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I'm reaching back to the 1980 Olympiad, held at La Valletta, Malta, for this story.
From Chess Canada Echecs, Bulletin #45, January - February 1981, page 6: "Canada 9th at Men's Olympics", by team captain IM Dr. Zvonko Vranesic:
Reporting on Canada's first-round match against Faroe Islands:
"An easy match which should have produced a clean sweep. [Canada won 3.5 to 0.5.] We dropped a half point when [IM Lawrence] Day's position deteriorated in time pressure. After the match we checked the clock that was used, and discovered that it was fast to the extent that Lawrence lost 30 minutes in the course of the game."
Likely, the Canadian team informed the organizers of this problem, so that the faulty clock could either be replaced or re-set to be correct for future rounds.
BUT: Was there a remedy available under the Rules of Chess, for this situation, when it was discovered? The game could be re-played, possibly. That is the intriguing question I would like to see answered by experienced Arbiters. Also, several members of that Canadian team (five of six, with only GM D.A. Yanofsky having passed away in 2000) are still with us, so it would be interesting to hear their memories now.
In this instance, clearly, there was no possibility of an 'organized agenda' to plant a faulty clock on the Canadian team for the match; it was an error by the organizers.
Also, in his book "Unlimited Challenge", by GM Garry Kasparov, from 1988, GM Kasparov, World Champion at that time, relates a story told to him by former World Champion GM Mikhail Botvinnik (with whom he had studied as a youth), about an experience of former World Champion Emanuel Lasker: ' Lasker threw out a clock that was fast, stating: "It is not my business to suffer liars!" '
Thanks,
Frank Dixon
NTD, Kingston
From Chess Canada Echecs, Bulletin #45, January - February 1981, page 6: "Canada 9th at Men's Olympics", by team captain IM Dr. Zvonko Vranesic:
Reporting on Canada's first-round match against Faroe Islands:
"An easy match which should have produced a clean sweep. [Canada won 3.5 to 0.5.] We dropped a half point when [IM Lawrence] Day's position deteriorated in time pressure. After the match we checked the clock that was used, and discovered that it was fast to the extent that Lawrence lost 30 minutes in the course of the game."
Likely, the Canadian team informed the organizers of this problem, so that the faulty clock could either be replaced or re-set to be correct for future rounds.
BUT: Was there a remedy available under the Rules of Chess, for this situation, when it was discovered? The game could be re-played, possibly. That is the intriguing question I would like to see answered by experienced Arbiters. Also, several members of that Canadian team (five of six, with only GM D.A. Yanofsky having passed away in 2000) are still with us, so it would be interesting to hear their memories now.
In this instance, clearly, there was no possibility of an 'organized agenda' to plant a faulty clock on the Canadian team for the match; it was an error by the organizers.
Also, in his book "Unlimited Challenge", by GM Garry Kasparov, from 1988, GM Kasparov, World Champion at that time, relates a story told to him by former World Champion GM Mikhail Botvinnik (with whom he had studied as a youth), about an experience of former World Champion Emanuel Lasker: ' Lasker threw out a clock that was fast, stating: "It is not my business to suffer liars!" '
Thanks,
Frank Dixon
NTD, Kingston