Roger de Coverly wrote:Andrew Bak wrote:
What are the rules about asking your captain what the match score is and what the captain is allowed to tell you? Assuming your captain is allowed to tell you the match score, can he add a suplementary sentence such as "we only need a draw to win the match" or, "we need you to win at all costs"?
As far as I am aware, it's completely legal to ask. In something like the 4NCL, you sometimes need to know what result you need in a last round to make a board point tie break work for your team. So you may need the match captain to hint at what's going on in other matches.
Here's what the FIDE Tournament Rules say:
16. Team Captain’s Role in Team Tournaments
(a) The role of a team captain is basically an administrative one during play. Depending on the regulations of the specific competition, the captain shall be required to deliver, at a specific time, a written list naming the players in his team who will participate in each round, communicate to his players their pairing, sign the protocol indicating the results in the match at the end of the play, etc.
(b) Whenever the team captain speaks to one of his players, he should do so only through or in the presence of an arbiter using a language the arbiter can understand.
(c) A captain is entitled to advise the players of his team to make or accept an offer of a draw or to resign a game, unless the regulations of the event stipulate otherwise. He must confine himself only to brief information, based solely on the circumstances pertaining to the match. He may say to a player, “offer a drawâ€, “accept the drawâ€, or “resign the gameâ€. For example, if asked by a player whether he should accept an offer of a draw, the captain should answer “yesâ€, “noâ€, or delegate the decision to the player himself. He shall give no information to a player concerning the position on the chess board and/or the clock times, nor consult any other person and/or computer as to the state of the game.
The captain shall abstain from any intervention during play.
(d) Players are subject to the same prohibitions. Even though in a team competition there is a certain team loyalty, which goes beyond a player’s individual game, a game of chess is basically a contest between two players. Therefore, a player must have the final say over the conduct of his own game. Although the advice of the captain should weigh heavily with the player, the player is not absolutely compelled to accept that advice. Likewise, the captain cannot act on behalf of a player and his game without the knowledge and consent of the player.
(e) A team captain should encourage his team always to follow both the letter and the spirit of Article 12 of the FIDE Laws of Chess concerning the conduct of the players. Team championships, in particular, should be conducted in the spirit of the highest sportsmanship.