English Chess Forum

In the British championship a mid tournament announcement was made that any shoes that make a noise(aka any heels) were not permitted in the playing hall.

I love the way the forum moan about lack of female players
I love the way the forum moan about negative stereotypes of chess players.

Then you hear crap like this and you then think maybe chess makes its own bed in which to lie.

PS: they should make these announcements pre tournament.

Ben

How are they going to enforce that? Is there a threshold where you transfer from no noise to too noisy? There has to be some noise. Are the arbiters going to go around with some equipment measuring the number of decibels produced by your footwear? Do you have to take your shoes off and put them at the side of the room before you walk in? I hope the female players at the Championship do precisely the opposite, and all wear noisy shoes just to make a point.

This sort of over-bureaucracy really annoys me.

I think my girlfriend packed 8 pairs of shoes..7 of which have heels on.

Alex Holowczak wrote:How are they going to enforce that? Is there a threshold where you transfer from no noise to too noisy?

You use your common sense. Personally I would be surprised if any experienced player chose to wear footwear that made a loud noise, quiet being such an important quality in a tournament room.

Alex Holowczak wrote:I hope the female players at the Championship do precisely the opposite, and all wear noisy shoes just to make a point.

Do you really?

JustinHorton wrote:

Alex Holowczak wrote:How are they going to enforce that? Is there a threshold where you transfer from no noise to too noisy?

You use your common sense. Personally I would be surprised if any experienced player chose to wear footwear that made a loud noise, quiet being such an important quality in a tournament room.

Well, precisely.

JustinHorton wrote:

Alex Holowczak wrote:I hope the female players at the Championship do precisely the opposite, and all wear noisy shoes just to make a point.

Do you really?

Yes. At heart, I'm just a little bit childish.

Don't worry about Horton Alex. He is the child

and regarding Horton's 'point' , you would think a respectable player would have a bloody wash more than once a month, but quite a few don't.

Ben

that a disgrace how can you say that mid tourny that just crazy because of wood floor make sure the british is on a carpet floor next year please!!!!totally agree ben players should be told pre tourny i can guess who came up with this rule but i not name names.

The announcement about 'sources of noise' was made at the beginning of the tournament - not mid- event. Shoes were mentioned - not specifically high heels -as leather soled shoes are equally bad offenders. I know because I made the announcement!!!! But why let accuracy stand in the way of a good rant .....

The announcement is in line with the Laws of Chess applicable from 1st July. If you object take it up with FIDE.

It would be ideal if all events were carpeted (as the Scottish was this year) but this is just not a possibility without a sponsor. Anyone know the managing director of Carpetright?

By the way, I have had to tell a player that his lack of personal hygiene was distracting to his opponent and another arbiter actually washed a competitors clothes overnight!!!

Alex McFarlane wrote: The announcement is in line with the Laws of Chess applicable from 1st July. If you object take it up with FIDE.

It was mentioned elsewhere that the new rule regarding default time (i.e. 0 minutes), was not being adhered to, i.e. the standard UK rules regarding default times were being used. Was the 0 minute rule added on 1st July (or at any other point)? If so, why can you choose to use the local default time rule, but still have to adhere to the FIDE don't-wear-squeaky-shoes rule?

Conceivably because one is considered more sensible and suitable than the other.

Well, if you can pick and choose which rules are used based on what is considered sensible, people may disagree on what is "considered sensible". So why couldn't you then pick some other rule for some reason, and change that?

There's probably a perfectly good reason for it, I just don't know what it is.

Alex Holowczak wrote:Well, if you can pick and choose which rules are used based on what is considered sensible, people may disagree on what is "considered sensible". So why couldn't you then pick some other rule for some reason, and change that?

I'm not sure I follow that, would you like to have another go?

Alex Holowczak wrote:If so, why can you choose to use the local default time rule, but still have to adhere to the FIDE don't-wear-squeaky-shoes rule?

Because the FIDE rules on default times say the default time is 0 minutes unless the rules of the competition specify otherwise. They do not give the arbiter any discretion in ensuring that "a good playing environment is maintained and that the players are not disturbed."

Ian Thompson wrote:

Alex Holowczak wrote:If so, why can you choose to use the local default time rule, but still have to adhere to the FIDE don't-wear-squeaky-shoes rule?

Because the FIDE rules on default times say the default time is 0 minutes unless the rules of the competition specify otherwise. They do not give the arbiter any discretion in ensuring that "a good playing environment is maintained and that the players are not disturbed."

Thanks.