Introduction
I was blessed by good chess friends who offered me to clock my maiden experience as an arbiter for their best-of-10 Blitz match. Both of them prefer to keep a low profile for the match, so unfortunately, the interesting things (photos and videos) taken will be within our private chat group. I shall only refer to the players as the "Defender" and the "Tyrant". The "Defender" is the best regular at the Singapore Chess Meetup, and the "Tyrant" is a well-known personality in the chess community.
Background to the Match
We had wanted to play a 10-game blitz match using "SPORTS HUB GIANT CHESS" set in the open. Unfortunately, upon clarification, we were informed that we need to make a request DAYS in advance for the pieces to be made available. (This is not a complaint, but a suggestion to make this requirement clear beforehand, preferably on the booking page itself. Currently, the "book now" button leads to writing an email, but it does not state such requirements.). Fortunately, there is another giant chess set in the Sports Hub Library, so we proceeded to play indoors (with air-condition!).
There were probably some under-estimation of the physical demands for the match. The Defender hit the gym earlier in the morning while the Tyrant did not clock adequate sleeping hours. Perhaps their fatigued, "not-so-handsome" look displayed by both players after the game contributed to their reluctance to allow pics or vids go public. There was another common friend, whom I shall refer to as "J", who served multiple roles (spectator, supporter, photographer, interviewer, assistance etc.)
There were some differences over the preferred time controls, but both players were eventually game enough to try out playing 3+2 (3 minutes initial time + 2 second increment with each move, starting from the first). Some house rules were necessary out of practical reasons. For instance, one is allowed to use both hands to make a move, to keep things in order, players were not allowed to start making their move before opponent presses the clock -- 2 warnings of this nature will result in penalty of an illegal move, adding 1 minute to the opponent. To address the lack of an extra Queen for pawn promotion, I brought 2 T-shirts, White and Black, from PubXChess -- a Queen will be represented by wrapping the shirt around any piece.
Conduct of the Games & Results
The warm-up game (not counted towards the results) was perhaps telling of the physical condition of both players. To our minor surprise, the Defender, who is deemed fitter than the Tyrant, seems very exhausted. The Tyrant, on the other hand, seems to be in much better condition. In the end, the Tyrant won the match 6-2 with 2 games not played out. A quick summary as follows:
Game 1: The Defender committed 2 illegal moves and forfeited the game. The Defender mixed up the pawn from the Bishop. But to be fair, even myself found difficulties sorting things out when restoring the pieces back to the starting positions =)
Game 2: The Defender threatened mate in 1 (big "one-move-threat") to even the scores.
Game 3: The Defender forfeited on time. Here I was rightfully reprimanded by the Tyrant from screwing up the clock -- in my eagerness to penalise the Tyrant for breaching the house rule (moving the piece before opponent pressed the clock), I accidentally pressed the clock (which triggered time increment) instead of pausing the clock =(
Things improved when the clock position was adjusted to a position which I can have a better look at the clock. Learn and avoid the mistake again was the way to move forward.
Game 4: The Defender committed 2 illegal moves again. One of the 2 illegal moves were so blatant (2 pawns were captured in a single move, LOL), that both myself and the Tyrant called it out. We were more surprised that the Defender was surprised by the (obvious) call ^o^
Games 5, 6, 7 and 8 were all decided by resignation.
Arbiter's Thoughts, Learning Points and "Match Report"
1. It was a very interesting experience. Both players were game, and it was an excellent physical and brain exercise combined!
2. I'm really sorry for the mistakes made as an arbiter. I will try to mimimise them in future. I'd also add that I am happy to say I have been impartial to both players. (The mistakes were due to lack of capability and not due to any bias towards either player). I have been penalising both sides quite evenly, in terms of warnings, calls for "touch-move" and the likes.
Just to digress a little-- Previously, as a player, I have never bothered claiming touch move on my opponent, because my personal view is that if a player intends to honour touch move, he would have done so at the onset (and hence, a claim is unnecessary). This assumption is actually not correct. Both players in this match are highly reputable, and both were reminded of "touch moves". Sometimes we are so focused in our thoughts, we are simply not fully aware of our hands actual actions. Both players honoured touch move after reminders.
So I should be doing the same as a player moving forward -- to "remind" my opponent of touch-move if they committed it (and not assume they have no intention to honour it just because they violated touch move).
3. While the players were taking their well-deserved break in between round, a teenager, who was following the game, approached me to inform that I overlooked an illegal move committed. Even though I thanked him and explained that the arbiter cannot interfere once the opponent made the move, the truth is I did not see/realise it. My point of view of the game was not so good, and I was focusing to ensure the house rules were being followed etc. My fear is that a seasoned / "lazy" arbiter would find all sorts of excuses to not play a proactive role.
4. I find fast games much harder to serve as an arbiter -- everything happens so fast, I am actually scared of pressing the clock (instead of pausing the clock) wrongly again. Even though the organisers, I have to say, I'd prefer to serve in standard games. I feel it is not so stressful, and if anything, we can always restore the game before the first irregularity. I don't mind committing longer hours to observe standard chess.
5. People (on top of Player) management is quite important. There was 1 user of the Sports Hub Library who complained about our noise level due to pieces falling and shouting out to make calls (e.g. warning, illegal move, touch move), stating the expected low to no noise level in a library. I apologised to him and the librarians after the match and wished them good day. I don't think there was a need to escalate the unhappiness further (luckily he did not hear the Tyrant's retort).
6. It is really important to ensure we understand the players correctly. The Defender indicated "giving up" during game 6, which results to the scores being 5-1 in favour of the Tyrant. I wanted to make sure I understood whether the Defender was giving up round 6 only, or was giving up the match. As the arbiter, I was actually secretly hoping that the Defender was giving up the match. Because being a pacifist, I hope the match ends as soon as possible, so that I can quickly proceed to apologise to "that guy" and avoid any escalation. But as a general chess enthusiast. I definitely wish the Defender would play the games out. I am glad that the games were played out to 6-2. It's scary how a match arbiter's bias can influence the course of the match, so I hope I, as well as any other aspiring chess arbiters, would take their role seriously!
Playing on the large chess board is quite an interesting affair. The Tyrant is already exploring possible interesting formats for the next match. Stay tuned!
Yours sincerely
Ong Yujing (Eugene)
a.k.a. newbie_learner
Siglap South CC Chess Quartet
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