Disputes and decisions

Getting appointed to an Appeals Committee at a big chess tournament may seem like an important recognition for a chess player but in reality, it is a thankless job. You may think, “wow, I'm being recognised by my peers” but really, it is not that big a deal.

Why? Because in the first instance, you are put on call for the whole duration of the tournament. It is well and good if there are no disputes to handle but when there is one, you will be called back to attend to the problem. So you have to let the organisers know where to find you.

Secondly, it eats into your time whenever there is an appeal. Your time becomes the organiser's time. Just as you want some peace and quiet between rounds or have your meal, you have to postpone all that to sit in the committee and hear out some other chess players' problems. 

Thirdly, being asked to judge your peers can be uncomfortable for many people. It's just like a people's court: a group of people having to come together to decide on the fate of their neighbours. One has to win the appeal and one has to lose it. Although the decision is collective, many people still don't feel good about it. 

Fourthly, there is always a danger that the committee may decide wrongly. 

Thankfully, disputes seldom occur in chess tournaments. Not that they don't happen but chances are very good that the chief arbiters are able to decide upon the matters firmly and the Appeals Committee are never called upon to meet at all. 

And if the tournament regulations require the appealing party to put up an appeal fee – which can be quite substantial to prevent players from making frivolous appeals – this will reduce even more any idea of filing the appeal. 

Just last week, I had the occasion to see the working of an appeals committee to consider the appeal from one young chess player in the challengers section of the Penang heritage open chess tournament. 

I won't go into the nitty gritty details of the appeal but what happened was that in a winning position, the player had blurted out the word “draw” to his opponent. Of course, his opponent accepted the offer. 

The chief arbiter was then called to intervene, he listened to both young players and decided that the draw should stand. Both players wrote “½-½” on their score sheets and signed them. Everyone thought that would be the end of the matter.

But a short while later, a notice of appeal was submitted by the winning player's parent who asked for the decision of the chief arbiter to be reviewed and that the game should continue. So the Appeals Committee was called in.

I chose to watch the proceedings from afar. As a visitor to the tournament, I was not even a parent to any of the players. Certainly, I wasn't going to mess about even as an observer. It wouldn't be fair to the tournament organisers.

So I simply watched from the back of the tournament hall. A lot of discussions went on, a lot of animated arm-waving and ultimately a decision was reached. Somehow to my surprise, the Appeals Committee had overturned the decision of the chief arbiter and allowed the game to continue from where the players left off.

Yes, sometimes it does happen that the chief arbiter's decision is overturned but it is rare. More often than not, the arbiter's decision would stand. And in this particular case, I thought that the arbiter's decision was rock-solid correct and should indeed stand. Hence, my little surprise.

More than that, while the Appeals Committee was meeting, the two affected players had in all probability analysed the position with their friends and coaches, and come to a conclusion how to play out the win. Asking the players to continue with the game would be, in my opinion, grossly unfair to the losing player.

Ah, but who am I as an outsider to tell the Appeals Committee that they were wrong, right? Therefore, I kept my elegant silence.

The game continued from where the two players left off under the watchful eyes of not one but several arbiters, plus many curious spectators, the parents among them, and true enough, the winning position quickly became a won position. All that was left was the mopping up exercise. A satisfied parent on the one hand and a dissatisfied parent on the other hand. But what to do? That was the decision of the Appeals Committee.

As a postscript to this story, I noticed that in subsequent rounds, this young player had scrawled across the top of his own score sheets a short warning to himself that he should “not say the word Draw if you are winning!” Obviously, he himself had learnt the lesson. There would not be another second chance.

By the way, I should also mention that Filipino international master Oliver Dimakiling successfully defended his Penang heritage open title. He had also won the tournament last year. 

Second was another Filipino player, Edgar Reggie Olay, while third and fourth were Vietnamese international master Nguyen Van Huy and Indian international master Atanu Lahiri.

The best Malaysian players were Yeoh Li Tian and Tan Khai Boon who were among the players in joint fourth positions. Altogether there were seven international masters and three Fide masters in the 73-player open event.

The challengers event attracted an unprecedented 135 players, including a sizable contingent of young players from Singapore. 

The winner here was Malaysia's Geeneish Sivalingam who edged out Ethan Soh of Singapore. Teh De Juan finished joint third in the standings together with Mohd Faizal Roslan, Tin Ruiqi and Marcus Chee.

Up next

Perak closed

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) and the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seri Putera will jointly organise the Perak close chess tournament at the Dewan SMK Seri Putera in Jalan Sri Kepayang, Ipoh tomorrow and on Sunday. Only players who reside, work or born in Perak are permitted to participate in this two-day event. Nine rounds, 30-minute time control.

Entry fees: RM15 (PICA members, players below 16-years-old), RM20 (others). For more information, contact Yunus (013.3908129).

National junior

The Malaysian Chess Federation will hold the fourth national junior chess championship for boys and girls at the Datuk Arthur Tan Chess Centre in the Wilayah Complex, Jalan Munshi Abdullah, Kuala Lumpur on Dec 19 to 23. Nine rounds, time control of 90 minutes with 30-second increment each move. Entry fees: RM60 (Fide-rated) and RM100 (unrated).

The winners of the boys' and girls' tournaments will be awarded the National Junior Master title. The results of these events will be a main criteria used for selection of players for international events next year. For more information, contact Gregory Lau (012.2577123, msianchess2010@gmail.com), Zuraihah Wazir (017.2837808) or Haslindah Ruslan (019.2069605). 

 

Chess etiquette

I wanted to call this week’s story The Art of Resigning but then I realised that the resignation process in a chess game is just a part of chess etiquette.

So what is chess etiquette? More than anything else, it means how to behave at the chess board, especially when you are taking part in a competition. Chess etiquette does not mean much when you are playing a social game with your chess friends but when it comes to competitions, be it a local event or an international-level tournament, misbehaviour just reflects badly on the offending chess player.

Let me bring up just this very simple example: the start of a game during a chess competition. It is good manners when both players shake hands before the first move of every game is played. After all, it is common courtesy that the players acknowledge the very existence of their opponents before the start of the game.

If you want to go one step further, you may even want to wait until your opponent finishes filling in the initial details on his score sheet before you start the game. Of course, this is assuming that you are playing in a local tournament where it is left to the players to start their chess clocks. In international events though, this is not possible at all as the arbiters will insist that all the games in each round start together and at the same time.

What else can be considered as chess etiquette? Recently, I was told by a friend that he became quite irritated once when his opponent suddenly picked up a piece from the chess board.

Now, the chess laws dictate that a piece once touched must be moved or captured, if it can be moved or captured. This offending player realised that he must move that piece but where should he move it to?

Normally, any player would just place the piece back on the board and consider his move. But not this fellow. What he did was to start chewing on the head of the piece as he thought and thought. Any player would be upset if his opponent would suddenly do that. I know that I would be. Now, that's bad chess etiquette.

Many years ago, I came across a player that brought a novel to the playing hall. It wasn't that he was reading his book between rounds when the pairings were being prepared; no, he would read the book during the game itself.

That act by itself showed a complete disrespect for his opponents. Initially, nobody complained because everyone could see that it was just a story book and not a chess book. But unfortunately, he kept winning game after game, and people were starting to get uncomfortable. Right after the lunch break, the arbiter put a stop to it and told him to put the book away. Whatever you do, you must show respect to your opponent no matter how good you think you are.

So now, back to my original peeve which is the art of resigning a chess game. When would you actually resign a lost game? 

Do you resign when your opponent is carrying out a decisive attack on your position and is having a big advantage in the game and you know that he wouldn't blunder his way out of winning it? Would you give up when you are down by one piece, two pieces or more, and you are certain that you are going to lose? Or would you play till the bitter end and await your opponent to bring down the axe with the checkmate?

It brings to mind the difference between a sadist and a masochist. The sadist of a chess player would love to make his opponent squirm and suffer long in the game while the masochist chess player would love to suffer through his own misfortune. Which one are you?

Anyway, I was placed in an unfortunate position last weekend when I was playing in the Penang Chess League – one of the very rare occasions that I can get to play in a local chess competition. There I was, seated across from this young player who refused to resign the game even though I had two rooks and a king, while he had only his king left on the board. A simple technical checkmate that any beginner would know. But we played on almost till the end. Admittedly, I was pretty irritated.

But I know that it may not be the kid that was totally at fault. The young chess players nowadays would have learnt their chess from parents or the local chess coaches. I would suppose that the coaches would also have taught their young charges how not to give up the struggle early and how the game is not won until the opponent gives up. 

To play till the end of a game shows good fighting spirit. That's a "never say die" attitude. But for goodness' sake, teach the kids that they must also respect their opponents. The senior players are not novices in the game; they are not the kids' fellow school mates with whom their chess games would be played till checkmate. They don't realise it so they must be taught how to resign their games properly. And that’s where the parents and coaches must come in to teach them to adopt the good habits and discard the bad. That's what good chess etiquette is about.

There are more that I can say about this subject matter but I think that I shall have to leave that to another time. In the mean time, happy playing!  

Up next

Penang heritage open

The Penang heritage city open chess championship started on Tuesday and will conclude tomorrow. There are two separate events: the open and challenger sections, and both are internationally rated. Nine rounds are being played with a time control of 90 minutes plus a 30-second increment per move.

If you hurry down to the Tanjung Bungah Beach Hotel, you will still be able to watch the final three rounds of the competition. Round seven is at nine o'clock this morning while the eighth round begins at 3p.m. Tomorrow, the final round will start at 9a.m.

Sarawak open

The five-day Sarawak open chess tournament kicks off from Monday at the Ultimate Professional Centre, opposite the Pullman Hotel, in Jalan Bukit Mata Kuching, Kuching.  This is an internationally-rated event played over nine rounds, 90 minutes plus a 30-second increment for each move.

Entry fees: Free for grandmasters and international masters (men and women), RM25 (ladies and all players below 16 years old) and RM50 (all other participants). Details available from Morsin Ahmad (012.8949415, morsinab@sarawaknet.gov.my), Abang Mohd Reduan (019.8887786, reduan_sahari@bsn.com.my) and Lim Kian Hwa (016.8603180, limkhwa@gmail.com). 

Perak closed

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) and the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seri Putera will jointly organise the Perak close chess tournament at the Dewan SMK Seri Putera in Jalan Sri Kepayang, Ipoh on Dec 17 and 18. Only players who reside, work or born in Perak are permitted to participate. Nine rounds, 30-minute time control.

Entry fees: RM15 (PICA members, players below 16-years-old), RM20 (others). Closing date is Dec 14. For more information, contact Yunus (013.3908129).

 

Rules and regulations

 

Mobile phones in tournaments

 

Wrong penalty

A FEW days ago, I received a telephone call from a Mr Tony Tan in Ipoh who was pouring out his woes to me regarding one local event that he had played in. 

Apparently, what had happened was that in the second round of this tournament, both he and his opponent had played with the wrong colours on the board. Tan was supposed to have played Black but when he saw his opponent seated on the black side of the chessboard, he did not give it much thought and started playing with the while pieces. 

After the game was over and the results reported to the organizers, he suddenly found himself penalized with a loss while his opponent, who had lost the game, was awarded the win. 

I can imagine his consternation and indignation over this turn of events because he said that the organizers did not display the pairings for the second round and had instead, just shouted out the pairings above the din of the playing hall.

Now, what would you do if you were in the shoes of these organizers? Would you agree with them and reverse the results to favour the player that had lost the game, or would you have some other alternative solution?

To be sure, I am not saying that the organizers’ technical decision was wrong but it was clearly a little overly harsh and inflexible. 

They could have been more Solomon-like and allowed the result to stay. Deducting a point from any player is very serious; organizers would need to be very certain that a gross misconduct, like an intentional breaking of the chess rules, had occurred. Even then, the recommended course of action would be simply to give the players a warning. 

If an infraction occurs again, there are still other lesser penalties, such as deducting one or two minutes from a player’s clock or adding this extra time to his opponent. 

I would not go so far as to penalize the player with a loss immediately. Though not entirely blameless - the player has to bear his part of the blame in not determining the exact colour he was to use - the organizers were also equally at fault, especially since the pairings were not displayed publicly in the first place.

The most acceptable course would have been to leave the result alone. The organizer is well within his power to just switch the affected players’ colours around in the computer program. Even if the pairings had been made manually, changing the colours would not affect the running of the tournament in any great way.

There is another reason why I would discourage this practice: I do not like organizers to suddenly adopt this as a precedence. It should not be the case or else in the future, you will begin seeing players who will deliberately try to abuse this ruling to their advantage.

UP NEXT

PCA AGM

The Penang Chess Association will hold its annual general meeting at the clubhouse of the Residents' Association of Bayan Baru, Penang, this Sunday at 1pm. The meeting will be preceded by a blitz tournament starting at 10am.

Selangor closed

The Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) is organizing a one-day tournament at the Sunway College in Bandar Sunway this Sunday. The event will be played in two categories, with the second category limited to players with a national rating below 1400 and under-18 players without a rating.

Entry fees for the first category event are RM15 for CAS members and RM25 for non-members. For the second category event, CAS members are charged RM10, while it will be RM20 for non-members.

According to the CAS, four men and four women will be picked to represent the state at this year’s national closed championship at the end of the month. To register for this event, contact Shafruddin Arshad (tel: 012.3852420), Lim Tse Pin (tel: 012.2984922, email: chessmate@cas.com.kg) or Balendran (tel: 012.3547011).

Perak event

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will organize an open chess event at the Tun Razak Library in Ipoh on May 15. For inquiries on registration or entry fees, contact Pn Hamisah (tel: 012.4313326).

Tebrau open

The Johor Bahru District Chess Association will hold their 16th Tebrau open chess tournament at the Plaza Pelangi in Johor Bahru on May 22. The event will be held in three sections: the open, under-16 and under-12 with 10 prizes on offer in each section. 

Entry fees are RM20 for the open section, RM8 for the under-16 and RM6 for the under-12. Closing date is May 20.

For more information, contact Narayanan Krishnan (tel: 07.3338215, email: naraa@tm.net.my.  

CAS second quarter allegro 

The Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) will organise their second quarter allegro chess competition at The Chess Network, Wilayah Complex, in Kuala Lumpur on May 22. 

This one-day event is limited to 70 players in two categories. The first category is open to chess players with a national rating of 1400 and above, as well as non-rated adult players. Under-18 players and players with a national rating of below 1400 may join the second category event. 

Entry fees for the first category event are RM15 for CAS members and RM25 for non-members. For the second category event, the entry fees are RM10 for CAS members and RM20 for non-members. To register, email your particulars and choice of category to chessmate@cas.com.kg 

National closed championships

The Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) shall organize this year’s national closed and national women’s closed championships at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur from May 28 to Jun 1.The state chess associations are eligible to enter eight players officially to the championships: four men and four women.

Other players are also able to take part but they shall need to pay RM50 if they have a Fide rating or RM150 if they are not rated. For more information, contact Hamid Majid (tel: 019.3158098).

Sri Aman junior chess

The Sek Keb Sri Aman in Penang will hold a junior open tournament at their school on May 30. The seven-round event will constitute the second leg of Penang’s junior chess circuit for this year.

Entry fees for members of the Penang Chess Association are RM10 for under-16 players and RM8 for under-10 players. Non-members are required to pay RM15 and RM13 respectively. According to the organisers, this event will have five age-group categories: under-16, under-14, under-12, under-10 and under-8.

For inquiries, contact Eoh Hook Kim (tel: 04.8260196) or Eoh Thean Keat (tel: 016.4540070).

Chess etiquette

AS CHESS players, we are generally expected to know the basics of chess etiquette whenever we take part in a chess tournament or even as a spectator at a chess event. But do we? When we go to a chess tournament, how are we expected to behave? 

The first thing to remember is that, with the exception of top-level chess events, most chess activities are held in confined spaces where many times, one player’s elbows may be practically touching his two immediate neighbours. 

This week, I shall cover some of the common inter-related chess etiquette which chess players and spectators are expected to know and follow.

First, it is very important, when watching a game of chess, to keep the noise down. Background ambient noise do add to the tension of a game and there are players who concentrate so much until they actually sweat and come away from the table mentally exhausted. 

The last thing they want is someone in the crowd to make audible comments on their games and disturb their concentration. Whispers should be discreet and out of earshot of players. 

Next, chess clocks are expensive and fragile equipment, and must be handled with care. More so, they are difficult to source locally. If a clock is spoilt, it is usually impossible to repair them. There is one less clock available for use and two less places available to chess players at tournaments. 

So spare a thought for the owners of the clocks who are gracious enough to pool their clocks together for use at chess tournaments. 

Third, time trouble may be exciting for spectators but as a player, you should give consideration to your fellow players who are concentrating and struggling under the weight of the flag falling. 

In the rules of the game for most local chess competitions, it is the responsibility of the players themselves to call a flag fall. It is all part of the game. So, under no circumstances should anyone call out to him that the flag has fallen.

Fourth, at a chess tournament, you would want to know where all the best action is going to be taking place. As the event progresses, all the best action is going to be focused on the top few boards. 

The action is the most tense at the top boards as these are players who are chasing for top honours. As these games will eventually gather the majority of the crowd, you may soon have problems in getting close enough to watch them play. Paradoxically, the noise level around these boards is usually lower than the rest of the tournament room despite all the people crowding around the action.

Fifth, photography – especially flash photography – is discouraged once a round has already gotten under way. Organisers normally close an eye if you take photographs within the first 10 to 15 minutes of every round but generally, you will be disturbing and distracting the players if you release the occasional flashes in the room once the games have proceeded in earnest.

Sixth, after a game finishes, some players may sometimes remain behind to analyse critical positions in their game together, or they may go to another room to do this. 

There are always points in a game where a player has to make a choice between two moves of equal outcome in their eyes. It is these key moments that live large in a player's mind as the board develops around them. So chess players quite often will go over this even with the person they have just beaten or lost to. 

For the spectator, it is a great time to stand back and watch the analysis. It is possible to learn a lot from it.

Olimpbase website

It was just my luck that when I was writing about the Olimpbase website two weeks ago, the website’s server struck a technical problem and visitors to it were diverted to a different destination.

However, I am glad to say here that normal service has resumed. The Olimpbase website at http://www.olimpbase.org is now available once more to visitors.

For those readers who do not know what I am referring to, this Olimpbase website is the only website I know that contains all the history on the men’s Chess Olympiads since its inception in 1924. Information on the women’s Chess Olympiads, I hear, will be added much later on.

UP NEXT

National age-group championship

The Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) will organise this year’s national age-group chess championship at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur on Mar 12-14. 

This competition, open to all junior chess players in the country, will be played in separate age-group events for boys and girls, namely, the under-20, under-16, under-14, under-12, under-10 and under-8 categories. 

Entry fees are RM20 for the under-20, under-16 and under-14 events and RM15 for the under-12, under-10 and under-8 events. Anyone registering with the organisers after Mar 11 will need to pay double the normal entry fees.

According to the MCF, the winners of the various categories will be considered for selection to the Asean and Asian-levels age-group chess events, subject to MCF regulations. 

For inquiries about entries, contact Gregory Lau (tel: 012.9020123 email: all4chess@hotmail.com) or Hamid Majid (tel: 019.3158098 email: aham@pc.jaring.my). 

Chess Network February allegro

The Chess Network at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur is holding a one-day tournament of its own this Sunday beginning 8am. There is a prize fund of RM850 which will be increased to RM1000 if the number of entries exceed 100.

Entry fees for the six-round event are RM25 and RM15 for the open and under-12 sections. Cash prizes are offered to the top six players in the open section and the top four under-12 players. 

For inquiries and registration, contact Gregory Lau (012.9020123) or Hamid Majid (tel: 019.3158098 email: aham@pc.jaring.my).

Perak age-group

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will organise a seven-round age-group event at the Cosmopoint, Metro Campus Ipoh this Sunday. This event will have separate categories for under-10, under-12, under-14 and under16 players. 

Entry fee is RM3 per player. For more details or to register, contact Yunus Sharif (tel: 05.5458453 or 013.3908129) or Norli of Cosmopoint (tel: 05.2411515).

According to PICA, the winners of the four categories will represent Perak at the national age-group championships.

PICA/YMCA open

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) and the YMCA are jointly organising an open chess event at the YMCA hall in Ipoh on Mar 6. This six-round event begins at 10am.

Entry fees are RM10 for PICA and YMCA members, ladies and players under 16 years old, and RM15 for all others. For inquiries, contact Yunus Sharif (05.5458453 or 013.3908129) or Margaret of YMCA Ipoh (tel: 05.2540809).

Meanwhile, the PICA has announced that it will hold its annual general meeting at the YMCA on the same day. The AGM will start at 9am.

Sri Aman junior chess

The Sek Keb Sri Aman in Penang will hold a junior open tournament at their school on Mar 19. This seven-round event will constitute the first leg of Penang’s junior chess circuit.

Entry fees for members of the Penang Chess Association are RM10 for under-16 players and RM8 for under-12 players. Non-members are required to pay RM15 and RM13 respectively. According to the organisers, this event will have five age-group categories.

For inquiries, contact Eoh Hook Kim (tel: 04.8260196) or Eoh Thean Keat (tel: 016.4540070).

In a quandary

More than any other chess event in Malaysia, the Merdeka Championships in Kuala Lumpur brings together all sorts of chess players from throughout the country.

In this tournament, you can find a broad spectrum of old and young, strong and weak, male and female, disabled and able-bodied chess player of various cultures, races and from all walks of life, pitting their skills in a common arena.

These are the professionals, specialists, consultants, educationalists, business people, office workers, factory workers, retirees, parents and students. Together, they make up a big happy family, an interesting mix, something you very seldom find in any other game or sport.

Unfortunately, there is now a question mark over the very existence of the Merdeka team chess championship this year. The championship is in danger of being called off this year because it has not been included as a programme by the National Merdeka Day Celebrations Committee.

Normally, at the beginning of every year, the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) would forward a working part to the Merdeka Day Celebrations Committee, outlining its proposals for the team championship and including a budget for approval. In February, like for the past four years, this year's proposals were submitted to the committee via the Youth and Sports Ministry.

According to the MCF, nothing was heard from the committee or the Ministry for months and late last month, enquiries were made to ministry officials to check on the status of the proposal.

What the MCF learnt was not very good news. They were told that the whole Merdeka Day Celebrations Committee had been ordered to revamp by the Culture, Arts and Tourism Minister. With the emphasis now on patriotism and cultural events, the ministry has decided that there would be no place for the Merdeka team chess championship.

This piece of news, coming just about two months before this year's Merdeka team championship, scheduled to start on Aug 31, is shocking. Firstly, I can sense the deep disappointment developing in chess players everywhere. Even if they are not involved with the tournament, I am sure that these players are just as interested and curious about the event and would like to see it continue.

Secondly, I do not understand why the Culture Ministry or the Sports Ministry had not conveyed this important decision to the MCF earlier. Does a tournament's long history and tradition count for nothing in this day and age? After all, the Merdeka team chess championship has existed for 19 long years and this year's event will be its 20th.

Instead of celebrating this landmark event, it will be a sad day indeed if the MCF is forced to discontinue the event without any attempt to finding a solution.

Fortunately, there may be one. In recent weeks, arising from discussions between the MCF and the Sports Ministry, it is learnt that the ministry has agreed in principle to sponsor this year's Merdeka event. A final decision is still pending.

Cloba wins appeal

Remember the technical dispute over the line-ups of the Chung Ling Old Boys Association (Cloba) and the Penang Chess Association Novices (PCAN) teams from the 10th Penang Dell Chess League, which I highlighted two weeks ago?

The appeals committee met soon afterwards to discuss this matter and I am glad to say that it made the correct decision to retain the original score of the match between the two teams, which is a 3-1 result in Cloba's favour.

But before I go any further, there are a few pertinent points that require some clarification in order to set the record straight.

Firstly, I have to mention that the Cloba team although late for the round, did not fully assemble untilsome 20 to 25 minutes into the round. Some had arrived earlier and were already seated at their boards within the first 15 minutes. PCAN's irregular line-up, meanwhile, was noticed by the Cloba captain about 20 minutes into the round.

Secondly, the PCAN's only winning point had come from the fourth board and not the second board which I had reported a fortnight ago.

Thirdly, PCAN's counter-appeal was lodged only after the round had finished and fourthly, there were some written and unwritten supplementary rules that governed this tournament in addition to the normal FIDE rules of chess.

By "unwritten rules'', I mean the additional undocumented rules that were agreed upon by the teams at the managers' meeting before the chess league started.

One of these rules had stipulated that in the event of an inverted pair of players, both would be disqualified. Thus, it was correct for the appeals committee to disqualify PCAN's second and third boards, while leaving the fourth board's result unchanged.

As for PCAN's counter-appeal, it was really irrelevant as the committee felt that it should have been lodged during the match and not as an afterthought after it had ended. This was entirely correct too. However, even if the appeal had been lodged during the match, it would also have failed because the supplementary rules in their totality would have overruled it.

According to the rules, if a team's line-up is not submitted before the start of a round, it would mean that the first four players are fielded automatically. However, the team captain could still choose to submit his preferred line-up if he agrees to a penalty deduction of 10 minutes from his players' times.

The PCAN captain, by referring to the first half of this rule without considering the second half, was therefore wrong in interpreting the supplementary rules selectively. Furthermore, the tournament arbiter himself admits to not enforcing the rules strictly in the rounds preceding this dispute.

This being the case, it would be highly inappropriate to penalise the Cloba team for their infringement. Like I told someone in the tournament hall when the appeals committee was meeting, I would have been unhappy if the committee decided to take some strong action against Cloba, such as docking their points.

Moderation is required, and the severest action I could see would be to issue a verbal warning, and let it serve as a notice to the rest of the teams that the next time the rules are breached, the arbiter's decision could very well be very different indeed.

When this technical dispute came to my attention, the first thing that struck me was that it was all about chess education. Chess is more than just knowing how to shift 32 pieces around the chessboard.

Knowing how to rationalise and deal with off-the-board situations is equally important. So here, you have two teams with diametrically opposite viewpoints of the supplementary rules.

I had presented the main facts of the case (though there were some minor inaccuracies which did not affect the general picture) so that you, the readers, could think and discuss the best way, in your own opinion, to resolve the matter.

Quah Seng Sun's e-mail address is ssquah@schach.pc.my His previous chess articles are now archived at http://chesscolumn.20m.com/.

 

UP NEXT

Big Event in Johor

Chess players in the southern peninsula can look forward to the Bandar Raya Chessmaster 2000 Open chess tournament this Sunday which features the biggest prize monies so far for a local chess event in Johor this year.

The event, jointly run by the Majlis Bandaraya Johor Bahru and the Johor Bahru District Chess Association in conjunction with the Johor Bahru City Carnival, will be played at the Plaza Angsana in Tampoi, Johor Bahru.

Entry fees are RM30 for the open section, RM7 for the under-16 section and RM5 for the under-12 section.

The winner of the open section will receive RM1,000 and a challenge trophy. The other prizes are RM800 for second, RM600 third, RM400 fourth, RM350 fifth, RM300 sixth, RM250 seventh, RM200 eighth, RM150 ninth and RM100 for 10th. All winners will also get certificates.

There are also 10 prizes each for the two junior sections. The under-16 winner will receive RM150 and the winner of the under-12 event RM80.

For more information, contact Narayanan Krishnan 07-333 8215 or email: naraa@tm.net.my

 

Line-up mix-up

IT IS not often that the organisers of the chess league in Penang are confronted with disputes. Indeed, the last time it happened about five years ago involved, sad to say, the team I was playing for.

However, by and large, local chess players are a reasonable lot and disagreements rarely occur.

Therefore, it was with a raised eyebrow that I learnt of a dispute in the fifth round of the 10th Penang Dell Chess League, played about a fortnight ago.

I shall not give any opinion on this case as it may prejudice the decision of the tournament's appeals committee which has yet to meet, but I will just limit myself to describing what transpired.

The Penang Chess Association had scheduled two rounds to be played at Dell Asia Pacific's premises in Bayan Lepas on July 2. Come 2pm, when the afternoon round was to begin, the Chung Ling Old Boys Association (CLOBA) team was nowhere to be seen. In the meantime, their opponents, the Penang Chess Association Novices, were eager to begin.

Unfortunately, the PCA Novices had mixed up their team's line-up and placed their fourth player to play on the second board. Non-chess players may question whether this constitutes anything serious for a team which submits a wrong line-up of their players, but it is an established convention in team events that the players in a chess team must play according to the registered line-up.

The reason is that in team competition, each side must place their four players in descending order of their strengths, as registered, so that the strongest of two opposing teams meet on the first board, the next strongest on the second board, and so on down the list.

About 20 to 25 minutes into the round, the CLOBA team entered the tournament hall, submitted their team line-up, then started playing.

The facts are a little hazy as to who first noticed the error in the PCA Novices team line-up but after a while, the CLOBA captain asked for action to be taken against one of the Novices due to the wrong line-up. The Novices' third board player was subsequently disqualified.

Much later in the round, the CLOBA captain again asked the arbiter whether the Novice's second board player should be disqualified as well, explaining that the inversion of their players on the second and third boards meant that both were playing in the wrong board order.

The perplexed arbiter, never having had to deal with so many disputes before in a single round, requested that the game be continued but if the CLOBA team was unhappy about his decision, they could play under protest and let the appeals committee decide on the matter.

By this time, it would be an understatement to say that the Novices team was simply unhappy about the developments. The players were in fact livid. With one player already disqualified, they faced the prospect of a second player being disqualified as well. Here was where their ingenuity came in.

The Novices' captain took stock of the situation and realised that he too could file a counter protest against the CLOBA team's line-up. According to tournament regulations, a team's captain is required to submit his players' line-up before the start of a round (2pm in this case) and failure to do so would mean that the first four players must be fielded automatically.

Well, the CLOBA team, having arrived 20 to 25 minutes late for the round, had forgotten about this rule and put in their third, fourth, fifth and eighth players instead. The Novices captain, believing he had legitimate grounds to complain, asked for the disqualification of the entire CLOBA team and the award of the full four points to the PCA Novices.

By the way, after the Novices team had been disqualified on the third board, the CLOBA team subsequently won the match with a 3-1 score. The CLOBA player lost on the disputed second board.

The appeals committee will be meeting this Sunday morning to resolve the issue but in the meantime, what would you (if you were the arbiter) have done do in this situation? You can e-mail your opinion to ssquah@schach.pc.my.

Meanwhile, here are the standings after the fifth round:

Premier Division: Penang Free School A (14.5 points), CLOBA (13.5), Chung Ling High Scool A (13), Old Frees Association (10.5), Dell A (7.5), PFS B (6.5), CLHS B (6), Pessca (6), PCA Novices A (2.5).

Division One: Penang Development Corporation A (12.5), CLHS D (11.5), USM (11), CLHS C (9), Hitachi Semiconductor (8.5), St Xavier's Institution (8.5), PCA Novices B (8), SMK Hamid Khan A (6.5), PFS C (4.5).

Division Two: PDC B (13.5), MSSPP Juniors (12.5), PCA Ladies (11), Dell B (10), PFS D (9.5), MSSPP Girls (9.5), SMK Hamid Khan B (6.5), PFS E (4), CLHS E (3.5).

UP NEXT

Johor

Players here can look forward to the Bandar Raya Chessmaster 2000 open tournament on July 30 which features the biggest prize monies so far for a local chess event in Johor this year.

The event, jointly run by the Johor Baru city council and the Johor Baru District Chess Association in conjunction with the Johor Baru City Carnival, will be played at the Plaza Angsana in Tampoi. Entry fees are RM30 for the open section, RM7 for the under-16 section and RM5 for the under-12 section.

The winner of the open section will receive RM1,000 and a challenge trophy. The other prizes are RM800 for second, RM600 third, RM400 fourth, RM350 fifth, RM300 sixth, RM250 seventh, RM200 eighth, RM150 ninth and RM100 for 10th place. All winners will also get certificates.

There are also 10 prizes each for the two junior sections. The under-16 winner will receive RM150 and the winner of the under-12 event, RM80.

Participants are required to register with the organisers before July 23. For more information, contact Narayanan Krishnan ( 07-333 8215 / email: naraa@tm.net.my).

BPM allegro

The final two legs of this year's Bank Pertanian Malaysia-sponsored national allegro chess circuit will be played in Kedah and Perlis next weekend.

The Alor Star leg on July 22 will be held at the Komplex Jabatan Belia dan Sukan Negeri Kedah, while the Kangar leg will be played on July 23 at the Komplex Jabatan Belia dan Sukan Negeri Perlis.

Entry fees are RM10 for residents of Kedah or Perlis (depending on the event), Bank Pertanian employees, players above 50 years old, and girls below 12 years old, and RM15 for all other participants.

The prizes for the open section will be RM300 for the winner, RM200 for the second-placed, RM150 for third, RM100 for fourth and fifth, and RM60 for sixth to 10th. The best Bank Pertanian player will also win RM60, while the best players in the other categories will get RM50.

To register for the Kedah leg: ( 04-733 6334, 03-4021 9576 / fax: 04-976 7406, 03-4024 4337). For the Perlis leg ( 04-976 7406, 03-4021 9576 / fax: 04-977 1808, 03-4024 4337).

Malay Open 2000

The Persatuan Catur Melayu Malaysia will organise this year's Malay open championship at the Bank Pertanian Malaysia head office in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow and Sunday. This is a seven-round event with a one-hour time control.

The first prize is RM1,000, second prize RM700, third prize RM500 and fourth RM300. The fifth to 10th prizes range from RM200 to RM50. In addition, there are attractive prizes for the best under-16, under-12, women and veteran players.

To register, contact Ibrahim Yaacob ( 03-636 3082, 012-380 3202 after 8pm) or Haslindah Ruslan ( 03-7885 5257).