I would like to hear what all the TDs on this forum do regarding players who do not take notation or stop during a game and have a player formally complain about it.
This past weekend, I directed an event where this situation arose. The player had stopped taking notation and still had 5:17 on his clock, so technically not within the 5 minute rule. Since I TD at a club where every board is provided a digital clock, I tend not to strongly enforce the requirement of notation. It is my personal belief that the recording of a move takes 2 seconds at most, and with a 5 second delay, this usage is negligible to the game. Further, the possibilities the player relinquishes by not taking notation (3-fold repition claim, illegal move from previous moves, etc…) far exceed the second the recording of a move would take…especially given a time delay event. I do not believe in penalizing a player time because he chooses to not write down his moves, and thus relinquish the above mentioned rights. This means my only recourse for punishing a player would be under 13I, failure to follow the rules, where a director MAY ultimately claim a forfetiure. Being that I believe a forfeit is far to severe a punishment, and the above mentioned reasoning, I have ultimately chosen the path of not punishing people who stop taking notation. Normally this is not an issue, but the player in question was from out of town, and did not realize how that rule is enforced.
Im not really looking for responses to how I enforce it, but just explaining the whole situation so others understand why I’d like to hear other viewpoints. So if you are a TD and have come across this issue, please share your stories.
I think you’ve painted yourself into a corner with “I do not believe in penalizing a player time because he chooses to not write down his moves.” It’s as though you decided that imprisonment is inhumane, so the only thing left to do with minor offenders is execute them.
If a player refuses to keep score, or attempt to keep score, or event attempt to look like he’s keeping score, he should be penalized on the clock. You have to be reasonable about this; the point is not to be punitive, but to cancel out any advantage the player may get from not keeping score. See the “TD Tip” to 15A1 on page 56. This concerns players excused from keeping score at the start, but the same principles should be applied.
By not penalizing the player, you are, in effect, telling all players they don’t need to keep score, no? If you don’t want to require scorekeeping, that’s fine, but it has to be consistent with all players.
I’m sure you realize that the player who isn’t taking score has an advantage over his score-keeping opponent?
If you are going to vary a rule (in this case not enforce the rules on notation) you must announce it (rule 1B1) or enforce them by default. In this case you should have at least warned the offending player. If the player still does not take notation their opponent should get extra time added to their clock. This not only penalizes the offending player but compensates the player that must take extra time to keep notation properly.
Many clubs have their own rules variations that work well for them. Having them listed on a handout so new club players can view them is probably a good idea.
BTW, I have timed how long it takes players to take notation in order to develop the math for the TD Tip mentioned in an earlier post, and I question your estimate of 2 seconds.
Tim Just
Chair, TDCC
Rulebook Editor
Rules Committee
I take a lot longer than 2 seconds, but then again, my scoresheets are more legible than those of players who just take 2 seconds.
In an Illinois Class several years ago, I had three of my four games published in the Illinois Chess Bulletin (not at my request), and I’ve always suspected that was just because my scoresheets were easier to read.
However long it takes a player to physically record a move is one thing, but there is also time loss from having to mentally switch to that task and then back to game strategy again.
As it happens, I had a similar situation this weekend. A player had stopped keeping score with about six minutes left on his clock. His opponent had plenty of time. The opponent stopped the clock and complained to me. I told the player that he had to keep score until he had less than five minutes left. The opponent then handed the player his scoresheet and allowed the player to catch up. During this time (we restarted the player’s clock so that he could comply on his time, of course) his time fell below five minutes. I told him that he could stop keeping score at that point. It makes for less confusion to simply follow the rules, and is always nice when you have the rulebook to back you up.
I think I would have started by adding 2 minutes to the other player’s clock.
In fact, one interesting way to handle this (time consuming for the TD but probably quite effective in driving home the point) would be to have the other player complain after every non-recorded move and add 2 minutes each time.
You could tell them that none of them have to keep score at all if they are willing to start with 5 minutes while the notating opponent gets the full time control. Wayne came up with that one.
I know a number of players that are quite willing to do this since their skills at G/5 are so good. However, this can be quite disturbing to players nearby.
I was the player which asked Ray (TD) to consult the forum about giving some penalty for a player not taking notation. I notice my opponnent stop taking notation with about 5:30 left on his clock, and requested the TD at 5:17. This was G/30. I would estimate the player stopped notating the last 8-10 moves. I asked Ray to penalize the opponent in some manner since he has gained some time advantage by stopping to take notation. I requested that he start the opponent clock’s and the opponent bring his scoresheet up to date on his time. In this situation, the punishment fits the crime. He refused this so I also asked instead some time penalty be given. Ray said that the club informally did not require notation for G/30 tournaments and I proceeded to say that he should have let me know that. I was from out of town and enjoyed playing lots of new faces. I had a good time at the club and Ray and I discussed this adequately at the time but he stood his ground. I mentioned that players who did not take notation has an advantage over players who did, especially during a G/30 time control. It was actually G/25 with 5 sec delay.
Ray did say he would consult the forum which I do admire.
Yeah, I am quite familiar with the downside of maintaining a neat scoresheet.
It might indeed take 2 seconds to write down each half-move (neatly), there is also time significant required to 1. pick up/put down your pencil/pen, 2. adjust your eyes and mental concentration to/from the scoresheet, 3. think about the proper notation before writing it down.
I would guess that 2-3 seconds is an average time per half-move for a 2000+ player. That average increases for lower ratings, easily over 5 seconds per half-move for most U1400 players. Players who don’t have a good visual memory of the 8x8 algebraic notation grid will need much longer.
I think I still like the ‘give the opponent 2 minutes’ option, and it’s a penalty that should go away after a few moves anyway.
But I also agree with the comments that if you allow lax behavior, you have to be prepared to deal with the consequences of it, such as this situation.