US Chess rules do not state any difference in the scorekeeping requirement in Regular, Quick, and Blitz (except for a TD Tip which mentions scorekeeping is not required in Quick chess but TD Tips are not rules.) Doesn’t this mean that scorekeeping is required in Quick and Blitz until one of the players is under five minutes?
Well, no. If anything it’s just an omission in the rulebook. It has always been my understanding (as a player and as a TD), and that of everyone else I know, that scorekeeping is not required for any time control shorter than “regular”. If this isn’t in the rulebook, it needs to be.
Anyway, in blitz both players are always under 5 minutes (except in the abomination that is blitz with increment). Common sense alone prohibits scorekeeping in blitz (although I did have an opponent once who insisted on doing it).
Well, no since Blitz goes up to G/10;d0.
I prefer G/3;inc2 to G/5;d0.
US Chess does not have a ‘Rapid’ category.
You know what was meant.
I had forgotten about that. For those of my generation, blitz = speed chess = G/5. Including time controls up to 10 minutes is a relatively new innovation. I have never actually seen anyone use such a time control, though. Any time I see people playing blitz (whether casually or in an official tournament), they are always playing G/5 or something shorter with a delay or increment (although, in my opinion, that’s not really blitz either – it goes against the very nature of the game).
However, I concede the point: yes, the current official definition of blitz does go up to G/10.
Scorekeeping in Blitz and Quick is not required, but you can try. I have played people who tried to keep score. They can’t do it for very long. Once they fall more than 5 or more minutes behind in a Quick game, it is like they are down a piece. The small delays in Quick are not enough to make up for the lack of time. I like when they write their moves down. They are usually surprised that I can reconstruct the whole game without a score sheet after the game so they can complete their score sheet. 24 hours later, I don’t remember the game score and do not care about it. It is only Quick.
In Blitz, if you are keeping score, good luck. It ends up being a huge disadvantage. The only time I have seen Blitz games recorded with any degree of precision is when DGT boards are used so that the games can be published. Both players concentrate on the game.
The norm for a long time has been scorekeeping is for regular games. For Quick and Blitz it is optional. We do not need the letter of the Rulebook to know that. Most of us do not clutch the Rulebook to our breast.
Actually, I don’t. FIDE has a ‘rapids’ ratings system, the time controls for it do not mesh cleanly with US Chess ratings systems.
I was going to say something like this. In 35 years of playing tournament chess (and roughly 20 years of directing), the question of which time controls require scorekeeping has never come up even once. It is just something that everyone knows. On the other hand, I am really surprised that this is not specified in the rulebook, and it probably should be.
However, I agree that it’s a bit silly to require the rulebook to cover absolutely everything. I can’t find a rule that specifically prohibits break dancing in the playing room during a tournament, but I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to tell the dancer to quit it or get out. Common sense goes a long way. I have been told that the higher-level TD certification tests are almost exclusively composed of questions that cannot be answered simply by consulting the rulebook. Experience and common sense are as important as (and maybe more important than) the letter of the law.
The 2013 US Open in Madison had a blitz play-off between the top two tied players. Two TDs on the side kept score (one writing the white moves and one writing the black moves). Review immediately after the game took care of fixing the 4-8 scorekeeping errors. Again, both players concentrate on the game.
In the 6th edition Blitz rules, there is no mention of keeping score, nor are there any rules for using a score sheet when making a claim on time or references to the standard OTB rules for using a score sheet when making a claim on time, so I think it could be assumed that neither player was required to keep score.
I don’t have a copy of the old WBCA rules, but I don’t think they required keeping score, either.
Would it be better to explicitly state that? Probably so. Is the world going to end if it isn’t changed this year, or even next? Probably not, though some may argue it ended (at least as we knew it) in March.
OK, than everyone but you knew what I meant.
No.
The FIDE Laws of Chess state that for Rapid chess, “Players do not need to record the moves, but do not lose their rights to claims normally based on a scoresheet. The player can, at any time, ask the arbiter to provide him with a scoresheet, in order to write the moves.”
Perhaps something like this in the US Chess rulebook would be good.
I don’t like it. I provide scoresheets for every tournament I direct, but I have never directed anything with a time control short enough that scorekeeping is not required. If I did, I probably wouldn’t bother to bring any scoresheets at all. Players who want to keep score in such events can bring their own scoresheets. I don’t think this should be a TD or organizer responsibility.
Also, FIDE arbiters are not quite the same as TDs. They have additional responsibilities. US Chess should think twice about adopting FIDE rules that involve arbiters.
I agree. We can omit the part that says “The player can, at any time, ask the arbiter to provide him with a scoresheet, in order to write the moves.”
How about adding this in rule 5C after it defines the time controls that are quick-only.
“Scorekeeping is not required in quick-only and a player can be awarded a draw based on rules 14C8 and 14F4 even if the player has more than five minutes remaining on their clock.”
I don’t think 5C is the proper place for such a statement. 5C only defines the time controls. Discussion of when scorekeeping is or is not required belongs under rule 15, and including “quick-only” games in the “not required” category should be done there. And rules 14C8 and 14F4 could be amended to include all situations in which scorekeeping is not required. We don’t want to scatter that information to other places.
I noticed the 5th edition of the rulebook stated that scorekeeping was not required in quick chess.
Rule 5C in the 5th edition was titled “Quick Chess” and explained what it was. The last sentence said “All Quick Chess rules are identical to the regular USCF sudden death rules herein except that scorekeeping is not required, so all provisions relating to chess notation are irrelevant.”
In the 6th edition, rule 5C was retitled “Ratable time controls” and the text of the rule was rewritten to explain what time controls fall under Regular, Dual, Quick, and Blitz. The information about scorekeeping not being required in quick chess was not included in the re-write of rule 5C and was not moved to a different rule. I’m assuming not having the rulebook mention that scorekeeping is not required in quick chess was an oversight.
Almost certainly, yes. This oversight should be corrected by the Delegates at the next opportunity. In the meantime, there are those TD Tips that “are not rules”, but what else could be done?
Bill Smythe
Anyone delegate willing to submit a motion on this?