Unfortunate start and end to county match

[IM Jack Rudd]

I've locked this topic for now. Remind me to reopen it on Saturday.

[IM Jack Rudd]

The appeals committee has now met. Feel free to discuss this topic again!

[Neil Graham]

There has been some discussion on the MCCU thread since this one was locked.

The Disputes Committee of the MCCU met yesterday and as a result the match was awarded 12-0 to County B as named in the opening post which in this case was Nottinghamshire.

I understand that the decision will be posted on the MCCU Website shortly.

[NickFaulks]

County B has won a famous victory without playing a single move. Congratulations, this is what English chess is all about.

[Paul Cooksey]

This sort of problem can be avoided in the future by ensuring all u120 matches are played blindfold.

[Chris Goodall]

County B has won a famous victory without playing a single move. Congratulations, this is what English chess is all about.

The message is clear: when in doubt, refuse to play chess. You've got more chance of getting your own way by doing that than by sitting down and making the best of it.

[John Foley]

Every team captain should invest in Paper Chess: Create Your Own Chess Set with a Detachable Board and 2 Full Sets of Punch-out Pieces. From our very own John Saunders

[David Sedgwick]

County B has won a famous victory without playing a single move. Congratulations, this is what English chess is all about.

The message is clear: when in doubt, refuse to play chess. You've got more chance of getting your own way by doing that than by sitting down and making the best of it.

Surely it's a question of where you draw the line here. If County A had failed to bring any clocks, would you expect County B to play without clocks?

[Angus French]

Surely it's a question of where you draw the line here. If County A had failed to bring any clocks, would you expect County B to play without clocks?

No, not without clocks. But if it's possible to draw lines to make pretty good replica chess boards...?

[Chris Goodall]

County B has won a famous victory without playing a single move. Congratulations, this is what English chess is all about.

The message is clear: when in doubt, refuse to play chess. You've got more chance of getting your own way by doing that than by sitting down and making the best of it.

Surely it's a question of where you draw the line here. If County A had failed to bring any clocks, would you expect County B to play without clocks?

No. Because the clock is more essential to the gameplay than the board is. Though I would try to compromise by having a member of County A go and get the clocks while the rest of the games got underway and, when they returned, give two-thirds of the remaining time to County B and one-third to County A. The whole result might be overturned later by the appeal committee, but who cares, we came to play chess.

[David Sedgwick]

Surely it's a question of where you draw the line here. If County A had failed to bring any clocks, would you expect County B to play without clocks?

No, not without clocks. But if it's possible to draw lines to make pretty good replica chess boards...?

[IM Jack Rudd]

I'd say a board was more essential to the gameplay than the clock. The former is needed for the actual play of the game, the latter merely to ensure that the game is played at a reasonable speed.

(Obviously, both are needed for serious competition.)

[Ian Thompson]

Surely it's a question of where you draw the line here. If County A had failed to bring any clocks, would you expect County B to play without clocks?

I don't think I've ever seen a set of rules specifying minimum standards for equipment for club or county level matches where one team is required to provide it.

If, for example, the home players had produced pocket chess sets they'd brought with them could the away team then have refused to play? If there's a minimum acceptable board and piece size for competitive play, what is it?

[Michael Farthing]

Normally I think of myself as someone who is very cavalier about rules and very ready to ignore minor irregularities so it's interesting to find myself rather out of sympathy with the majority here. Probably I would have accepted the paper boards because a day of travel with no chess would have been far worse - but it does strike me as totally unacceptable for the home side to have done this and defaulting them will have at least made them see this.

[Chris Goodall]

but it does strike me as totally unacceptable for the home side to have done this and defaulting them will have at least made them see this.

I don't imagine they got together on the morning of the match and thought "eh, let's forget to bring the boards, that'll be acceptable".