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FIDE Rules Article 10

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Graw81

This is something i want to bring to the attention to OTB players. It is regarding quick-play finish. The reason i want to bring this to the forefront is that i have been involved in such endings in the past and i have been a spectator to many of these type of finishes and sometimes the game ends in a controversial result and/or simply a rift between both players. (Before reading, this could be a little confusing and the examples i have come up with may contain errors. More importantly, if there are errors or other examples you can think of, please let them be known here. What i want is a discussion of the rule and your experiences when this rule may have applied.)

Example 1a. You are playing a weekend tournament with all moves in 1.45 mins. You find yourself with less than two minutes and you are winning, you have more material too. You decide that you have not enough time to finish the game so offer a draw. Your opponent is losing and has less material. He declines your draw offer and starts to play his moves rather fast without giving much thought to what he is doing. He worsens his position and further drops more material. Your flag falls and he claims a win.

What are your options now? You had a won game but got robbed. Yes, it happens! You know that your opponent played you for time. You seek the arbiter after the game but he was not present at the end of the game so there is nothing he can do. The result stands. Your only option is to hope that the arbiter will have a second look at the issue by obtaining a copy of the move-sheets and decides to over rule the result. Unlikely but if you have just played a 'night game' and the next round is not til morning, you may have some hope!

Example 1b. Now, back to the same situation, but this time when your clock falls below two minutes you offer a draw and when it is declined you can see from a series of your opponents last moves that he/she is not making a normal effort to win the game. This is when you should call the arbiter! Simply stop the clock (if you think you have a valid argument, otherwise you could be penalised for stopping the clock) and ask the arbiter to view the game. Put forward your point that your opponent is not making an effort to win see what the arbiter decides. You may not be awarded any result yet but you could be awarded with some extra minutes (usually 2 minutes).

Example 2. You are in a slightly worse position, perhaps your opponent even has a queen to the good! You have very little amount of time left but your opponent is not making any effort to win the game (even if there is a simple checkmate pattern with queen and rook for example) and simply moves as fast as he can so your time runs out. Stop the clock, call for arbiter and explain what is happening. If your opponent does not play even a sequence (like staircase) that would lead to mate you can claim a draw. Ultimately the arbiter will decide but it would be hard to oppose your claim if your opponent has not showed any moves/pattern that will lead to mate.

Example 3 You have Queen and 3 pawns and your opponent only has 3 pawns. All of the pawns are blocked and your opponents king cannot wander among the pawns hoping for a stalemate. All you need to do i checkmate with king and queen. The problem is that you have only seconds left to mate him and his king is in the centre of the board. You have mated with a king and queen before but know it will be tight to mate him given that you only have seconds left. You get on with the task ahead and start limiting the opposing kings squares. You get his king to the edge of the board and are only moves away from mating him. Lets say that you are two moves away from mate and your opponent claims your flag has fallen. He claims a win (as he still has pawns on the board!). Ouch!! What a way to lose a full point... mate in 2 and you score a 0. Its not too late. Call the arbiter and contest the claim. You have made a series of moves and showed that you are going to mate him. (Your proof is the score-sheet. Your opponent should be recording the moves i he has more than 5 mins left) You should see the claim over-ruled and be awarded the win.

 

There are so many situations when this article may apply so the best advice i can give on the issue is that usually if an arbiter sees a game about to end in quick-play finish he/she will be over to the game like a bullet to see it ends appropriately and when you are running short of time make sure there is an arbiter near by. Even a few spectators may back you up if they witness anything 'strange' happens before the arbiter comes to the board. Remember, these rules are probably less rigid at your local tournaments and you may even know the rules better than the arbiter.

I hope this has brought some light to the issue. My advice to players who refuse to accept a draw in a completely losing position and want to run their opponent out on time is to rethink your sportsmanship and be an honest player. If not, you may get the win on time only to see it over-ruled by the arbiter! You could end up with a 0 beside your name!

 

 

Article 10: Quickplay Finish

10.1
A 'quickplay finish' is the phase of a game, when all the (remaining) moves must be made in a limited time.
10.2
If the player, having the move, has less than two minutes left on his clock, he may claim a draw before his flag falls. He shall stop the clocks and summon the arbiter.
a. If the arbiter agrees the opponent is making no effort to win the game by normal means, or that it is not possible to win by normal means, then he shall declare the game drawn. Otherwise he shall postpone his decision or reject the claim.
b. If the arbiter postpones his decision, the opponent may be awarded two extra minutes and the game shall continue in the presence of an arbiter, if possible. The arbiter shall declare the final result later in the game or after a flag has fallen. He shall declare the game drawn if he agrees that the final position cannot be won by normal means, or that the opponent was not making sufficient attempts to win by normal means.
c. If the arbiter has rejected the claim, the opponent shall be awarded two extra minutes time.
d. The decision of the arbiter shall be final relating to 10.2 a, b, c.

[Taken from the FIDE Laws of Chess 2004/5]

eyom

yah..i think this is very important. anyone shoud take a look at these kinds of sitations. its very fraustrating actualy when these things happen. now i know. . .thanks a lot man.

KillaBeez

I have done this in many games.  I once stopped the clock with one second left!