Had fun at the World Team despite a middling result and weather so cold even I put on a heavy coat.
I planned to focus on chess—as in moves played OTB, which I find even harder now than before—but the announcements before round one made me slip into rules geek-mode. I paid attention to the little things over the weekend.
It’s time to simplify. To do things “just right” even without quotes attached, per the fussy tweaks we have added to the rules, can be non-intuitive and does not often happen. To start with clock stuff:
My friend and teammate, an active Local TD who has played rated chess for 35 years, used an Excalibur clock. At least twice the First sign was on the wrong side, throwing off the move count by a half-move. His opponents did not notice. Had I not mentioned it, my friend would not have noticed. As it was, he looked at me kinda funny, shrugged and said something akin to “So what”?
Another game, another teammate used a Saitek scholastic blue clock provided by his opponent. She set the clock so it beeped softly each time the clock was pressed. No one complained.
I saw Chronos clocks set every way conceivable for the time control, apart from Bronstein/Adagio mode. Some with clock-press counters, some without. Some with count-down delay, some with flashing-symbol delay. I would bet a Macanudo that some were set to halt-at-end while others were not.
It might have been a very good thing to set standards for digital clocks 15 years ago. Today it’s too late. As one of the twisted ones who focuses on such things and tries to find logic and harmony, trust me: It’s too late. My old friend who stared at me like I was from Mars when I pointed out a nuance on his Excalibur clock could be your next opponent—or the TD at your next small event.
End of Part One. Trying to control my overlong posts.
The Excalibur needs to be set to indicate which side is White’s. The clock will add one to the clock press counter whenever Black’s plunger is pressed. The clock shows which side is White’s by displaying the word “first” on that side. If this is set incorrectly, the clock will incorrectly add the time for the next time control prematurely after White has completed the required number of moves but before Black has completed the last move of the time control (assuming, of course, that the clock press counter accurately reflects the number of moves White has completed).
Your friend failed to set his clock properly, and his opponent failed to correct it. First/white indicators are standard on multiple clock models, including the DGT flavors and Excalibur. Checking them is simply a part of pregame due diligence.
Had something unusual happened where the incorrectly set clock indicated an incorrect and game critical state of affairs, I would have no sympathy for your friend or his opponent. Particularly your friend, who, as both the clock’s owner and a TD, has no excuse not to know better.
