The days of adjournments? You say that as though they're not played any more...Scott Freeman wrote:It all reminds me of a terrible story (which I hope I remember correctly) we were told on our arbiting course of a player (in the days of adjournements) in what I assume was a National Club match (or something of that ilk) who travelled from London to the Midlands to continue a game a week after his opponent had sealed a move. At the start time, his opponent had not arrived, so the clock was started. When default time was reached (can't remember whether it was an hour or half an hour), the player present was declared the winner, so the arbiter opened the envelope to see what the sealed move had been. On the piece of paper was written the words "I resign!"
Although, this can be avoided by the current FIDE Adjournment Guidelines. Now, if the person who sealed is not present, the person at the venue can open the envelope straight away, seal in reply, and start his clock. So he could see in an instant that he resigned. I guess if you're travelling from London to the Midlands, this isn't much consolation!
The BDCL's rule states: "if the player who has made the sealed move be absent his clock shall be started and shall run until he shall arrive or exceed the time-limit, whichever event shall first occur." So you have to wait until he runs out of time. If anyone was going to cause a fuss and seal "resigns" this year, this might be one rule they'd take advantage of...
