Possession of (or by) Mobile Phones

[Geoff Chandler]

You lot are starting to sound like the kid who lost Christmas.

"One does wonder how on earth the London Chess League survived it's first 80 plus years,
without a mobile phone having been invented."

I totally agree Gordon.

You got the fixtures and gave the dates to each team member.
They turned up on time. That was it.
No callng and texting reminders.
Another instance of these mobiles dumbing people down.

Infact thanks to mobiles players can cancel at a moments notice
simply because they don't feel like a game.
In the past they could not contact their captain so turned up out of duty.
Now a brief text and that is them off the hook.

As for the excuse people use them at work.
Leave them in your desk, forget work, chess is more important than a crust job.
Who on here is so full of self importance that they have to be on call 24 hrs. a day.

Any doctors, no, I've seen medical questions on this forum go unanswered.
Fireman? Seen any posts on how to deal with a kitchen fire recently? So no again.
Nobody on here is that important.
What do we have is two chess hacks, a retired copper and an umployed gardener.

And as for emergencies?
We had emergencies long before mobile phones and everyone coped.
Real emergencies, not:

"Please bring home some milk."

"I cannot find the TV zapper."

"Hi, I saw someone today who looked a little like Tom Hanks."

As I said before 99.99% of the times it's complete tosh.

Emergency solutions:

Drink green tea,listen to the radio and I think everyone looks a little like Tom Hanks.

[John Cox]

Sure, Geoff, but equally everyone carries one and having to remember to take it out of your pocket/bag whatever is a faff, and an unnecessary one.

Teacup shrinking.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi John.

"...but equally everyone carries one."

I hope you are not counting me as everyone.

I can walk straight past the guards, I am now unarmed mobile wise.

People have been caught using them to cheat.

Why is anyone bringing a mobile to a chess tournament?
I have already said nobody it that important they have to be on tap 24 hrs. a day.

Obviously the powers that be agree with and can think of only one
other reason why players bring mobiles to chess tournaments.

[John Cox]

Because they have them in their handbags and forget to take them out, I suppose. But I was really talking about local leagues.

[Roger de Coverly]

Why is anyone bringing a mobile to a chess tournament?

I'll give you a for example from the British Championships and other big events. You carry the phone with you, so that you can go out to eat and socialise after your game and still be able to find out the next day's pairings in time so that you can discuss them over a beer.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Roger,

There is your typical amatuer player talking.

You do not go out to socialise during tournaments and you certainly do not a have a beer.
Go home, rest and have a good night's sleep.

If you cannot work out, if you really have to, who you are playing in the next round
that you have to interupt your social evening by being rude and start texting and fishing
on your mobile then you have ask yourself, are you really a chess player?

And anyway draws should not be posted till 10 minutes before the game starts.
This will stop the need for these narrow-backed chumps to carry around their laptops.

Don't worry, me and this new president lad will turn you all into genuine chess players.

Hi John,

"But I was really talking about local leagues."

From what I gather mobile cheats have been caught at all levels of the game including league matches.

So no mobiles or laptops anywhere near a chess table. That is the rules.

Personally I'd like to do away with the handshake thing at the start of the game.
It spreads germs.

[Peter D Williams]

Talking about Mobile Phones reminded me of what happened when Peter played some one who mobile phone went off.Peter was about 12ish and was playing for Coulsdon and his opponents phone went off and this person got up and went outside of the room to i guess answer the phone.Peter told i think it was Scott Freeman who awarded the game to Peter due to the phone going off any way the opposing team and the caption appealed the decision on the grounds that it had not made a ringing noise but their lost the appeal as it had made a noise i think it was on vibrate which still makes a noise but the fuss the other team made over it trying to get Peter to say it had not made a noise trying to imply he would make it up We had to get the other team players to write emails confirming it had made a noise.You also get snide comments such as we here to play chess its only a league game.Why don't people just turn the dam things off while playing chess?

[Nick Burrows]

Well people do forget, which is quite different from cheating. I personally wouldn't say a thing if my opponents phone went off. a) I don't want it to spoil my game of chess b) I don't want it to ruin my opponents day/tournament.

[Peter D Williams]

Well people do forget, which is quite different from cheating. I personally wouldn't say a thing if my opponents phone went off. a) I don't want it to spoil my game of chess b) I don't want it to ruin my opponents day/tournament.

I wonder if Peter opponent would have said that if his phone had gone off? you could say in advance of the match some players may forget to switch off phone hope you do not mind if it goes off?

Well its almost time for dinner i be back tomorrow to see what progress we have made if any.

[Roger de Coverly]

I wonder if Peter opponent would have said that if his phone had gone off? you could say in advance of the match some players may forget to switch off phone hope you do not mind if it goes off?

In a tournament, you lose if someone calls you and the phone responds. In a league it can depend on exact league rules, Surrey presumably are amongst the more stringent.

The uncertainty with the new Laws of Chess from 1st July 2014 is whether you incur a penalty if you even have the phone in your possession, regardless of whether it is totally powered off, on standby, or just on.

[John Cox]

The uncertainty with the new Laws of Chess from 1st July 2014 is whether you incur a penalty if you even have the phone in your possession, regardless of whether it is totally powered off, on standby, or just on.

I don't see that that's in the slightest uncertain. You will. It says so. Unless the organisers have provided differently.

[PeterFarr]

I thought Alex MacFarlane's idea of a fine that went to charity was rather good actually; a way of obeying the letter of the law in a friendly kind of way, and avoiding all the nonsense about arbiters collecting phones or body searches etc..

I do take issue with Geoff; I absolutely need to take my mobile phone to evening league matches because:-

(1) I need to text home after the game if I have lost, so that my wife can make sure that the children and cat make themselves scarce for when I get home, and can get the punchbag and whisky ready

(2) I desperately need to fiddle with it in the bar after the match, so that I can demonstrate disdain and boredom when my team-mates are wittering on about how unlucky they were during their games, or their latest conspiracy theories of how David Cameron is really the alien that kidnapped Kirsan, or how our Ladies and Junior team captain has failed to recruit a single female or junior to the team for the 37th year in succession.

(3) I can't go more than 3 hours without a fix of candy crush saga.

[Stewart Reuben]

Both Geurt and I were correct about 11.3b.
I was referring to the fact that the Law no longer requires a loss of the game, if it is so stipulated in the regulations. That was what people were writing about here.
Geurt was writing about the rights of the arbiter on checking this up have become stricter -f he wishes to enfoce them.

The London League could easily be FIDE Rated. Just change the rate of play and pay an arbiter to be at the matches. In most venues there are two matches per night.

[Roger de Coverly]

[quote="John Cox" Unless the organisers have provided differently.[/quote]

Being semantic, is "a lesser penalty", the same as "no penalty provided it is switched off and stays that way"?

That's the pragmatic interpretation that leagues and Congresses would surely like to adopt. But will the ECF throw a wobbly and attempt to bar such events from either ECF grading or FIDE rating?

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Peter,

Use the bar phone to warn the wife if you lost.
(it's that thing on the way that nobody goes near, ask an old timer how it works.)

Hi Stewart,

"...and pay an arbiter to be at the [league] matches. "

Could they not just say an arbiter was there (are they going to check?).

Just make all team captains qualified arbiters.
Most know the rules and how to set up the pieces.

Give out ECF stamped cards at the fixture meeting: "You are an Arbiter."

Sorted.