Thursday, April 16, 2009

Strange Blue Device

I received this email from a reader asking me about a strange blue device that was used by one player to record his moves. The email reads:

I noticed one player in round 7 using a blue hand held device for recording of his moves, and not using the pen/paper at all. What gives - is this a new trend for move entry? And how to cope when all players are using them? Maybe you did not notice this, but surely one rule for all would be the principle. I am assuming he transcribed the moves back to paper before handing it in.

Yes, I did notice it and the player in question was Amir Karibasic of the Kings of Chess club up in the Gold Coast. He used the device for every single one of his games. The device is actually a Monroi PCM. Before anyone gets all excited, this device is FIDE approved and is, in fact, used in a number of tournaments around the world including the US Champs and the big Gibraltar Open.

It's actually been around for a few years now and will be used in the Oceania Zonal later this year.

After each game, Amir's results were validated by an arbiter (the arbiter affixes his signature digitally) and in case of disputes, the arbiters always relied on the opponent's paper scoresheets.

5 comments:

chessx said...

I suppose some people will say this could lead to cheating.
But it proberly will become the norm in top chess tournaments.

Anonymous said...

In these days of concern about electronic cheating, I find it worrying that people support the Monroi, as (I understand) it can contact a huge online database of games. This is supposed to be disabled during play,but seems to me to be a cause for concern. It's also difficult to see if your opponent is keeping score properly, which is an issue when you're down to an increment of 30 seconds. It's also very expensive. It's also a hassle to go and ask the organiser for a printed score of your own game afterwards, if you're using one provided by the organiser. I could go on. Suffice it to say that I will be using a scoresheet!

Anonymous said...

The flat-earth people commenting here should note that the Monroi has been FIDE tested/approved.

I can see a real benefit in a parent giving one to a junior who enters tournaments as it ensures that the game score is legible and accurate. If the cost bothers you then keep to pen and paper.

Anonymous said...

I don't think that 'approved by FIDE' is necessarily a good thing! FIDE comes up with some pretty stupid ideas on a regular basis...

Amir Karibasic said...

CC Grandmaster


Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 176 This weekend we have executed 32 live games in 6 Rounds with Monroi panels.

Highest number of the live games was 8.

Players who used the Monroi panels simply enjoyed them instead of a scoresheet. Many of them could not say Good Bye to the Monroi PCMs after their games.

Phachara Wongiwichit, David Castor, Alexander Stahnke, Gene Nakauchi, Kevin Casey, Nenad Chelebichanin, Jack Martin, Daniel Lapitan, Mike Duffin and Amin Fazel became experts and found it much faster to record than scoresheet.

All 32 games can be seen at: LIVE GAMES