At a recent tournament the organizer announced a rather strict cell phone policy. For the first time a player’s cell phone rang, one hour was to be deducted from the player’s remaining time. For the second offense, the player would forfeit the game. My experience has been that most TD’s, including myself, impose a penalty of 10-15 minutes for a ringing phone. I find both the one hour deduction and subsequent forfeiture as being too severe a penalty for an inadvertent act.
Other than rule 20G, “Annoying behavior prohibited”, the USCF Official Rules of Chess are silent with regard to what to do with regard to penalties for a ringing cell phone. FIDE on the other hand, is rather strict with their total ban on cell phones in the playing venue. Rule 12.b. of the FIDE handbook strictly forbids players from bringing mobile phones into the playing venue. If a player`s mobile phone rings in the playing venue during play, that player loses the game. There have been a few cases of players in major FIDE events losing a game as a result of a ringing phone.
Since more and more TD’s are announcing penalties for ringing cell phones, perhaps now is the time to have a standard policy to be followed at all USCF rated events. The rule should address if a phone set to vibrate or silent is included in the definition of a ringing phone and should address enforcement of the penalties for a ringing phone belonging to a player who has finished his game.
At the U.S. Amateur Team Championship in February, I had just arrived at the board of one cell phone offender, and as I was about to make the "standard" 10-minute time deduction, another cell phone went off on the other side of the room (naturally)! That was the first time I had "simultaneous cell phones" during a round.
Also, I think a much bigger problem is the case of the spectators' cell phones going off. They frequently act much more contemptuosly (often starting right in on their conversation, quite audibly, as they nonchalantly stroll towards the exit). They frequently act shocked that someone would have the gall to try and deprive them of their "right" to use the cellphone! In a large tournament, it's very difficult for a floor TD to handle the floor disputes and also patrol for the cell phone terrorists, who often blend into the crowd as they sneak back into the playing hall.
A strict no cell phone policy MAY work for professional chess players, but those of us that have “day jobs” may not be able to play without being “on call”.
I have only had one director announce a strict “no cell phones” policy. The TD quite arrogantly announced that he was turning his cell phone off and that he was as important as any of the players and so they must follow suit.
For every reason that a TD can come up with to ban cell phones set on vibrate, I can list a dozen for why it should be allowed. The bottom line is that quite a few players will be unable to play in many tournaments if they can’t carry a cell phone with them. Running my own business, I am constantly “on call” for emergencies. Players with ill relatives, doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, players with a pregnant wife, etc. all may need to be available for emergency access. Sure, players could manage without a cell phone 20 years ago, but expectations from the rest of society have changed since then. People just expect others to be available in an emergency.
I do not believe any penalty at all is appropriate for a vibrating or silent cell phone – they should be allowed in most tournaments without restriction.
A one hour penalty seems excessive for a ringing phone – is the TD going to impose the same penalty for post-game analysis (imposed on the player’s next game)? I am bothered by players loudly talking about their just completed game far more than by a cell phone ringing, but YMMV. On the other hand, setting a cell phone to vibrate instead of ring is very easy to do and a player SHOULD have some penalty assigned for ignoring his repsonsibility.
Another concern is text messaging over cell phones. My personal belief is that players should have their phones switched off and let genuine emergencies be routed through the chess center. If one can’t play uninterrupted, why sit down to play?
If a player leaves the tournament hall to go take/make calls, it gives the possible appearance that something unethical may be going on.
This is an attitude that would have worked 20 years ago. It probably would have worked 10 years ago. It doesn’t work now.
I’m not trying to say that I’M more important than anyone else playing – I think everyone deserves this level of consideration. Routing emergency calls through the “chess center” sounds nice until you stop and think about it. I have literally hundreds of people that have my phone number and might legitimately call me for an emergency. I CAN’T practically give all these people an alternate phone number just so I can play in a weekend tournament! Now, I’ve never been interrupted during a game with an emergency call (though I have been interrupted at other activities), but I have to be available to take a call when a genuine emergency comes up. Many other players are in similar circumstances.
Then you have players with children. It’s hard enough to get your child to remember ONE emergency contact number – it’s just not practical to have them learn a new one each time you play in a tournament.
How about all those employers, schools, etc. with emergency contact numbers – you think all those should be updated for a chess tournament?
Don’t get so hung up on the POSSIBILITY of someone cheating that you hurt all the innocent players as well. Things have changed over the last 20 years. People now have a reasonable expectation of reaching someone in case of an emergency.
At my tournaments I post “House Rules” that specifically pertain to cell phones, pagers and any other audible device.
Before the start of every round I announce that I am placing my phone on vibrate and players should do the same. First offense for any type of audible device going off is 10 minutes, second offense is forfeiture of game.
I only had to penalize one player in my most recent tournament and that indeed was a Doctor who was on call. It wasn’t his opponent that complained to me but one of the players on the next board. However, I enforse the relevant penalty whether I receive a complaint or not, and I make it as plainly obvious for as many people to see that I am deducting the time off the clock.
Also included in the “House Rules” it states that if a spectators cell phone or audible device go off while games are in progress then they will be asked to leave the playing hall until the round has finished. I have only had to ever do this once and that particular spectator now clearly shows me his cell phone is silenced every time he comes to watch.
As for the USCF Rules not having anything in specifically about cell phones you are quite right, however Chess Life has a fairly big sign in the TLA section of every issue stating “Warning! The use of a cell phone in the tournament room is prohibited at most tournaments! If your cell phone rings in a room with games in progress, you could be severely penalized, maybe even forfeited! Turn it off!”
Don’t players also have a reasonable expectation that their opponents aren’t using cell phones, PDAs, text messaging, shoe phones, etc to assist them in their games, as well as a reasonable expectation to have a quiet playing hall?
Balancing those disparate expectations is not an easy task.
Chess being a sedentary game, players can have their cell phones on them. If we were rugby players, the cell phone would probably need to be in someone else’s hands on the sideline.
The standard rule these days at national scholastic tournaments is that all cell phones must be off (not vibrate) in the playing hall. If you as much as look at your cell phone, you may be forfeited. If your phone is on vibrate and you walk to the side of the room (away from the games) to answer it, then you are simply asking to be forfeited.
I can’t think of a more harsh rule. Allegedly it is necessary as a deterrent to cheating. However, a majority of older kids (junior high and high school) have cell phones these days so that they can call their parents or friends after each game. Someone is bound to forget to turn their phone off before the next round. This is much different from putting your phone on vibrate for the first round and then leaving it on vibrate until after the tournament is finished.
In fact, kids have been forfeited for violating this policy. Imagine losing a pawn up endgame that was a technical win… due to looking at your cell phone vibrating… and your opponent goes on to become national champ! It happened to one of my students in Houston last December.
The TD in Houston made the only decision he could under this harsh policy. Please understand that I do not question that TD’s judgement as he only enforced the Draconian policy that was announced many times. But was it morally right? After all, if I was cheating, wouldn’t I do it before reaching a winning endgame? What had a greater impact on the tournament: forfeiting a player in a winning position on the top boards or someone responding to their cell phone which was on vibrate?
I agree that this is a concern. I don’t think it should be blown out of proportion, however. As I’ve said in the past, I’ve taken my PDA with me to every single tournament game I’ve played (since I started playing again). I’ve never had an opponent or TD question me. Based on my experience, I don’t think there’s much widespread concern about cheating through electronic devices. (then again, maybe they’ve noticed how I play… )
At the largest prize fund tournaments, I think it would be reasonable for the TD to ask me to leave the PDA in my room or in my chess bag, rather than carrying it around in my pocket. I don’t think this is necessary for cell phones unless there’s been a complaint about that player. Unless a player is taking his cell phone out to look at a text message or take a call several times a game, then I think he could be given the benefit of the doubt.
I’m sure some adults feel that kids just don’t NEED cell phones the way a lot of adults do. I think they’re wrong. Now, I’m not about to supply my 7-year-old with her own cell phone. As soon as she’s old enough to stay at a tournament by herself for a few hours, however, she’ll have a cell phone with her.
I’m sure there are quite a few “kids” that NEED a cell phone for exceptional circumstances. The problem with a general rule like the one you’ve reported is that it does nothing but EXCLUDE those children.
Like it or not, there are scholastic chess players with family responsibilities and other needs that are every bit as REAL and IMPORTANT as any “adult’s”. Too many scholastic organizers live in some kind of dream world, thinking that the chess game is the most important thing in the players’ lives.
I’ve heard cell phones go off in a movie theatre, during a Broadway play, and even in church. A friend of mine is an attorney, she’s heard them go off in court–in the jury box! The judge was not amused.
I can think of very few instances when it is necessary to contact a scholastic player IMMEDIATELY, most of the time a delay in contacting that person of an hour or so isn’t life-threatening.
There aren’t that many cases when it is necessary to IMMEDIATELY contact adults, either. And for those people who, at least in their own minds, are that important, there are ways to balance that with their chess hobby.
The problem here is not about contacting someone immediately. I agree that there are few reasons why someone would need to contact a kid immediately during a chess game. Likewise for adults (maybe emergency personnel is exempt).
However, the problem is with a player forgetting to turn off their phone before a round. There is a big difference between turning your phone on vibrate at the beginning of the tournamen (during TD announcements) and leaving it on vibrate throughout or turning it off and on between each and every round.
If adults can’t do it then why do we expect our children to be more perfect? The adults are subject to a warning or a typical 10 minute deduction from their clock (except repeat offenders) while the kids are forfeited on the first offense.
At the start of the show, he pointed down at a young woman in the first row and asked her, “Ever see a grown man jump on a tape recorder?”
I think it got the point across.
Sometimes it pays to be blunt about the rules one wants enforced.
It’s a whole lot easier to announce intentions to forfeit someone and then let them off with a warning that to try to enforce a heavy penalty after the fact, especially when dealing with a room with hundreds of kids in it. Kids are not known to pay attention to subtle hints, sometimes not even to non-subtle ones.
I wonder why no one or no committee has yet to submit an Advanced Delegate Mortion on this topic over the last few years? IMHO that would go a long way towards creating some standard that we could all work off of.
I think 1 hour is a bit extreme for first offense on a cell phone violation. I’m assuming the time control was some number of moves or game in 2 hours. It seems like a standard should be some percentage of time off the time control. In 2 control time limit such as 40/2 G/60 10 minutes may be minor, but in G/30 10 minutes even right up front could be devastaing even early on. I know losing 10 minutes from the start of g/30 would kill me.
At this past weekend’s Elementary Nationals I was surprised by the announced rules of answering a cell phone would be immediate loss. It’s sad that cheating via cell phone is such an issue that the simple act of a child answering a call from a parent would cause instant loss of game. Though I do think the announcements regarding this was very clear at the start of each round so that the parents and children got a good reminder to make sure phones were off.
Cell phones have become an invaluable tool when dealing with a group of parents and kids at Nationals. I was coaching a relatively small group of 5 kids, but my cell phone was very important in staying connected with my students and their parents. I kept the phone on vibrate the entire weekend. There were numerous times I received calls from my group parents informing me of changes in certain plans, or locations. It made my life a lot simpler.
I usually keep my phone on vibrate all the time. I don’t like having it ring in the middle of class. I will confess that before I figured out how to get it to vibrate it went off in playing room when I was TD’ing.
I agree 100% with ppwchess. I always turn my phone on vibrate at the start of a chess tournament (whether I’m a player, coach or TD) and keep it on vibrate until after the last round.
The announcements at the scholastic national championships are very clear before each round. At least that is good. But as Nolan commented earlier in this thread, many kids don’t pay attention. My student was an example–and he paid the ultimate price of being forfeited in a winning position in a game that had heavy implications on first place. The forfeit was legitimate according to the policy announced… but is the policy itself fair? Do any adult events have such a Draconian policy?
What is the cell phone policy at big tournaments on the East coast? I know in Las Vegas and out here in California, the TDs stick with the usual 10 minute deduction (some directors give a warning first, others do not). What is the cell phone policy at the World Open? I ask specifically because the World Open is roughly the same order of magnitude as the scholastic nationals.
If you look at page 63 in the May Chess Life you’ll see that the CCA has placed an ad next to the World Open TLA regarding special rules. #4 does cover cell phone use, but does not list the penalty. The paragraph does also cover leaving the room.
The CCA has an announced (written) policy of no cell phones allowed in the tournament room. However, I specifically asked at the last two CCA tournaments I played in, and the TD said that a cell phone on vibrate was OK. The announced policy was also that answering a cell phone in the tournament room would be penalized even if the cell phone was on vibrate (if you get an emergency call, you have to leave the room to answer). I’m not sure that they consistently enforce this rule.
I haven’t played in the World Open, so I’m not sure if they have a more “strict” policy there. On the one hand, bigger tournaments with bigger prizes might need to be more concerned with cell phone use. On the other hand, when people are playing during the work week they may feel more of a need to be available to take business calls.
I’ll ask them again about their policy in Chicago – unless they want to comment here???
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