I love to share, discuss and even debate about how I make a call, the references and considerations I have leading to my judgement. While I may not be always right, I seek to learn and improve. Having recently served as a Rookie arbiter for 1 of the large scale local tournaments (not naming it here in case I'm not supposed to, but my own chess friends would probably know what I am referring to), this is my self-evaluation:
I have little to no knowledge gap when it comes to the current FIDE laws of chess (which I feel is the most fundamental thing chess arbiters need to adequately equip themselves with). I do feel that I lack some experience, which may or may not be a good thing. Arguably, an experienced / seasoned arbiter also runs the risk of becoming complacent or jaded. Whereas a Rookie like myself is still fresh and passionate about my role as an arbiter.
Despite my limited experience serving as an arbiter in formal / official tournaments, there are role model arbiters I seek to learn from. Without a doubt, the 2 local arbiters I currently look up to the most are Mr Christopher Lim, President of the Singapore Chess Federation, Arbiter of the ongoing QCD Team League for Adults, and Mr Tan Tian Wah, who is also a guru in handling DGT chess equipment!
How newbie_learner serves as an arbiter
- Always carry a copy of the current FIDE Laws of Chess. Specifically, I use the version published by UK Chess Arbiter's Association. What is good about this version is that it included interpretations and explanatory notes from the UK Chess Arbiter's Association for different clauses in FIDE Laws of Chess. Things like using different hands to make a move and press the clock is considered an illegal action but not an illegal move (it is only an illegal move to make a move using 2 hands) is clearly explained in this document.
Some friends or observers who don't know me well enough thought that carrying the Laws of Chess with me shows my lack of confidence. This assumption can't be further from the truth. Not only do I carry it with me for quick reference of my own, but it is also intended to (i) show it to any player(s) who are unfamiliar with the current laws of chess, or to players who misquote or misunderstood the laws of chess; and (ii) fellow arbiters who are not familiar with the specifics of the amended laws of chess (this is why in my opinion, being a Rookie arbiter doesn't necessarily put me at a disadvantage compared to a seasoned one-- I need not unlearn or "un-remember" old laws of chess that are no longer in place)
- Always carry 2 extra Queens, 1 of each colour in my pocket. This is to facilitate pawn promotion needs, which is especially important when extra Queens are not available to each set. While some fellow arbiters dismissed it as being redundant (they feel that Queens are usually only needed in the late stage of the game during endgame, when most games would have ended and the player can just grab a Queen from the neighbouring board), it really became important in some of the games I served. From whom did I pick up this good habit from? No other than Mr Christopher Lim himself =)
- Always make yourself useful when observing a game. While it takes experience to decide whether to observe a game in-depth and lose sight of other games in progress, or to observe several games simultaneously to look out for players' claims and to respond to claims in the quickest time possible, I make it an effort to always be doing something, even counting moves to facilitate arbiters' interference for things like 75 moves or repetition of the same position for the 5th time without players need to initiate a claim. I think the problem of some chess players-turned-arbiter is that they care too much about the quality of play and get engrossed in watching the game like a spectator but not serving as an arbiter. The quality of play is entirely none of our business as arbiters. This is something that I need to caution myself from time to time as well.
One of the most repeated invalid claims I have received from kiddos is that "The opponent started moving before I completed my move". Just to explain things a little, under the FIDE Laws of Chess, there is a difference between having made a move (over the Board) and having completed a move (made the move + pressed the clock). The laws are clear on this:
1.3 A player is said to ‘have the move’ when his opponent’s move has been‘made’.
So a player can initiate his move when the opponent has made his move, and is in the process of pressing the clock.
Personally, I think this (initiating your own move while opponent is taking time to press the clock) is only useful when playing Blitz, where every second counts. But similar to making pre-move for online chess, this is not without risk:
- If you (accidentally) start touching the pieces before the opponent has made his move, technically the opponent has the right to complain (because you are not having the move, and you cannot adjust when you do not have the move). Personally, as an arbiter, I would rule this as an illegal action if there is a complaint.
- Touch-move applies the moment the move is made by the opponent, since once opponent has made the move, you have the move.
- Also, a stated in Article 4.8,
"A player forfeits his right to claim against his opponent’s violation of Articles 4.1 —4.7 (referring to touch move and release piece obligations) once the player touches a piece with the intention of moving or capturing it."
So if you were holding on to a piece before the opponent has made his move, and the opponent quickly changes move and makes his move while you still hold onto the piece, the opponent may claim that you forfeited the right to claim his change of move based on Article 4.8, LOL
Case study: Offering a draw when opponent is holding on to a piece
This actually happened in the final round of a tournament, where prizes and placements are at stake. While this piece of information is irrelevant to how I resolved the case, it is interesting to know that the 2 players know each other (i.e. they are at least acquaintances if not friends), and I happen to know both players (both kids) in person. A fateful encounter with me as the arbiter, perhaps!
Player A (White pieces) has just been penalised for the first illegal move by me as the arbiter. (This was a rapid tournament with 10 seconds increment per move, and the 2nd illegal move would result in forfeiture.) I just walked away from the board after issuing the penalty, when almost immediately, both Player A and Player B (Black pieces) seem agitated and raised their hands seeking to make a claim against each other.
I don't know if I recall the exact position correctly. The exact position is inconsequential to the incident, but I just want to point out something interesting to me (now as a player). Here, White to move, the assessment of this position should be, that only Black has any winning chance -- White still has some chances to misplay and lose the game. Hence, the easiest move is to play Qxg6+ to exchange Queens immediately and hold an easy draw. But instead, Player A made some other move and all hell broke loose!
What happened is as follows: After White and Black made another move each, it is now White (Player A) to move again. At (almost) the same time when Player A grabbed his White Queen (it was his turn to move), Player B mouthed "draw?". Being down on clock time, on 1 illegal, White was relieved to accept Player's B draw offer. (By the way, whoever claims that there is no element of psychology in competitive chess is either ignorant or lying.)
However, Player B now claims, "Since you touched your White Queen (with the intention to move), you have declined my draw offer and can no longer accept my draw offer.". Both players become visibly upset and both raised their hands for arbiter's assistance. Of course, I rushed back to attend to the game I just left off from. While this was somewhat a not-so-straightforward case, and something was at stake, I did not shun away and defer to the Chief Arbiter. Instead, I tried my best to calm both players down, to establish what exactly happened, and make a ruling.
" 9.1.2.1 A player wishing to offer a draw shall do so after having made a move on the chessboard and before pressing his clock. An offer at any other time during play is still valid but Article 11.5 (referring to the use of the draw offer to distract or annoy the opponent illegally) must be considered. No conditions can be attached to the offer. In both cases the offer cannot be withdrawn and remains valid until the opponent accepts it, rejects it orally, rejects it by touching a piece with the intention of moving or capturing it, or the game is concluded in some other way"
My follow-up action and evaluation as the arbiter for this situation as follows:
- After calming down both players, both players agree that the draw offer was made at almost, if not the exact same moment, that Player A grabbed his White Queen.
- Player B clearly did not offer a draw after having made a move on the chessboard and before pressing his clock. However, the draw offer (made at any other time) is still valid.
- Based on the unique circumstances, Player A had no opportunity to react to the draw offer without touching the White Queen.
- My Ruling: Player A did NOT touch the White Queen as a response intended to decline Player B's draw offer through making a Queen move on the board. Hence, the draw offer from Player B is still valid.
- It may be technically possible to rule differently, that the draw offer from Player B is deemed invalid (Arbiter's discretion and judgement call). However, minimally I would have considered giving Player B an official warning under Article 11.5 (or even escalate it to some immediate penalty under Article 12.9), because this act of "making a draw offer that opponent has no legal means to consider accepting" may be seen as an act of gamesmanship exploiting on technicalities.
Last but not least, these are my thoughts and suggestions for players in situations of dispute:
- If you do not agree with the arbiter's ruling, please APPEAL! To be honest, I do not always agree with the rulings made by (fellow) arbiters all the time =) Myself included, I may have made bad calls from time to time too, if not now, perhaps in future. If you as a player feel genuinely aggrieved by any arbiters' decision, please make an appeal so that there is at least a chance for corrections to be made.
- (Especially for kids) Please speak up! As an arbiter, I am trying to establish the case so that I can make a judgement call that is fair to both players. If a player makes a claim while the other player does not respond, I can only make a ruling in favour of the claimant. On my end, I hope I do not appear to be too fierce / unapproachable to anyone. I can't change my face, but I will try to work on my tone and mannerisms to be as child-friendly as possible ^o^
- More often than not, justice prevails! We arbiters actually make a mental note of "notorious personalities". I even caught and confronted a couple of players who clearly chose to not observe touch move and were outright trying to deceive. Let's not earn ourselves a bad reputation just to clock 1 or 2 undeserved wins.
Yours sincerely
Ong Yujing (Eugene)
a.k.a. newbie_learner
Siglap South CC Chess Quartet
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