BUCA Championships

[Eoin Devane]

Given that this tournament will, in a few hours, be back after a 19 year break, I thought it time it had a thread in General Chat rather than just being consigned to Chess History.

Many congratulations should go to Alex Holowczak for all his work to reinvent the BUCA. Everything looks to be in place for a good tournament. It's being held at the Barcelo Hotel, Oxford, with play from 1300-2130 today and from 1100-1630 tomorrow; if you're in the area feel free to pop along to watch some games. For those of you who want to check out who's playing, squad lists are on the website: http://www.buca.org.uk/buca-championshi ... ship?pg=5/

I'll try to post regular updates on the tournament as the weekend progresses.

[Alex Holowczak]

So will I! I'm sat in the control room in Oxford right now. Eoin is sitting playing on his ... iSomething. Everything is going well so far, but half of my team are in Oxford eating breakfast...

Waiting for the other teams to arrive.

[Eoin Devane]

The tournament is underway and is looking good. All the teams have shown up.

[Michele Clack]

I looked at the website there are some good teams. Well done Alex and everyone else involved, I hope you have a great tournament. Eoin, don't you play yourself? With one extra player you could have run a second team.

[Eoin Devane]

No, I'm not playing this weekend. Basically,we're using this event primarily as a warm-up for our Varsity match, so we decided to rotate our best players. We would have entered a second team but for the fact that it clashes with our Second team Varsity Match tomorrow. We couldn't have added me and split our squad as most of our players can only make part of the tournament (hence our average grade as given is not entirely representative of the true strength of our team).

[Eoin Devane]

Two surprises in round 1: Oxford 2 - 2 Durham (Oxford wthout its top two for this round) and UCL 1.5 - 2.5 Imperial 2 (FM Vas held by Alan Luo).

UCL drawn to play Oxford in round 2. Top board Vas (2309) - German (2515) unfortunately ruined by Vas claiming a win by mobiles phone in spite of his clear knowledge that German, having been away from the game for 12 years, would not be aware of this rule. Really one has to ask if we're actually playing a fun game anymore when something like this happens.

[Sean Hewitt]

Two surprises in round 1: Oxford 2 - 2 Durham (Oxford wthout its top two for this round) and UCL 1.5 - 2.5 Imperial 2 (FM Vas held by Alan Luo).

UCL drawn to play Oxford in round 2. Top board Vas (2309) - German (2515) unfortunately ruined by Vas claiming a win by mobiles phone in spite of his clear knowledge that German, having been away from the game for 12 years, would not be aware of this rule. Really one has to ask if we're actually playing a fun game anymore when something like this happens.

Surely there is no issue. It's not a case of 'claiming' a win. The arbiter is obliged to penalise the player whose phone went off with the loss of the game. There is no discretion.

[Eoin Devane]

But if the arbiter's not in the room then there is a degree of a discretion in leaving the room to go and get him. I have absolutely no criticism of Tim; I think he is a first-class arbiter. I just find myself wondering whether we are all taking things a bit too seriously when his sort of thing happens in what should be a game played for enjoyment. It is clear that no cheating had occuring, and the ensuing debate certainly caused more distraction than the phone ring did.

[Simon Spivack]

One can't anticipate everything, particularly given how some players are prone to lateness. However, making an announcement to switch off mobile phones just before starting a round is a common approach.

A bit late now, I suppose everyone in this tournament is now alert to the problem.

[Eoin Devane]

To try and improve the situation, Oxford's board 3 played for a win in a drawn position and ended up losing. So Oxford lost the match 2.5 - 1.5 - I guess it's just not our day! Bath, Edinburgh and Imperial 2 (impressively) are jointly leading with 4/4. Edinburgh vs. Bath is the key match-up of this round.

[Ben Purton]

I cant believe how week Oxford are even on paper............ you must be missing lots of people.

Ben

[Nick Thomas]

I cant believe how week Oxford are even on paper............ you must be missing lots of people.

Ben

Mmm no Murray David and others??

[Eoin Devane]

Murray could only make one round, which sadly could not justify a place in the squad. Steffen Schaper couldn't make any rounds. What others though?

[Alex Holowczak]

Dramatically, Imperial 2 are the clear leaders after day 1 after three wins out of three! Imperial 1 are near the bottom. They play Bath 1 tomorrow morning. Oxford had a 'mare, drawing to Durham 1, and losing against UCL 1 after the phone went off.

Bad day for me, played 2 lost 2. Blundered a pawn in the fiasco with the phone going off, went on to lose. Against Durham 2, I had good chances, but stuffed it up.

Regarding the mobile phone incident, the resulting fracas caused far more distraction than the phone going off actually did. It is German's fault, I don't care how long you've been out of the game, it's his responsibility to know the rules.

That said, if people approve, I'm prepared to implement a one-warning policy. I.e. first time warning, second time default (but the warning counts for the whole room) - a bit like the false start rule in athletics. Since the games aren't FIDE rated, I think we're allowed to make such a local rule.

The only downside so far is that my room doesn't have a curtain in the window.

[Eoin Devane]

Regarding the mobile phone incident, the resulting fracas caused far more distraction than the phone going off actually did. It is German's fault, I don't care how long you've been out of the game, it's his responsibility to know the rules.

I completely agree that the phone going off was Gustavo's fault (well, really it was my fault as captain for not making him aware of changes to the rules since he stopped playing). But really we have to ask ourselves what sort of state we have let our game get into if we value winning over the spirit of the game. I mean we're not competing for the World Championship here - we're supposed to be playing a game we enjoy. If you are claiming a win by mobile phone, are you not effectively saying that you have been distracted to such an extent that you can no longer play on normally. By all accounts, the phone noise was minimal (several people I asked who were in the room even said they did not hear it at all), and the incident occured on move 7, so it's hardly as if there can have been any great distraction. Add this to the facts that Gustavo was obviously not trying to cheat and that he has been away from the game for 12 years and was simply unaware of this new rule and surely the logical conclusion for any reasonable and fair person would be to politely request the player to switch the phone off and then continue the game. Not to leave the room (leaving Gustavo puzzled about what was going on) and go and get the Arbiter to demand a win by default. Is winning at any cost really more important than fairness and the sportsmanship?