That document makes some references to how the device should be treated, but they’re buried amongst the test results. I would like to see the addendum to the scholastic regulations regarding electronic scoresheets made into an official rule. I can’t put forth an ADM because, despite the fact that I’ve attended the last 3 US Opens and Delegates meetings, and I’m attending the US Open again this year lots of NY voters seemed to think that a GM residing in New Jersey and a world championship candidate were more qualified to represent their interests at the delegates meeting then me. 
Just skylarking… If I were to do that, it would probably be so that I focus on the board position as it is, and not obsess over the steps that took me to that point. (Something like one less distraction between me and the board.) But I’m only guessing that would be my motive if I did that.
A less charitable motive would be that if the other player needs to borrow my scoresheet / copy moves he or she can do that when his or her clock is running, not mine. 
And maybe the in-between perspective is that I don’t want to be distracted by my opponent trying to read my chicken scratch / staring at my sheet while I’m trying to figure out my move.
Or possibly it could be an obsessive/compulsive process as part of the game. Make move / open cover / record / close cover / open cover / write opponent move / close cover / make move… That way if the cover is closed I know the move has been recorded.
Any of the above would all be legal reasons for doing that.
I think nothing is said about a scorebook because they’re so common…and HARMLESS. People need to stop worrying so much about their opponent and concentrate on their own game. Most players don’t cheat. It’s sad that some people want to take the enjoyment of the game away from honest players because of their paranoia. No cell phones, no headphones, now no scorebooks! Come on.
Well, assuming the book doesn’t get closed by accident, you know that A move was recorded, but not necessarily the most recently played one.
You are going too far in the other direction.
Nothing uncharitable about not wanting opponent to catch up on your time. The rules state that they may borrow the oppoent’s score sheet on their own time.
That can be really annoying to have an opponent leaning over to read your score sheet on your move. When I had opponents do that, I’d usually move my score sheet to right in front of me and then put my arms over it, and go back to studying the board. If they asked me if they could look at it, I would politely say “after I make my move.”
Now my Mon Roi is usually sitting off to my right. My opponents tend to ignore it. I sometimes have problems with nosy spectators who invade my space to look at it. At that point I usually position my body in such a way that the spectator’s line of sight is blocked. They usually get the hint that I don’t want them breathing down my neck looking at my “gizmo”. Since they are more common now I don’t have that problem as much.
I think that’s why a lot of the kids go through the whole opening and closing of the book. It seems to go with the flow of making a move, writing it down, opponent makes a move, writing opponent’s move down before making own move.
In what regard? I agree that we don’t want to make it easy to cheat, but we don’t need a bunch of draconian rules that sap the enjoyment out of a tournament either. If someone needs to have a cell phone set on vibrate because of work committments, let them. I’d rather them do that than not be able to play. Let people listen to music if that’s what they want to do as long as the volume is low. If someone likes having a nicely bound copy of their game scores, let them.
Despite what some might think…chess is a board game. If someone gets away with cheating, no one dies. However, if you take the fun out of the game, it does.
Smith hits it on the head, in my opinion: too many rule changes already, and most likely, based on overprotective, non-chess-playing, paranoid parents who see monsters at every turn. They act as if their kids are competing for world domination.
There’s still those who contend that first writing a move (on a paper scoresheet), then moving, constitutes “note-taking” and “an aid to memory” violation. A few years back when the notation rules were being changed by the delegates, the desire was to maintain that we had to move first then write, even with paper scoresheets. Thankfully, that didn’t pass.
Too much reading into the rules for my taste. We need to bring the fun back to tournaments.
end of rant
The problem is that by focusing on most of the tech things that people seem to think make cheating possible they are forcing the “Cheaters” to become more adept at hiding their cheating ways. Now it is pretty simple to spot someone who is wearing earphones and getting abnormally good results. Then you can demand to inspect the earphones etc. But what if that person getting abnormally good results doesn’t have earphones or a Monroi etc? What I’m trying to say is that “Real Cheaters” wouldn’t cheat with the methods that most people want to stop. Only clumsy and stupid cheaters would use those methods and being clumsy and stupid they will probably get caught irregardless.
There use to be a device that transmitted music (I think it was called a Bone Phone) and it was susposably inaudible to those around you. ( Don’t really know because never actually saw one other than in an advertizement.) It conducted the sound through your collar bones or something. And I’ve heard of people receiving radio waves through their denture work etc. And I think there was a famous blackjack card counting scheme where they transmitted morse code to a hidden transmitter.
Point here is technology, if not now, at some time would allow a person to be able to cheat and be strip searched and not be caught. I don’t really know what the solution is, but banning new technology just because it might be used for cheating, well why not just ban players because they might cheat? That will put a stop to the problem.
NOT TO GRAVITATE TO ISSUES OUTSIDE OF CHESS, but it sounds an awful lot like the stupidity of banning guns cause they tend to fire off a round or two.
Not quite. The rules say that they can REQUEST to use your scoresheet, and give several conditions (plenty of time on the clocks, done on his time) under which you are “urged to comply”. You may decline their request, in which case they can fetch a TD to determine if their request is reasonable - at which point the TD can instruct you to turn it over (since, by rule, all scoresheets belong to the organizer).
See Rule 15. Note especially 15D, which covers excessive requests. And 15E, which covers the case where your opponent can read your scoresheet without borrowing it.
Personally, I would like to see a rule stipulating that scoresheets (paper, electronic, chalkboard, whatever) should remain face up (and open, if there is a cover), with nothing blocking any spectator’s view (TD, opponent, passers-by) - and (within reason) stay in one place on the table for the duration of the game. [for one thing, this might cut down on the number of players still writing their moves before making them on the board - it always distresses me to see the number of young players coached to do this and to go to great lengths to hide the move from their opponent. As if the extra time to think about the move ever actually matters.] Alas, that is not the current rule.
In my opinion, players who take positive steps to hide their scoresheet are behaving improperly. Within the rules - but in chess, as in life, “not violating the law” is a pretty low standard of behavior in polite society. The rules specify a minimum level of sportsmanship.
This is one of the areas in the rules where specific procedures need to be outlined so that TDs can treat all players fairly. But…this is not chess! If you are spending any time at all (as a player) worrying about how to exploit these “procedural” rules to get an edge on your opponent, in my opinion you have already lost the game.
The detailed, second (and third) level of rules are a bit like playing the trombone. A gentle(wo)man is defined as one who knows how, but chooses not to.
You mean folk like FIDE?
Since FIDE has changed its position on this at least three times over the last few decades, I don’t think that’s a good argument for you to make.
Did I make an argument?
True. Or the correct one. 
I think I understand what you’re saying.
In this case, though, it reads more like here’s someone who encountered something they hadn’t before, later thought it could be a problem, and was wondering if it is or has ever been noticed as a problem. Now (barring any surprising sudden revelations of cheating using a book-style scorepad,) the original poster can let his or her son know that it’s OK that they’re used and not make a frivolous protest at the next tournament.
I’d much rather have the question here (as a question) than a protest in the middle of a tournament.
Not saying the rant’s not justified, just that the post which started this thread is different to me.
I guess there would have to be a variation to cover places like the Marshall Chess Club where it is impossible to keep one of those hard cover score books open. The tables don’t have enough space.
Oh goody! We can resurrect this debate again. Or somebody can find the links to 2007 posts covering this topic, so that anyone who cares to can rehash it on their own time.
I don’t really care if my opponent wants to leave his score sheet face up, face down, to the right, or left of the board or directly in front of him. If I’ve made a mistake in my notation I will ask to borrow his when it’s my move.
I think the only I recall complaining about what my opponent was doing his scoresheet was when he wrote down three or four move pairs at one time. He was not catching up on missing moves he was writing out the line. I complained. The TD made him erase all moves and gave him a warning. All the moves were forced, but it didn’t matter. That was against the rules.
Nope - different point this time. I’m suggesting that if you want to write down the move first, then you can’t hide the move from your opponent.
Though I, too, get frustrated at opponents who do this (probably a neurosis on my part), why should it be forbidden by rule?
See previous discussion. And 100 more just like it.
The point of my proposed rule would be to send a message: playing games with your scoresheet is unacceptable.
There’s no point in introducing distractions to the game. Any time you spend worrying about whether you are getting some wierd “advantage” becuase of some clever way you manage your scoresheet is time that would be better spent playing chess. Players who (misguidedly) spend lots of time fiddling with their scoresheets (or eating onions, or picking their feet) because they think they are getting some wierd “advantage” by doing so are just plain annoying.
Sit down.
Play chess.
Keep score.
Save your “novelties” for the moves on the board.
Oh yes…don’t forget that all knights must face to the right.
This is incorrect. Knights must face forward at a slight angle toward one another so as to see what is going on!!!