English Chess Forum

Something of a non-topic, because there aren't going to be any.

http://www.fide.com/component/content/a ... chess.html

I thought there was an agreed draft hammered out in Istanbul. Is there still something unresolved?

There were a couple of outstanding issues (of a minor nature) that needed to be resolved and so a decision was made at the General Assembly to leave the final acceptance to the FIDE Presidential Board. However some members of the PB then wanted to make further changes to what the Rules and Tournament Regulations Commission had agreed to in Istanbul. These changes went further than members of the RTRC were willing to accept without formal discussions, and as a consequence the whole set of proposals have been put on hold until the next FIDE Congress in Tallinn later this year.
Compounding the problem is that the Chairman of the RTRC has been unwell making it harder for all the interested parties (RTRC and PB) to sort this out before 1 July 2013.

I spoke to Geurt Thursday. Although in ill-health he is intellectually fine. He hopes to come to Tallinn,
It was not a factor in the delay in finalising the new Laws.

However beware the FIDE dress code approaches!

http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/fide- ... sport-caps

So before the start of the event the arbiters will check for baseball caps, sunglasses and make sure that the male competitors have clean clothes and that female competitors aren't wearing any revealing attire. But before they become too prescriptive remember that the arbiters must not be seen wearing T-shirts or polo shirts, jeans or shorts!



So, Mr Arbiter, jacket and tie please in future!

Neil Graham wrote: So, Mr Arbiter, jacket and tie please in future!

And at the last Olympiad the arbiters were presented with 2 polo-shirts and asked to wear them regularly.
Teams are allowed to wear uniform but not arbiters!!!

I also note that the kilt is allowed - but only if you are Scottish or Irish!

Alex McFarlane wrote:

Neil Graham wrote: So, Mr Arbiter, jacket and tie please in future!

And at the last Olympiad the arbiters were presented with 2 polo-shirts and asked to wear them regularly.
Teams are allowed to wear uniform but not arbiters!!!

I also note that the kilt is allowed - but only if you are Scottish or Irish!

]

I suggest you ask FIDE for complimentary suits and ties at the next Olympiad. I thought Carlsen looked very smart in his jacket with his sponsor's
name on - perhaps an advertising opportunity for the arbiters here?

Neil Graham wrote:... and that female competitors aren't wearing any revealing attire.

Does that mean men can play - as Blackadder would put it - "tackle out"?

Jonathan Bryant wrote:

Neil Graham wrote:... and that female competitors aren't wearing any revealing attire.

Does that mean men can play - as Blackadder would put it - "tackle out"?

3b The following is NOT acceptable for men players, captains, head of delegation.

Beach-wear slips, profanity and nude or semi-nude pictures printed on shirts, torn pants or jeans. holes, denim shorts, short-shorts, cut-off shorts, gym shorts, unclean clothing, sun glasses, sport caps.

I actually banned a T-shirt at the Nottingham Congress one year.

The new Laws will require all players to play in the nude, without sunglasses and nothing covering their ears. There will be a full body search every hour, though at irregular intervals. This is to prevent cheating.Taking drugs will be mandatory.
Arbiters will indeed be required to wear yellow armbands, similar to those required of Jews in the Second World War, to distinguish them from the players. Ties will also be mandatory. Where these are to be worn has not been stipulated. When I pointed out people may find my third breast disquieting, the response was, 'Well, you're not a player or arbiter anyway.'

Players will be behind screens to prevent communication with their opponents. Pairings will not be announced in order to prevent collusion. Results will not be announced until after the event is concluded so players won't be able to predict their opponent.

Stalemate is to be a win for the stalemater. Repetition will not be allowed. Since White will have a substantial advantage, two players will play two games simultaneously with each other, one with white and the other black. All games will be concluded after 3 hours play as drawn, irrespective of the position on the board.

See if you can work out which parts of all that have actually been suggested, seemingly seriously.

All of them?

Whilst it is easy to have a laugh at FIDE's expense, the dress code actually looks to be pretty sensible. There is only one section that I wondered about. What does "clothes that expose areas of the body usually covered in the location where the event is taking place" in the regulations for women mean in practice? How might this be applied in a Muslim country?

Matthew Turner wrote:Whilst it is easy to have a laugh at FIDE's expense, the dress code actually looks to be pretty sensible. There is only one section that I wondered about. What does "clothes that expose areas of the body usually covered in the location where the event is taking place" in the regulations for women mean in practice? How might this be applied in a Muslim country?

Basically not wearing low cut tops and eye catching short skirt/shorts. In the West its seen as quite natural for women to go about in this way but in Muslim countries its often seen as very offensive. Sometimes in the shopping malls a Local will phone the police when they see a female western tourist dressed in skimpy beachwear. What usually happens is the woman will give the police an ear battering (especially if she's British) and the police will tell her to "put something on" then all parties go on their merry way.

In the more devout Muslim countries they'll insist on headscarves as well being worn.

It's a tricky area that the FIDE dress code should have steered clear of. They've gone way too granular IMO. All that was needed was advice to dress appropriately as FIDE events are prestigious events and are covered by the world media blah blah blah. Something like that and you're done. A lot of male chess players dress like tramps, a lot of them haven't got much money, I get why a dress code is needed for males. Telling a woman how to dress? Bad move FIDE.

As a follow up, the issue is discussed at http://www.chesscafe.com/geurt/geurt180.htm

The delay is to do with resolving how many arbiters are needed for a knock out tournament, which appears a matter of considerable controversy to FIDE decision makers even if a question of total indifference to everyone else. Having introduced restrictions on recruiting arbiters with their Licensing regulations, they now find a shortage.

At the moment the definitive Laws of Chess, coming into force July 1, 2014, and not from July 1, 2013, are being discussed. One of the most important items are the Rules for Rapid and Blitz Chess. Within FIDE the matters you address are a hot topic.

Let me try to explain one of the points of discussion: Suppose there is a KO Rapid Tournament. Let us say with 128 players. This means we start with sixty-four games. It is quite difficult to find sixty-four arbiters for such an event, but suppose eight arbiters are available. This means the tournament starts with inadequate supervision. In the second round we have thirty-two games and the supervision will still be inadequate. In the third round we have sixteen games and with eight arbiters it is possible to provide adequate supervision, as each arbiter has to control only two games. Thus, during the tournament after some rounds it is possible to switch from inadequate to adequate supervision.

In FIDE there are two opinions: there are those who prefer the system I described above provided that the switch is clearly announced in advance; others want to have the same type of supervision for the whole event. It is important to mention also that in the case of inadequate supervision, the latter group favours extending the authority of the arbiter: he may call a flag fall and an illegal move. This applies for Rapid and Blitz Chess.

You could I suppose add, that provided the clock is programmed to indicate which flag fell first, that rules about what happens when both flags are down should be obsolete with digital clocks. DGTs will identify which flag fell first when using increments even though their default settings reproduce the behaviour of a traditional clock on rapid and blitz modes.

If you have sensory boards and a live audience, illegal moves are likely to be spotted and it would be bizarre if an arbiter was not allowed to intervene.

With the precedent of the Gibraltar playoff in mind, players need to know whether they can appeal to the arbiter to check for a threefold repetition and how to make such a claim.

The matter of the supervision for knockout tournaments, particularly the World Cup is a very minor one. It is only a matter of opinion anyway and could have been resolved by the toss of a coin.
The reason for the delay is that the FIDE General Assembly in Turkey gave the final sign-off on the Laws to the Presidential Board. That is fine and what has happened for the last 20 years to my knowledge. It is very difficult to get wording precise in a general meeting. But the PB started looking at all the Laws and made some suggestions for changes. That went beyond their remit. Since they were new, the Rules and Tournament Regulations Commission could not agree to allow the PB to pass these changes without referral back to the GA.

Now of course there have been new suggestions. e.g. It has often been a vexing matter that players have put a pawn on the eighth rank and left it there. Clearly that is illegal and clearly it is of a different nature from playing Ng1-e3. The suggestion by Ashot Vardapetian is:
If a player puts a pawn on the rank furthest from it starting square and then presses the clock, the new piece becomes a queen.

With sensory boards illegal moves will be spotted, but the players and arbiter might not notice. Nigel Short has suggested that if you play an illegal move you should lose, if the arbiter or your opponent spots it before the clock is pressed. That is no good for weaker players, but very sensible at a higher level.

Stewart Reuben wrote: If a player puts a pawn on the rank furthest from it starting square and then presses the clock, the new piece becomes a queen.

The game would still have to be paused to allow the pawn to be replaced by the queen, and arguably for the player who pressed his clock to be penalised for not pausing the clocks instead (though you have to know how to do this if in time trouble). What if the player attempts to move the promoted pawn while it is still a pawn?

Stewart Reuben wrote:With sensory boards illegal moves will be spotted, but the players and arbiter might not notice. Nigel Short has suggested that if you play an illegal move you should lose, if the arbiter or your opponent spots it before the clock is pressed. That is no good for weaker players, but very sensible at a higher level.

Really? What if a world championship were decided on such a mishap?