Post
by Ian Kingston » Wed Apr 01, 2009 12:24 pm
A few thoughts on, and experiences of, this law.
As a player, I've only once had my opponent's phone ring during play. Well, four times actually, but all in the same game. I'd travelled a long way to play and I really didn't want to hang around doing nothing for two hours or more. I won the game, but it was never a certainty on any of the occasions on which the phone rang. Each occurrence caused my opponent to leave the room and take the call, costing him time on his clock, so I was gaining an advantage by ignoring the law. Was I cheating?
As a spectator I've seen it happen a few times. On one occasion an elderly patzer literally punched the air in delight when his 10-year-old opponent's phone rang during a league match. Whatever you think about the law itself, that's pretty contemptible behaviour. Once, at the 4NCL, a team mate who was over half an hour late for the start suffered death by mobile. He wasn't pleased, but accepted the ruling. In a league match, one fellow club member's phone rang, but his opponent ignored the offence. The phone was turned off, but somehow managed to turn itself on again (or perhaps it hadn't been turned off properly) and rang a second time. Again, play continued.
As a controller, the situation has only occurred once. A phone rang, the owner jumped up and left the room, and I glared at him. His opponent happened to be a member of the same club and said nothing. I let it go. I know - it could easily be said that I neglected my duty. If someone else's phone had rung during the same tournament I might have had a very tricky decision to make: 'You let X off, so why not me?'.
A lot of people keep talking about 'claiming' the win. But the law says: 'If a player's mobile phone rings in the playing venue during play, that player shall lose the game'. There's no need to make a claim or even to involve the arbiter. The result could simply be reported in the usual way. If the game continues, then it does so in defiance of the Laws of Chess. Of course, if both players want to continue playing, then the arbiter could conceivably apply Article 13.2 ('The arbiter shall act in the best interest of the competition') to allow them to carry on, although that would contradict Article 13.1 ('The arbiter shall see that the Laws of Chess are strictly observed').
It bothers me that mobile phone results are graded and rated. I suppose that this is necessary - a player in a lost position could arrange for his phone to ring in order to avoid losing grading/rating points - but in the absence of such cheating it seems odd.
The tightening of the wording of the law from 1 July is a good thing.
Despite my lax approach to applying this particular law, I'm now inclined to think that it should be strictly enforced and that players should simply get used to it. I'll go on record now as saying that if my phone should ever make as much as a tiny beep while I'm playing I'll simply record the loss on the scoresheet and head for the bar. I'm not sure what I'll do the next time my opponent's phone rings. I ought to be consistent and take the win, but I suspect I'll let circumstances influence my decision.