An attempt to solve/improve 10.2b

[Paul Cooksey]

Real arbiters are to be found in the bar with a pie and a pint

Oh dear. More difficulties. So I've stopped the clock and gone to look for the arbiter in the bar - am I allowed to have a swift half before making the claim?

[Sean Hewitt]

Real arbiters are to be found in the bar with a pie and a pint

Oh dear. More difficulties. So I've stopped the clock and gone to look for the arbiter in the bar - am I allowed to have a swift half before making the claim?

Of course. And the chances of your claim succeeding increase significantly if you buy the arbiter one whilst you do so

[Alex McFarlane]

Sorry Paul

Article 11.3b Alcohol may only be consumed when your clock is running.

[Simon Dixon]

Real arbiters are to be found in the bar with a pie and a pint .... in each hand and a spare balanced on their knee.

And can be recognised by a dishevelled look, discussing the merits of pigeons and ferrets as potential chess players.

Once located, you must shout. I CLAIM A DRAW SIR, FIDO RULE 10.2 NO LESS. Now get off your fat ar** and see to it immediately. I will look after your pie and pint/s, and your bicycle.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"That's your <deleted> southern arbiters for you. In a restaurant indeed.

Real arbiters are to be found in the bar with a pie and a pint "

I assume by southern, you mean South of Hadrian's Wall... In a Westminster Rapidplay, John Sargent and I sprinted off to the nearby pub at the start of Round 3 for a pint (after all nothing would go wrong until near the end of the game...) About five minutes later, two players walked in and explained they had a dispute, I made a decision and they politely thanked me and went back to resume the game.

If you need an arbiter, it is sometimes necessary to gently awaken them at the control desk.

[Roger de Coverly]

There's more on this at

http://www.chesscafe.com/geurt/geurt.htm, the article headed The Never-Ending Story of Article 10.2

What caught my eye was the procedure after the arbiter postpones the decision.

b. If the arbiter postpones his decision, the opponent may be awarded two extra minutes and the game shall continue, if possible in the presence of an arbiter. The arbiter shall declare the final result later in the game or as soon as possible after a flag has fallen. He shall declare the game drawn if he agrees that the final position cannot be won by normal means, or that the opponent was not making sufficient attempts to win by normal means.

I think that's where problems arise. The fact that the arbiter watching the game imposes a higher standard of play than when play is unobserved. So an opponent running short of time can avoid the consequences of his tardy play by getting an arbiter to rule that his opponent's play was not making sufficient attempts to win by normal means. For many players normal means consists of flailing around trying to find a plan or induce a blunder, so shouldn't this provision be toned down so as to only apply to positions where repetition of position or the fifty move rule would be the normal means by which it would end? For example KBN v K. If the player doesn't know or find one of the techniques, it will be a draw but only when fifty moves have elapsed.

[Nick Thomas]

This is discussed again by Guert Gijssen here: http://www.chesscafe.com/geurt/geurt.htm with some possible improvements at the end of the article including my sugested improvement.