writing down your moves

[Raymond Dickson]

at our chess club tonight a member asked why he had to write down his moves and it got me thinking.

now its a tournament game. the time control we use, because of time constraints where we play, is 60 min for the game plus 30sec increment after each move starting from move one.

He was told that it was because of the increment and also its a good idea if he wants to analyze the game afterward.

If the time control was 40 moves in 90min and then 30min for the rest of the game then how else can you tell if youve reached 40 moves unless you write them down.

Now I can see what he means as there is no number of moves attached to our time control. Now some problems can arise say proving a 3 fold repitition of position to claim a draw if there is no record of moves if your opponent disputes this, also if an illegal move is made, how to prove it was actually illegal if there is no record of the position.

Now I suppose the TD can just say you have to write down your moves or you risk losing the game. Now I havent checked online for rules covering this just thought I would put it out here.

Also this is just our friendly mon night chess tourney not a canadian championship or zonal ! .....any thoughts ?

[Alex Ferreira]

Hi Raymond,

All what you said is correct. But primarily is your record for the game in case there are claims or disputes. Also... the score sheet is technically property of the arbiter. Even though it is written by the players. The fact there is a 30 second increment means that players must write all the moves at all times. It's the minimum increment for this to be enforced.
Where the time is sudden death, players can stop recording when they have less than 5 minutes left on the clock. If there's no increment leading up to move 40... players may stop recording but it is their responsibility to know when move 40 gets reached. If one player flags or they reach move 40, the scoresheet must be completed before continuing the game.
In games with increment if a player doesn't maintain his scoresheet, his opponent or the arbiter can force the player to reconstruct his scoresheet on his own time. If the time is low, the player may flag in the process.

It's up to you how strict you want to make it at club level. Club level is often where players are introduced to tournament chess and for a newcomer, writing the moves down is not so simple at first. If you are running club tournaments in a more casual environment, and the games are not FIDE rated, you can announce more relaxed rules and that's fine.

Alex F.

[Raymond Dickson]

Thanks Alex, that clarifies things, see you in a couple of weeks at the hart house reading week open