Poor rules - poor outcomes

There may be a time at some point in the future when Shakhriyar Mamedyarov may be the considered "the guy that changed chess". For now however he is the guy that was defaulted twice in the 2012 European Championship, for two separate reasons. His first default was for a late arrival at the board, falling foul of the instant default rules that is in operation at the European Championships. The second default occurred after he played his round 9 game, when he (and his opponent) broke the 'no draws before move 40' rule that the tournament also has. At this point Mamedyarov, who was the tournament second seed, decided to withdraw from the tournament (and did so in a courteous and professional manner). Both of the rules that he broke are of course still quite contentious. The zero forfeit rule is the one that excites the most passion in the chess community, although ironically, the vote to adopt the rule was supported by a greater majority of the general chess playing public than members of the FIDE Rules and Tournament Regulations Commission (a majority of 1 in RTRC, with the public vote closer to 45-25 at Dresden in 2008). Both rules have been in serious operation for 4 years, and I think this is long enough for a sensible review to occur. One of the main issues I have with both rules is that they can lead to poor outcomes, as they tend to operate in an inflexible way. Of course both rules have clear clauses which allow tournament organisers to modify them, but clearly this doesn't always fir in with the organisers plans. As the FIDE Laws of Chess get a major review every 4 years, the 2012 FIDE Congress is where any proposed changes will be voted on. Before that there will be a counsellors meeting of the FIDE Rules and Tournament Regulations at the end of April in Switzerland. I will be attending that meeting and hope to bring both rules (as well as a few others) up for discussion. Hopefully we will be able to consider the case of Mamedyarov, as well as the report from the organisers, at that meeting. For me I've always preferred a default time of 30 minutes (with the right of the organiser to set another time), and that is the position I will take at the meeting.