Wesley So's recent forfeit

[Paul Bonham]

Re: Wesley So's recent forfeit

@Paul Bonham. A game is not a sport unless there are rules governing it. The beauty of a sport lies not in circumvention, compassion nor complacency but the rules that bind it to ensure that every player measures up to a standard that is FAIR AND SQUARE and so that a player can exact a victory without exception nor advantage nor distraction, in short - beyond reproach. That is why we have boxing weigh ins, drug tests, no coaching from coaches during a tennis or golf games, no clicking cameras during a golf tournament, no flash cameras in a tennis game, no balk moves in baseball and many more seemingly silly sounding rules from every conceivable sport. This is not curtailment of your civil liberties - these are rules of the game designed by the people who play these very games and not by some dictatorial entity out to oppress anyone – the purpose of which is to preserve the level of excellence and sportsmanship of the game.

Let us not bring our Justin Trudeau thinking into the realm of sport. As soon as its code of conduct and by laws are created it is pretty much etched in stone. It has to be THAT WAY for it to work effectively. Do you think instant TV replays deviate from rules ?? Heck no. They replay to MAKE SURE it is consistent with the rules. In the world of sport, rules are GOLDEN. In fact, it's everything.

What, so now you have me saying let's get rid of ALL rules? Oh yeah, sure, let's have anarchy! You know very well that's not what I am arguing for, so to all that grandiose pomposity of yours, "I fart in your general direction." Your cheap tricks don't work here.

I had written in an earlier post that the FIDE laws of chess rule that currently says: 12.6 "It is forbidden to distract or annoy the opponent in any manner whatsoever"...

...which YOU AGREED WITH by posting this comment: "anything that disturbs your opponent's concentration is prohibited, be it scribbling notes or scratching your balls", showing yourself to be as silly as FIDE on the subject...

...be changed to add the word "excessive" and leave it up to trained arbiters to determine what shall be deemed excessive (since it can't be exactly quantified). A warning system would have to be in place for this.

And with respect to writing notes, FIDE should simply allow all writing of notes during the game, making that in fact PART of the game, and discard this notion that seeing your opponent writing something down is somehow distracting, as if chess players must have absolute stillness all around them, their poor little brains are SO sensitive to motion and sound. No wonder chess is so belittled among the general population (becoming even more so now that it is being turned into a children's game above all else.)

The thing FIDE should continue to disallow is bringing any pre-written notes or materials to the game. But during the game, write away! It makes sense to allow that if it helps players avoid mistakes, because we allow other things that keep them from making mistakes... such as, oh.... BREATHING for example. Or eating, drinking water, getting up and stretching. (General public: "OMG, distracting to the opponent! Poor chess player! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!")

I really didn't get your last paragraph. I laugh at your "etched in stone" idea. You do know that every year during the offseason, the major sports leagues have rules committee meetings and change some rules? This happens year after year. Think about hockey and the changes to center ice zone and placement of nets, changes to what goalies can do behind the net, etc. etc. Just this past season, New England Patriots won an NFL playoff game by effectively taking advantage of a particularly silly rule in which players at the line of scrimmage can tell the officials they are an ineligible receiver for the coming play. Confused the heck out of the Baltimore Ravens defense, who tried to cover them as eligible receivers while leaving the REAL eligible receivers open. While this was a particularly ingenious ploy by Bill Belichek (NE coach), guess what? NFL rules committee outlawed it just a few weeks ago.

There are even bigger changes coming to the NFL regarding the point-after-touchdown kick. Since it's around 99.7% effective, it's a part of the game broadcast that people tune out, so NFL is thinking to make that kick harder (moving it further away from goalposts) plus allow a 3-point conversion kick from the 50-yard line. This means a team could be behind by 9 points with only seconds left, score a TD for 6 points, and try the 3-point kick to tie the game. This was proposed by the Indianapolis Colts organization and is under consideration for future tryout, perhaps even this coming August (exhibition games).

"Cast in stone"???? Major time-tested and sensible rules, perhaps. Silly rules, no. Even the rule of moving only 1 piece per turn is wearing thin as chess reaches an era of endless draws, and thus I proposed a new Option Chess format to create a totally new dynamic that would resist computer engine domination for decades to come. Will anyone try it? Well I'm sure kids would love it, they don't have the built-in resistance to change that most serious adult chess players are stuck with.

[Nathan Zeap]

Re: Wesley So's recent forfeit

What, so now you have me saying let's get rid of ALL rules? Oh yeah, sure, let's have anarchy! You know very well that's not what I am arguing for, so to all that grandiose pomposity of yours, "I fart in your general direction." Your cheap tricks don't work here.

I had written in an earlier post that the FIDE laws of chess rule that currently says: 12.6 "It is forbidden to distract or annoy the opponent in any manner whatsoever"...

...which YOU AGREED WITH by posting this comment: "anything that disturbs your opponent's concentration is prohibited, be it scribbling notes or scratching your balls", showing yourself to be as silly as FIDE on the subject...

...be changed to add the word "excessive" and leave it up to trained arbiters to determine what shall be deemed excessive (since it can't be exactly quantified). A warning system would have to be in place for this.

And with respect to writing notes, FIDE should simply allow all writing of notes during the game, making that in fact PART of the game, and discard this notion that seeing your opponent writing something down is somehow distracting, as if chess players must have absolute stillness all around them, their poor little brains are SO sensitive to motion and sound. No wonder chess is so belittled among the general population (becoming even more so now that it is being turned into a children's game above all else.)

The thing FIDE should continue to disallow is bringing any pre-written notes or materials to the game. But during the game, write away! It makes sense to allow that if it helps players avoid mistakes, because we allow other things that keep them from making mistakes... such as, oh.... BREATHING for example. Or eating, drinking water, getting up and stretching. (General public: "OMG, distracting to the opponent! Poor chess player! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!")

I really didn't get your last paragraph. I laugh at your "etched in stone" idea. You do know that every year during the offseason, the major sports leagues have rules committee meetings and change some rules? This happens year after year. Think about hockey and the changes to center ice zone and placement of nets, changes to what goalies can do behind the net, etc. etc. Just this past season, New England Patriots won an NFL playoff game by effectively taking advantage of a particularly silly rule in which players at the line of scrimmage can tell the officials they are an ineligible receiver for the coming play. Confused the heck out of the Baltimore Ravens defense, who tried to cover them as eligible receivers while leaving the REAL eligible receivers open. While this was a particularly ingenious ploy by Bill Belichek (NE coach), guess what? NFL rules committee outlawed it just a few weeks ago.

There are even bigger changes coming to the NFL regarding the point-after-touchdown kick. Since it's around 99.7% effective, it's a part of the game broadcast that people tune out, so NFL is thinking to make that kick harder (moving it further away from goalposts) plus allow a 3-point conversion kick from the 50-yard line. This means a team could be behind by 9 points with only seconds left, score a TD for 6 points, and try the 3-point kick to tie the game. This was proposed by the Indianapolis Colts organization and is under consideration for future tryout, perhaps even this coming August (exhibition games).

"Cast in stone"???? Major time-tested and sensible rules, perhaps. Silly rules, no. Even the rule of moving only 1 piece per turn is wearing thin as chess reaches an era of endless draws, and thus I proposed a new Option Chess format to create a totally new dynamic that would resist computer engine domination for decades to come. Will anyone try it? Well I'm sure kids would love it, they don't have the built-in resistance to change that most serious adult chess players are stuck with.

correct - until rules are amended, they are etched in stone and they stand. For instance in golf, long putters will be banned in 2016 in PGA tournaments, a surprising new rule for a golf club that had been used for more than 30 years. Those who did not like it appealed but to no avail. The USGA's decision was very surprising but its supposed merit is for preserving the genuine challenge of putting. One wonders why it took them that long to decide.

In the case of Wesley So, the arbiter banked on an existing rule when he disqualified So - he didn't invent a new rule out of the blue. Blame the FIDE rules for this - not the arbiter. It resulted in a conflict but conflicts are not necessarily bad because they promote change. Unless rules are changed arbiters will do their job of disqualifying people who break rules, especially those who have been warned for a potential infraction.

Yes, we evolve as human beings and that includes rules of sports as we've seen through the ages. My point is simple and let's not complicate things. Until those rules are changed shut your mouth and obey.

[Jack Maguire]

Re: Wesley So's recent forfeit

Australian GM David Smerdon had an amusing anecdote on his blog re his own 'note-taking' incident (:

http://www.davidsmerdon.com/?p=1660