I may be a delegate for 2022. If so, I will be submitting some rule ADM’s. I would like to get some feedback on the following proposed ADM (this is a rough first draft):
ADM: Eliminate Blitz rules 8a-8d and modify Blitz rule 8 to say the following: “All draws allowed under the regular rules are also allowed in Blitz. A game is also a draw in Blitz if a player has insufficient mating material when the opponent makes an illegal move.”
Rationale: The current way Blitz rule 8 is worded is very confusing. It starts out by stating that draw claims allowed under the regular rules are also allowed under the blitz rules but then goes on to state only some of the ways a game can end in a draw. The intent of the rule is that all draw claims currently allowed under the regular rules are also allowed under the blitz rules and the proposed rewording of blitz rule 8 clarifies this.
Is there any language in the blitz rules which should be removed if this particular rule is adopted? Getting rid of clutter would seem to be a legitimate exception, and incorporating that removal would strengthen the ADM.
I’m confused. Mr. Smith states above that he would excise a lot of rule 8, referring largely back to the drawing rules under “regular” chess. Perhaps I’m misunderstanding Mr. Mulford’s question?
I’m confused because I could swear that Micah post did not specify what he was removing when I read it. But since there is no indication his post has in fact been edited, either he edited it a tenth of a second before I posted or I was in error. Odds favor the latter.
I like the general idea of un-complicating the Blitz rules, but the concept needs to be carried out in a far more sweeping manner.
Currently the Blitz rules take up five pages in the rulebook. I really think half of one page should suffice. Get rid of that preachy opening paragraph. The following are the only points that need to be covered:
All rules for regular-rated OTB apply, except as listed below or when obviously inapplicable.
The time control must be G/mm inc/ss or G/mm d/ss, where mm is main time in minutes and ss is increment or delay time in seconds, and where mm is at least 3 and mm+ss is between 5 and 10 inclusive.
Score keeping is not required.
Claims that would normally require score keeping may be handled via arbiter discretion, based (if necessary) on personal observation by the arbiter and/or other reliable witnesses.
Illegal moves are handled the same way as in a regular-rated game, except that the standard time adjustment should be 1 minute instead of 2 minutes.
If there is a second illegal move by the same player in the same game, the game is lost by that player, unless the arbiter decides otherwise.
If one player has minimal material (e.g. K+N, K+B, or K+N+N), and the opponent either (a) exceeds the time limit or (b) claims a draw, the arbiter should use discretion in determining whether to declare the game drawn.
I already proposed doing that in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=25732&st=0&sk=t&sd=a. How about getting the rules committee to submit an ADM on this for 2022?
I’m not so sure I can “get the rules committee” to do anything right now. The committee has its hands full with various pressing business, brought about partly by a couple of recent deaths, partly by Covid, and partly by a lot of online nonsense. My current read is to bide my time.
Nevertheless, over time I have observed that at least a few members of the rules committee (besides me) would like to see a drastic simplification and size reduction in the Blitz rules, along the lines of my bulleted proposal upthread.
I think their first task is finding someone willing to run the committee. People want to be ON the rules committee, they don’t want to do the work of chairing it. And the committee’s workload increased a little with the inclusion of overseeing correspondence rules, including writing questions about them for the exams (which need periodic updating anyway.)
It’s not so much correspondence, as it is online. Several members of the committee have little or no experience in organizing or directing online events, and would prefer not to have to deal with it.