Keeping score

[Mick Norris]

Game today, in which my opponent moved liked lightening and had over an hour on the clock at all times

Quickplay finish, I was still recording as I had more than 5 minutes left, he missed out recording a move for both sides - what should I have done if I noticed?

I stopped recording at less than 5 minutes - he missed out recording half a dozen moves - what should I have done if I noticed?

My flag fell: using his scoresheet to update mine, I discovered he had missed out a few moves and incorrectly recorded a few others - what should I have done?

In each case, is there any penalty applicable to my opponent?

And yes, I tried to move as fast as I could

[Sean Hewitt]

I'm assuming your playing in a team event with no arbiter present.

Your opponent must record his own previous move before making another, if he has more than 5 minutes left in any session. If he moves before recording his previous move, restart his clock whilst he brings his scoresheet up to date and call the captains over to claim two minutes extra for the distraction.

Should he transgress again, repeat as above. Should he continue to break the laws (or says that he won't comply) stop playing and send the details to the tournament controller.

If you have to take this course of action though, pray that the controller is not Mr H Lamb or, if it is, that you are playing in an event that affords players the right of appeal against his decision.

If you only discover the transgression(s) after your flag has fallen, then it is too late to do anything about it I'm afraid. I can guess who you were playing though.

[Mick Norris]

Thanks

I'm sure it wasn't deliberate on his behalf

I couldn't even read his scoresheet in parts, although he did say his handwriting is awful

EDIT - Fritz just informs me I missed a mate in 1 (actually a choice of 2 knight moves rather than the queen check I thought was a forced mate but wasn't)

[Neil Graham]

I'm assuming your playing in a team event with no arbiter present.

Your opponent must record his own previous move before making another, if he has more than 5 minutes left in any session. If he moves before recording his previous move, restart his clock whilst he brings his scoresheet up to date and call the captains over to claim two minutes extra for the distraction.

Should he transgress again, repeat as above. Should he continue to break the laws (or says that he won't comply) stop playing and send the details to the tournament controller.

If you have to take this course of action though, pray that the controller is not Mr H Lamb or, if it is, that you are playing in an event that affords players the right of appeal against his decision.

If you only discover the transgression(s) after your flag has fallen, then it is too late to do anything about it I'm afraid. I can guess who you were playing though.

The same opponent I played a couple of years ago - when we turned the clocks back, I had 30 minutes and he had one hour and forty minutes (ie more time than he actually had when he started). Incidentally I note you were playing with a time increment - in the 4NCL where we play with a 30 second increment you have to keep scoring throughout.

[Mick Norris]

We weren't playing with increment, as we couldn't agree the right way to set the clocks

[John McKenna]

A sorry tale of woe - for want of a nail the (horse)shoe was lost...
Some rare opponents start the battle before a move is even made and then use all means at their disposal to win.
There are a couple of books about that kind of extra-dimensional, psychological, total-war chess. Trouble is it is sometimes only fully apparent after the king(dom) is lost.

[Jon Mahony]

We have a player like this in LCC who kills a small rain forest each time he plays a game every time he moves (faster than the speed of light!) he records a move in a huge block capitals and goes into the box for at least 4 moves each time - consequently he needs about 5 score sheets per game, and the writing is total gobbledygook.

We have all tried to warn him on numerous occasions, that eventually someone will complain, but he never seems to take it on board (his English isn’t that great). Miraculously in the 3-4 years he has played for us, there has never been a serious dispute with another team involving this player.

He’s actually quite a nice bloke and I get on great with him, but in general I’m not keen on playing these guys who fancy themselves as hustlers from central park. The game is seldom enjoyable and you often have to endure continuous staring, along with them moving without a millisecond of thought, and then sitting back and yawning (which shows a total lack of respect).

I’ve learned to not let it affect me, keep my gaze fixed on the board while use my time properly, work my way through their cheap tricks and tactics and only cast a hypnotic gaze of my own, when I am about to deliver mate or land a crushing, piece winning blow