Are Tournament chess rules becoming ridiculous ?

The Olympiad regulations (availble on the official website, though you have to dig for them) say:

"The beginning of the playing session shall be announced by the Chief Arbiter or by a single acoustic signal. At this instant, any Player who is not seated at his/her Match shall be defaulted immediately. Where both Players are absent at the beginning of the playing session, both Players shall lose the game by default."

So yes, it's true. Whether it will be strictly enforced remains to be seen. If it is, we can expect a lot of forfeits, at least in round one.

Part of the reason for the introduction of this regulation is surely the game Short-Baramidze from last year's World Cup. In a 25 minute tie-break game, the jet-lagged Baramidze overslept and arrived 24 minutes late, leaving himself just one minute plus the increment to play the game. Despite this, he won. Short said afterwards that he had been put at a psychological disadvantage by the incident (I can imagine how: you relax mentally during the delay, and then find yourself having to play what is almost a different time control to the one you expected).

Short's comments on this at http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4290 are quite interesting. He does say that "a certain amount of leeway should be given", which I guess most players would agree with. To have none whatsoever is perhaps a bit odd.

You might want to thump your tardy teammates for bad behavior, but if you do, don't tell anyone, or you might get charged for assault.

     I didn't pick up from the first post that it was a 'team' event.  well, the organizers are free to set tournament rules, and, (normally anyway) as long as those are publicly posted and advertised, all who enter the event are acquiescing to the rules for that event.

  well, either

    a. choose your teammates wisely, or

        b.  take potluck, or

            c. don't enter the event... simple enough.

I think they should allow somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes for emergencies. Things happen for players traveling long distances so it's a hard call.

Under "normal" i mean acceptable.And i think pontuality shouldn t schock anyone, from both parts, organizers and chess players.Organizers should give the example in order to demand some respect with schedules.But there are cases in cases..at non professional level delays can happen naturally in function of the respective profissional activity, that naturally has all priority.But at top GM level they should have no excuses.

That's a very bad idea to make that rule.  That basically means if you're stuck in traffic trying to get to the U.S. Open, and you arrive ten seconds late, tough luck.

 No tough luck.just wake up earlier :)

 We can only hope that this new rule (first time to my knowledge) wont become common in all chess tournaments. It is the Olympiad afterall and a team event.

Being a few minutes late happens--for example, if one of your hotel's elevators is out-of-service or there's unexpected traffic. I wouldn't mind reducing the limit though to 15 minutes, though. At a recent G/45 tournament I recall three or four players forced to wait 45 minutes for a no-show opponent--a tad bit excessive.

el beasto and hugh, and others:  this forum is about a highly specialized topic - Olympiad Team Event held in Dresden under FIDE rules, and is not a USCF type event  (US Open, etc).    While I can sympathize totally with the players who show up a few minutes late, a previous poster pointed out that the organizers have obligations to those financing the event (television, etc), and may - as Camembert quoted the Olympiad rules, be forfeited immediately if not seated at the posted start time for the match.

As far as I know, (as a TD), if the event rules are posted, are made public, and are known to the participants - acknowledged by them at the time they send in entry fee - - then those are the rules.    You aren't building character by arguing with the organizer or others about the rules; (( although there might actually be some basis for postulating that you are BECOMING a character by virtue of the fact that you are arguing about the inarguable rules.))

     Basically, if players refuse to compete under those rules, the organizers will ditch the rule that the majority find objectionable.  If only a few are vocally opposed (and take their money and game elsewhere), then the tournament will go on.

If a player is late, start their clock.  The time belongs to them, there or not.  60 - 90 minutes to first move seems reasonable before forfeit.

Have to agree that organizers, despite best intentions, often don't set best or highest standards.   For the most part, in such cases, one can't just take their game somewhere else.  There are only so many opportunities for most people.

I'm sure there will be a leeway of at least 5-10 minutes. It seems too extreme otherwise. However, I support the idea of encouraging players  to come on time even more.

i ve played in tournaments where my opponent was late, i think the one hour rule is sufficient. 

nigel short complained about his scenario, but it s totally legal to go to your board, make your first move on time, leave, and then come back when you have one minute plus the increment to play and finish the game, which wouldn t have been much different than what happened.

lol, I can imagine one team paying an elevator operator to make a rival team late and get forfeited

The difference is that with a minute left on his opponent's clock Nigel had most likely in his mind considered it a sure forfeit.  Going from that thought process and inevitable relaxation to getting dragged back into the unexpected tension of stiff competition can take a toll on one's psyche.  If it were the other scenario that you described and his opponent made one move and then disappeared for a while, well at least Nigel could stay focused on the game knowing his opponent would at one point return, giving him a much larger advantage.  The way it went though Nigel's opponent fed off of pure adrenaline while Nigel's play was stagnant from the psychological ups and downs.  Nigel is the first person to admit he should have won or at least gotten a draw in that game but I can totally understand the psychological effects that lent his opponent the upper hand in this situation.

It does seem rather unreasonable, especially considering some countries are rather hard to get around in. Some places, it is within custom if you arrive within even a half hour of an appointment; due to the overabundance of traffic upon the roadway systems aor unpredictability of travel route usage on a given day. This is especially difficult in some large European cities it seems. I have been to some places too, where you cannot be sure a road you are on was not a goat path since the turn of the last millineum. Now transformed to a winding, concrete main route. Then again, it can also be that it Still Looks like a goat path. Not to complain tho, as it can be very scenic and a relaxed pace is nice.

If it is for television reasons this has come about, then I only hope the players are being paid appropriately for their use and inconvenience.

I always thought the usual HOUR allowed was fine. Or expiration of Time if that is less than the hour.

 Bobby Fischer would have scoffed at this rule, and ignored it completely.

I hate that rule... I've always written my moves down first and then played them ... it's the less retarded equivalent of sitting on your hands for those two 'twilight' seconds between settling on a move and moving the piece (I tend to move the wrong one ... :P).

Anyways I've always written my moves down first and will continue to do so until the TD asks me not to... after which I will have an excuse for losing ("The TD distracted me." is often bought :P).

You are warned for writing the move down first right? ... not immediately Disqualified?

 How can you write down your opponent's moves before they make them?  Are you a mindreader? 

The rules have always been riduculas

i definitely agree with the 1 hour limit. the player gets a bonus for his opponent being late which should be enough imo. Ive been late to games and man i would be extremely annoyed if i lost because i was a few minutes late. Competitions are also supposed to be fun and so should have time for error for being late imo. Also i think it is a bit annoying when they do start late but at the same time people should be grateful that the organisers even organised the tournement! There was a tournement that was not run for 10-15 years in  UCC where i live which was won by all the Irish greats and GM's. It was restarted 4-5 years ago and im very grateful that there is another local tournement that i can stay at home and play in! 2 are run in my area every year now!