Knocking over pieces in time scramble

     I was playing in an OTB tournament and my opponent and I were both down to about 1 minute on the clock with a 5 second increment.  He had the better position.  He was an experienced tournament player with a rating above 2000.

     He makes a move, knocks over a couple of pieces in the process, punches my clock and does not replace the pieces---I was stunned, didn't know what to do, I replaced the pieces and made my move and punched the clock, but losing time on my clock while I was replacing pieces to their correct position.  A couple of moves later, the same thing happened again---I lost the game on time---(I did have the worse position, but these kind of tactics really pissed me off and I think they may have been deliberate).

     I should have called the TD, the first time that this happened and called for a judgement on the situation, but I was so involved in the game that I didn't think straight. 

     Has anything like this occured in your games?

Yes. Stop the clock and call the TD.

This has occurred while I was a USCF Tournament Director in scholastic chess Swiss tournaments, especially in our unrated 5 min-blitz playoff games for trophies. I stopped the clock, had the players reset the pieces to both players agreement, then restarted the clock.

If one player was the only one at fault and did it twice, I gave a warning a 1 minute time penalty would go with the next one.

     I have encountered a couple of players who have started bashing my chess clock.  I stopped the clock and said they have to use their clock for the rest of the game.  If they wouldn't comply, I called the TD.  It's expensive to have some idiot ruin your chess clock. 

If they knock over their pieces just make your move and push your time and leave the dead pieces

     I don't know what move to make because a bishop, knight and pawn are lying on their sides on the board and it's hard to know what squares they should have been on.  And I only have a minute on the clock and will shortly lose on time.

     Another situation that is worrisome is players who have a bad cold and sniffle and wipe their nose on their sleeve and after 45 minutes of this you are afraid to touch the pieces because you worry that they might have bad bacteria on them. 

     You feel like you are under biological attack and need a hazmat suit to order to play chess against this opponent. 

     I lost an OTB game against a person because I was so upset by the large output of snot that my opponent was outputting. 

     Win some, lose some.  Just thinking.....

You sound like someone who has played in the same clubs I have. .. oh wait.  

It's happened to me a few times in OTB games, but never on here though.

     Did you ever play an OTB game when your opponent has a breathing problem?      After about 3 hours of that I begin to dread when my opponent has to breath. 

I've had only one person knock over pieces.  I said let's pick them up, since I had plenty of time left. A friend later warned me that since I didn't strictly say "I adjust," that he could have called touch move.

I sat next to a guy that had brought his lunch with him.  During every bite he said, "yum, yum, yum."  Every so often, about every 20 minutes, he would go out the side door, about 8 feet away, slam it shut, look around, reenter, slam the door shut, and play a couple of moves...  After his game ended, he left all his garbage at the table.  This young man, maybe a teenager, had serious OCD and chess was the only thing he could still do, but I think the TD should have made him play at a separate table away from the general public

An distracting factor that I'm guilty--but didn't realize it until recently--is bad breathe.  I was playing playing this teenager and everything was going fine until he opened a soda pop.  Then after every breathe I could smell that odor.  I normally have a soda with me just to keep myself awake, but I never thought that my breathe carried that far.  Now I carry breathe mints to tournaments.

Being a germ-a-phobe, I often am concerned with what is on the pieces that I'm forced to touch.  This doesn't bother me until I see my opponent leave the table/room.  After using a bathroom, less than 50% of men wash their hands.  Urine is sterile, but the bacteria found in your groin area is not. 

Yes to you and  jonesmikechess

I have been taught that eating a raw onion before your otb games improves your rating.  

Garlic, onion and mustard sandwiches also improve your rating, but not your popularity. My brother quit martial arts because there are always a lot of sick kids there and they don't sterilize their equipment.

     I have played in some of the same clubs that you have.  Hi, Joe!

I know the topic is dead but I have a similar question and don't want to open another one just for this. I've never played in over the board tournament so I was wondering how do people fill in their move spreadsheet in a time scramble? For instance there is 90+30 game but one of the players have 1 minute left. If he writes down his move he might lose on time, so is there a special rule in that case? I am sure that many games were finished in time scrambles and it is probably distracting having to fill in the spreadsheet.

Then again, if there is a rule that they don't have to fill it in if there is too little time left, how do they even remember every move afterwards for official reasons?

I believe there's something where if you're under 5 minutes you can stop writing or something. Regarding your question about the remembering rules, you have an opponent, I'm pretty sure you both could figure it out. Even in bullet games I can often recall most of the moves I made directly after the game, with some help of my opponent. The fact that it is a 90+30 game, should make it much easier. Every move you make was probably somewhat planned and there's a good chance you'll remember what you played.

I had a feeling that was the case. Yeah you might figure it out, although who knows, if you are playing the endgame in time scramble, that could be 20-30 moves you need to figure out.