Newport Open Round 3

With 1 point after the first 2 rounds, I was paired with Ritch Duron who also had 1 point. He was rated 1775, and I'd never played him before, so I didn't know what to expect. It was the last round of the day, starting at 7 PM. By now I was rather tired and felt like I had enough chess for the day, so I probably didn't play the best. But presumably everyone was in this situation by round 3.

After my opponent flagged at the end of the game, he had a question for the tournament director about the time controls. The head TD had gone home for the night (as it was close to 10 PM), and the assistants tried their best to answer it, but ultimately the buck stops with the head TD. After flagging my opponent said he thought there was a 5 second delay on the clock, because its optional/recommended/prefered. My opponent was ~7 minutes late to the start of the round & the game, and he forgot to check if the delay was set at the beginning of the game. The TD decided to award me the point due to my opponent flagging because it is the player's responsibility to check how their clocks are set. His tardiness / my not setting a delay was bad luck, but that is how the game goes. If the delay was mandatory (eg no analog clocks allowed), maybe the TD would have suggested that Ritch and I play on, but as it wasn't mandatory, the point was mine. Ritch said he was felt the ruling wasn't fair and was going to appeal it to the USCF, so I will update this if I hear anything back.