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The following was posted on the Facebook chess discussion page of the Cooperative Chess Coalition ( CCC ), called " CCC - Chess Posts of Interest " :
CCC Discusses Chess – Posts of Interest – Courteousness to Other Club Members
My chess club in Toronto, Canada, the Scarborough CC, each Thursday night, runs a round of a Chess Federation of Canada-rated swiss tournament, and all members play. We have 6 tournaments throughout our 10 month season. Pairings each week assume that the player who played the previous round, is returning for the subsequent round. The rule is that if you are going to miss, and need a ½ pt. “ bye “, then you must e-mail the club e-mail, or call the President or Secretary on their cells, by 6:00 PM the night of the round. This is a courtesy required of all members, so that the pairings can be so adjusted, and the club does not wrongly pair someone who is not appearing, such that the opponent may not get a game that night.
But we have been having a problem with some players not showing up, and not giving any notice.
This causes havoc. The culprit gets paired, and then the opponent comes to the pairings administrator after 15 min., to say his opponent is a no-show. In order to try to make sure the club members always get a game, the administrator tries to repair the person, with some other player in their section for whom an opponent did not show up as well ( the discourteousness extends to the administrator, for making his life miserable too ). Sometimes, if necessary, a player is brought up to a higher section to play someone there without a game. If this can be done, and the opponent does not just “ show “ up late, the culprit is given a “ 0 pt. bye “, and is NOT paired for the subsequent round. If the opponent cannot be paired, then the culprit gets a “ rated forfeit “ after 1 hour. However, if s/he does contact the club prior to the next round, and says s/he still wants to play, then they will be put back into the pairings. If the culprit is merely “ late beyond 15 min. “, then the admin. will try to pair him/her. If this cannot be done, the player does not get a game, and is given a “ ½ pt. bye “. If the culprit does not contact the club before the next round, and so is not paired, they are treated as then withdrawn from the tournament, and will not be allowed to play until the start of the next tournament. As well, if a player gets back into the pairings after a “ no show/no notice “, but does it again, then they will be withdrawn from the tournament as of that round, and will not be able to play again until the start of the next tournament ( which could be many weeks away ).
These rules seek to alleviate two things:
1. that opponent’s are not forced to take “ rated forfeits “ and miss playing a game that evening ( and some come quite a distance to play );
2. that the arbiter, 15 min. after starting his own game ( our arbiters also play ) is not forced to leave his game on his own time, to run around trying to re-pair opponents with no shows.
What do you think of SCC’s way of handling this problem? Too severe? Too lenient? If you’d do it differently, how and why?
Bob Armstrong, CCC member ( Canada )
CCC Discusses Chess – Posts of Interest – Courteousness to Other Club Members
My chess club in Toronto, Canada, the Scarborough CC, each Thursday night, runs a round of a Chess Federation of Canada-rated swiss tournament, and all members play. We have 6 tournaments throughout our 10 month season. Pairings each week assume that the player who played the previous round, is returning for the subsequent round. The rule is that if you are going to miss, and need a ½ pt. “ bye “, then you must e-mail the club e-mail, or call the President or Secretary on their cells, by 6:00 PM the night of the round. This is a courtesy required of all members, so that the pairings can be so adjusted, and the club does not wrongly pair someone who is not appearing, such that the opponent may not get a game that night.
But we have been having a problem with some players not showing up, and not giving any notice.
This causes havoc. The culprit gets paired, and then the opponent comes to the pairings administrator after 15 min., to say his opponent is a no-show. In order to try to make sure the club members always get a game, the administrator tries to repair the person, with some other player in their section for whom an opponent did not show up as well ( the discourteousness extends to the administrator, for making his life miserable too ). Sometimes, if necessary, a player is brought up to a higher section to play someone there without a game. If this can be done, and the opponent does not just “ show “ up late, the culprit is given a “ 0 pt. bye “, and is NOT paired for the subsequent round. If the opponent cannot be paired, then the culprit gets a “ rated forfeit “ after 1 hour. However, if s/he does contact the club prior to the next round, and says s/he still wants to play, then they will be put back into the pairings. If the culprit is merely “ late beyond 15 min. “, then the admin. will try to pair him/her. If this cannot be done, the player does not get a game, and is given a “ ½ pt. bye “. If the culprit does not contact the club before the next round, and so is not paired, they are treated as then withdrawn from the tournament, and will not be allowed to play until the start of the next tournament. As well, if a player gets back into the pairings after a “ no show/no notice “, but does it again, then they will be withdrawn from the tournament as of that round, and will not be able to play again until the start of the next tournament ( which could be many weeks away ).
These rules seek to alleviate two things:
1. that opponent’s are not forced to take “ rated forfeits “ and miss playing a game that evening ( and some come quite a distance to play );
2. that the arbiter, 15 min. after starting his own game ( our arbiters also play ) is not forced to leave his game on his own time, to run around trying to re-pair opponents with no shows.
What do you think of SCC’s way of handling this problem? Too severe? Too lenient? If you’d do it differently, how and why?
Bob Armstrong, CCC member ( Canada )
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