English Chess Forum

Posted: **Tue May 24, 2016 6:16 am**

Hi.
Who should an appeals committee be comprised of?
In tournaments in Iran, every appeals committee member is also a player in thAT same event

Posted: **Tue May 24, 2016 9:18 am**

soheil_hooshdaran wrote: Who should an appeals committee be comprised of?

It's relatively rare for British tournaments to bother to set up an appeals committee. But if one did, it might follow the template used in the British Championship Congress, namely a Principal Arbiter as the Chair, not connected with the dispute, two other arbiters, also not connected with the dispute and two player Representatives. By virtue of needing arbiters not connected with the dispute, it would have to be formed on an "as required" basis.

At Hastings by contrast

The appeals committee will comprise an international arbiter not involved in the original decision and two players’ representatives of international status.

Again they wouldn't be able to announce the membership in advance.

But there are rather fewer available arbiters at Hastings than at the British.

Posted: **Tue May 24, 2016 9:55 am**

soheil_hooshdaran wrote:Hi....
In tournaments in Iran, every appeals committee member is also a player in thAT same event

Usually such players have a reputation for fairness that others trust.

(Although it has been known in other circles for abusers to be chosen. "Saudi Arabia elected Chair of UN Human Rights Council", for example.)

Hastings 2015/16 -

The Hastings Chess Congress Committee also includes a players' rep. "Nominations are invited...nominees must have played in at least two of the last four Congresses, including the current one.... Voting will take place during Congress... "

Posted: **Tue May 24, 2016 10:08 am**

John McKenna wrote: The Hastings Chess Congress Committee also includes a players' rep.

That's the group of organisers which set up and run the Congress, rather than the appeal body for disputes. I'm not sure how often Hastings actually needs the Appeal Committee to meet, nor for that matter the British Championship Congress. I could imagine that the incidents at Canterbury in 2010 and Aberystwyth in 2014 resulting in the award of one and half points for a single game may have had some Appeal Committee involvement.

Posted: **Tue May 24, 2016 10:24 am**

Appeals committees must surely be vanishingly rare in chess? Very few subjective legal decisions for the arbiters to make, so you'd effectively be challenging the original arbiters interpretation of fact/law, which won't be common.

Bridge involves many more subjective legal decisions so uses appeals a fair amount. Fairly sure they use a mix of players, coaches, spare arbiters etc in big events, sometimes phoning people for smaller ones.

Posted: **Tue May 24, 2016 10:30 am**

Appeals committees are usually ad hoc.

A Congress committee must be more of a standing one. To elect the players' rep to it during the event may be a tad late. Better late than never, though.

It only takes one particularly difficult player to make a standing appeals committee necessary.

As I said, above, some organisations appoint major abusers to head such committees. Maybe it should be tried at chess events, too.

Posted: **Tue May 24, 2016 10:33 am**

John McKenna wrote: To elect the players' rep to it during the event may be a tad late.

I believe the idea at Hastings is to elect a couple of people to contribute to the organisation of the following year's Congress, rather than the one in progress.

Posted: **Tue May 24, 2016 11:29 am**

Appeals Committees are more common in overseas tournaments than in Britain. I can remember tournaments with ballot papers at the start of Round 1 to elect members from amongst the players.
Curiously I was a member of the Appeals Committee for the Aeroflot Tournament for 4 years from 2008-2011. This was an appointment of the organisers. Geurt Gijssen thought it desirable that there be a non-Russian on the committee of 3 players. I can remember him coming up to me and asking "How well do you know the rules?" I explained that I was not a qualified arbiter but that I was an avid reader of his Chess Café column, which seemed to satisfy him. Thankfully we never met, even for the Mamedyarov-Kurnosov incident in 2009.

Posted: **Tue May 24, 2016 11:38 am**

The 4NCL has an appeals committee:-

http://www.4ncl.co.uk/mgt_appeals.htm

I have no idea how often appeals are heard.

Posted: **Tue May 24, 2016 12:02 pm**

None in 2015/6.

I daresay though that one day eventually one will come along, and that when it does it will be quite big ...

Posted: **Tue May 24, 2016 1:41 pm**

The ECF County Championships has one

D1.1. The Final Stage of each section shall be conducted by the Controller. Any decision of the Controller can be appealed against by direct reference to the Director of Home Chess, in writing and made within 48 hours of that decision. Such an appeal shall be accompanied by a deposit of £20 which will be returned if the appeal succeeds. The appeal will be heard by the Appeals Committee, which shall be composed of three members of the Appeals Panel appointed by the Director of Home Chess. The people on the Panel will be published before the start of the Final Stage, and it will have at least five members plus the Chief Arbiter. The Director of Home Chess shall then reply within a further 48 hours with his decision which is final.

The Appeals Panel is composed of David Welch, Ben Edgell, Adrian Elwin, Neil Graham, Chris Majer and David Sedgwick

Posted: **Tue May 24, 2016 6:49 pm**

Mick Norris wrote:The ECF County Championships has one

D1.1. The Final Stage of each section shall be conducted by the Controller. Any decision of the Controller can be appealed against by direct reference to the Director of Home Chess, in writing and made within 48 hours of that decision. Such an appeal shall be accompanied by a deposit of £20 which will be returned if the appeal succeeds. The appeal will be heard by the Appeals Committee, which shall be composed of three members of the Appeals Panel appointed by the Director of Home Chess. The people on the Panel will be published before the start of the Final Stage, and it will have at least five members plus the Chief Arbiter. The Director of Home Chess shall then reply within a further 48 hours with his decision which is final.

The Appeals Panel is composed of David Welch, Ben Edgell, Adrian Elwin, Neil Graham, Chris Majer and David Sedgwick

But twas not ever thus. Until this year, the appeals of a decision by the Controller came to me as Director. This became a farce in 2015, when Andrew had to make a decision on Yorkshire v Warwickshire despite being a Yorkshire official, and when Yorkshire wanted to appeal, they did so to me, a Warwickshire official. Andrew and I acknowledged this was a nonsense, and we had to make up an Appeals process on the hoof, which is not desirable at all. I wrote this for 2016 to avoid going through the shambles of last year.

Of course, "his decision" in the last sentence should be "the Committee's decision".

Posted: **Tue May 24, 2016 6:54 pm**

As I have said to Andrew, I trust his integrity, so would have no problem on him making a decision on any issue from a Yorks v G Man match, nor you doing similar on a Warks v G Man match, Alex, but the wider panel is good, as those from the counties concerned can excuse themselves

Posted: **Tue May 24, 2016 8:22 pm**

The county championship appeals process will need to be revisited when it becomes FIDE rated

Posted: **Tue May 24, 2016 10:56 pm**

E Michael White wrote:The county championship appeals process will need to be revisited when it becomes FIDE rated

Really?

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