Brenda: I TD numerous tournaments here in VA, and we just ran the State Championships. Your questions is a good one, and the answer is … it depends.

For example, in some smaller tournaments the kids are told at the start of the event that “no notation is required, but it is strongly recommended.” This applies to all grades groups of players (K-3, K-5 …). In others local tournaments we tell them that notation is required in all sections except K-3 section, and that in K-3 it is strongly recommended (but not required). Most of the scholastic tournament organizers I work with are also TDs.

To us the first rule we try to apply is “it’s about playing chess.”

For the state tournament, K-3 is not required to take notation.

For warnings and penalties, we follow what’s in the rule book … warning, 2 minutes, then stiffer penalties. We don’t, however, declare a game lost when a player does not take score. Our time controls are all sudden death, so “completeness of the score sheet” does not become an issue.

Mike Hoffpauir
VA Scholastic Chess Assn
Local TD (currently taking my Sr exam)

[quote=“Moogy”]
I am interested to know what penalties other TDs are using for players who do not take notation.

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If the child is in the K-3, would not force the child to use notation. As most children at that age never had to deal with a chess clock. There has been children that have come to my tournaments. Since it has been pairings with adult and child, very sure the adult should win against a child still learning the notation. If the parent of a child learning the notation, would give the scoresheet copy to the parent (if the parent demands it). I’m not in any mood looking over other players games after the event.

If its’ between K-3 players, if they do not understand there is no problem. If the scholastic player is a little bit older, without a scholastic chess coach, being the first event. Im not a huge fan to punnish a person during their first chess tournament. Whatever the age, it is best to give a warning during the first event.

If the scholastic player on their first tournament does have a scholastic coach. Willing to take the time off the clock if the player does not understand. Will give the student a reason to question their scholastic coach!

If the person is a adult, would impose the penalties – first tournament – provisionally rated. If the child does not have a scholastic coach, not in the mood to place penalties during the first tournament. If the child does have a scholastic coach, more willing to place penalties during any tournament.

With the state scholastic events, the players do have a very active parent, with a scholastic chess coach. At the state scholastic level, the scholastic players have a better understanding of notation then the local tournaments. The major problems with scholastic players happens at the regular tournaments. The child does not have a scholastic coach, the parent(s) has little understand of the culture of tournament chess. The scholastic coach, or the well understood parent would not send a scholastic player to a regular tournament till the child was ready. If the child does not have a scholastic chess coach or a parent understanding the culture of tournament chess – then the child will have problems during a regular tournament.

For chess notation, none for adults. For a scholastic player, a long talk with the scholastic chess coach. There is a need for a common background check with the information of the child.

With the scholastic player, they have come to (my events) a regular event. With the pairings with an adult and the scholastic player. There are adults that hate to be paired with a child. Most see it as a wasted game, even when they do win. If the child does not understand notation, they have no understanding of the openings or the middle game. In all the years of being a director, have never had a adult demand some type of penalty.

Only going to reduce the clock once, before the start of the game. If the person is an adult, will tell the player for all the games this will be the time set on the clock. If the aduld does not take notation, or understand notation. If its’ the scholastic player, would be more up to the other player if they want the notation time taken. But have to make the claim before the start of the game.

If its a adult, would enforce the notation time as a TD for all rounds. If its a scholastic player, it must be the player demanding the notation time before the start of the game

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As Chief Floor TD of the 2005 Texas Region 2 Scholastic Championship, I approached the issue of recording the moves by using a common sense approach. First factor, our staff had to oversee nearly 200 young players with 70% of them in elementary school. Second factor, our time controls were slower than G/30 but still relatively fast (I believe G/45). Third factor, most of the players were new or relatively inexperienced. Fourth factor, the organizers failed to provide any scoresheets until late in the second round. So, I announced to all and directed the staff to not penalyze anyone for not recording the moves. However, I did point out up front and repeatedly that this was an official USCF sanctioned event and all players are expected to record all moves and comply with all USCF rules such as touch-move, touch-capture, etc. In later rounds as scoresheets became available the players took corrective action as necessary. Now, there were a few young children that obviously could not handle that part of the game. We encouraged them to have fun, do their best, and just play the game. There were no penalties. It was more important to move things along, plant seeds for future chess stars, and make the event enjoyable for all. – Jim Hollingsworth –

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For younger scholastic players, it’s sufficient that they THINK they know how to take notation and are willing to do so. Doing it accurately will come with time. :wink: