Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Be on time, or else

Our Olympiad players will now need to complete their pre-game rituals in good time if they want to avoid a penalty. According to this news item on FIDE.com:

[T]he most important change is, however, that all players have to be at their table exactly at the beginning of play to shake hands, just like in any other sports, or else they will lose the match. Chess players have yet allowed themselves the luxury of being late up to one hour.

(Note that these rules announced by Ignatius Leong last week are in addition to other Olympiad Rule changes announced in December last year).

Or else they will lose the match? Scary stuff! Fortunately, with a start time per round of 3PM, it shouldn't be a problem. Hopefully.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm a bit surprised there are no comments. Am I the only person who thinks it's a bit unfair to default a whole team just because one player has got delayed in the Dresden public transport system...?

Kevin Bonham said...

Although the word "match" is used in the reference to defaults I wonder if this is just sloppy translation (as is often the case) and what is really meant is "game". It would indeed be draconian to default a whole team if one player was late, but I doubt that is what is intended.