The rules were changed in 2005, so it gives a practical measure of just how well the "establishment" communicates with the "grassroots". Mind you in 2004 (when the rule change was made by FIDE) it was something of a fait accompli since the wider chess community hardly knew it was on the table as a proposal before it was voted in.Andrew Farthing wrote:During the post mortem, I politely mentioned to my opponent that what he was doing was strictly against the rules, stressing that it hadn't bothered me but that he might come across other opponents who did object. He said that he had no idea it was wrong and I believed him.
At one time, writing the moves down before playing them and covering them with a pen or a watch was standard operating practice for some players. Kotov's book recommended the former and one of England's leading players practised the latter. Insisting that the arbiter be allowed to see the scoresheet was a mid-90s rule change.
Continued use of descriptive seems to be a grey area. One interpretation is that it's only illegal in official FIDE competitions. Another is that it's illegal in a FIDE rated event. In practice there are still a few players who use it even in rated events and this seems to have been sanctioned by the arbiting community.Jonathan Bryant wrote:Similarly, when a few months ago I played somebody who recorded the moves in descriptive notation I didn't bother calling the arbiter on that one either.
Some arbiters, particularly the most influential ones, consider it equivalent to taking notes. One valid point is that if a player writes a move down and is within eye contact of a spectator or coach who gestures or then it's a way of cheating. This is far more relevant than it used to be since any spectator potentially has Rybka or Fritz analysis at his disposal. A third reason was that FIDE wanted to endorse the Monroi gadget. This is a PDA style device which can act as an electronic scoresheet and move transmitter. Particularly if you are transmitting moves, you don't want to be publishing a player's thought process or even give him a board post move in which to visualise the position.Carl Hibbard wrote:What is the purpose of this rule anyway - as a youngster the suggestion that I write down a move before playing it was recommended (although I never followed it...) and I really don't see the harm in it now?