While the major decisions concerning the Laws of Chess tend to be taken every 4 years, new suggestions constantly get presented to the FIDE Rules and Tournament Regulations Commission (RTRC). One idea that has been put forward recently is to require Arbiters to point out flag fall in Blitz.
Currently Arbiters are required to check if players have made time control, if either asked by the players, or if they observe that one flag has fallen on the chess clock, but only in normal time control events. For Rapidplay and Blitz they are nor allowed to signal that a flag has fallen, unless there is adequate supervision for all games, or if both flags have fallen.
The suggestion is to treat Rapidplay and Blitz the same as normal chess, so if an arbiter notices a flag is down they should immediately take action.
To me this has the potential to be a very emotional topic. The chance of saving half a point in blitz due to double flag fall is something a lot of players rely upon, and to take away this opportunity. Invariably the games where this happen are of course the last games to finish in a particular round, and the chances that the arbiter happens to be watching is obviously far greater.
But the point of this post is to get an indication on what others think. So the simple question is: Should arbiters 'flag' in blitz and rapidplay? (Feel free to record your answer in the comments section)
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4 comments:
No! Otherwise it will be less emotional and less interesting.
Yes, to stop the flagging cheats!
It is about time arbiters are allowed. Why? When using an electronic clock there is no double 'flag down' because the moment one player's allotted time expires the other player's time will not. The fact that one player's flagged down remains.
Applying corollary concept, the fact the arbiter observes flag down or time expiration must become a rule in rapid and blitz games as it is in normal game.
If you're going to be fair then you flag all or no players at an event. Using Doeberl Cup Blitz as an example there are usually 80 players with 2 DOP's. While this is more than enough for a tournament, one DOP needs to be at the arbiter's table and that leaves one arbiter for 40 boards in blitz.
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