English Chess Forum

The arbiters at Telford, division 3S/4 were trying out some anti-cheating measures. Did the same apply at division 1/2 at Birmingham Airport and in division 3N?

What were those measures Roger?

John Upham wrote:What were those measures Roger?

Mobile phones to be placed in arbiter supplied plastic bags as well as being switched off. A suggestion that you shouldn't leave the playing room whilst it was your move. A notice on the door leading to the analysis and bookstall room declaring it to be out of bounds to those in play. A similar notice on the door between the downstairs areas of the hotel and the lift and staircase leading to the accommodation. The Chief Arbiter in possession of a ferocious looking metal detector with a threat at future weekends to select players at random and buzz them for glasses, keys and coins.

Use of a metal detector and chess players could possibly lead to a similar scenario as

this one

"A suggestion that you shouldn't leave the playing room whilst it was your move."

Was this suggestion well-received? Obeyed? Policed?

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: Was this suggestion well-received? Obeyed? Policed?

It's not my impression that players do this (leave the board whilst on the move) anyway. It's one of the better ways of making your opponent suspicious. You may leave the board when not your move and some players, notably smokers, do this more frequently than others. In a team match, your only good reason other than a medical or digestive emergency for leaving the board whilst your move would be to check other games for insight into whether to offer or accept a draw or determine whether you had to play for a win.

As for policed, I don't know. There always seemed an arbiter or two in the room, which is not always the case at Congresses

I occasionally leave the board if it's my move if I'm having a long think to get some water but I've never left the playing room.

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:"A suggestion that you shouldn't leave the playing room whilst it was your move."

Was this suggestion well-received? Obeyed? Policed?

Obeyed - one would hope so, as it's required by the Laws of chess (11.2 b), unless you get the arbiter's permission to leave.
Policed - one would also hope so, otherwise the arbiters aren't doing their jobs properly.

What need for the arbiters to police?
A player who does this has an observant opponent!

Ian Thompson wrote:

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:"A suggestion that you shouldn't leave the playing room whilst it was your move.".................

....... one would hope so, as it's required by the Laws of chess (11.2 b), unless you get the arbiter's permission to leave. .....

Hardly.

Don't forget in a large playing room the playing area is only a small part of it in the vicinity of your game. Law 11.2(b) relates to the playing area not the playing room. If you move and set off immediately to visit the toilet with an arbiter in hot pursuit, even if you don't reach the playing room door before your oppo moves, you probably left the playing area before your opponent moved. Once a player has left the playing area the Laws do not provide for the arbiter to insist you return there after your opponent has moved. If you decide to take a break and wander round the playing venue, except for excluded places like the analysis room, that is allowed for within the Laws.

If the arbiter tells you you can't leave the playing room as its your move tell him it wasn't when you left the playing area .... oh and also its against the Laws of Chess for him to tell you when your opponent has moved.

But I do agree with the 4NCL Arbiters its a good advisory measure that players should, rather than must, adhere to and avoid suspicions of cheating.

Roger de Coverly wrote: A suggestion that you shouldn't leave the playing room whilst it was your move.

I could perhaps have worded this as a "reminder" that you shouldn't leave the playing room. In Telford, the bottled water supply was outside the playing room. If there's an arbiter continuously present, you can always ask them for permission.

"11.2 Only with the permission of the arbiter can
a.a player leave the playing venue.
b.the player having the move be allowed to leave the playing area." etc.

So if your opponent is to move and leaves the room, it is reasonable to complain. I'm not sure why there should be a "suggestion" not to leave the room whilst on the move.

This is entirely different from making a move, and walking away from the board, as even if the opponent now moves, you have already left the board and are probably not even looking at it, so just keep on walking.

Kevin Thurlow wrote: I'm not sure why there should be a "suggestion" not to leave the room whilst on the move.

I forget the exact wording, but players were reminded of the Laws of Chess forbidding leaving the playing area. That was in the context of a specific announcement as to the deemed extent of the playing venue.

But to refer back to my original question, was this confined to divisions 3 and 4 at Telford, or were there similar announcements and measures at the other two venues?

For clarification (Roger's wording above strikes me as slightly unclear):

The playing area and the playing venue are distinct concepts and almost invariably different from each other. Both are arbiter defined but essentially the playing area would be the room in which the games are taking place and the playing venue would be the part of the congress building that players may go into during the game (not on their move), typically including the toilet and refreshment facilities, but excluding, for example, the bedrooms in the case of a congress held in a hotel. In practice, at many UK weekend congresses, the bookstall is rather surprisingly part of the playing venue and sometimes the analysis room also!

My impression at Wakefield was that the mobile phone announcement on Saturday was strengthened on Sunday, but that may be because I wasn't paying attention properly as I wasn't playing on Sunday