FIDE rule 10.2 and juniors

National developments, strategies and ideas.
Robert Dale
Posts: 28
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 12:40 pm

Re: FIDE rule 10.2 and juniors

Post by Robert Dale » Thu Jul 14, 2011 12:24 am

FIDE rule 10.2 can be a nightmare! I was running an U18 tournament on Saturday, and the following situation arose. Player A, with 1 minute on his clock, was a pawn down in a rook and pawn ending, against Player B, with 4 minutes. Both were reasonably competent players, but I had been watching the game from a distance for a while, and B was not making any progress (though not, in my judgement, for want of trying). Player A claimed a draw, but I postponed my decision, because there were clear winning chances. So far so good. But now the psychological effect kicks in. B (rightly) interpreted my (non)decision as meaning he could win the game, so he studied the position carefully... for one minute, two minutes, three minutes.... He actually found the winning line, but his flag fell before he could finish off the game! He accepted the result with good grace - but how frustrating must that be?

Incidentally, in the same tournament I had one of the most bizarre decisions I have ever had to make. Two weaker players called me over: "Sir, he's got two bishops on white squares, and we don't know how they got there!" (they were not recording). I took a guess where one of the bishops ought to be, and they both happily accepted it!

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