One of the essential tools for any tournament player is a pen. Not hard, just put one on your pocket and head off to play chess. So it does irk me when players turn up to club or tournament without one. Especially if their goto move is to simply ask you to supply them with one.
For events like the Doeberl we provide 'loaners' with a $1 deposit. In practice this means we are simply selling pens for $1, as pens are never 'borrowed'. For the Chess Olympiad, pens were supplied by the organisers, but to prevent massive loss, they had to be collected at the end of the game (by the arbiter).
One other option is to supply a pen, but when the player returns it, they have to provide us with a 2nd pen, so we can then lend it to another player who has also forgotten their pen. The advantage of this system is twofold. Firstly, it will teach players the importance of bringing their own pen, and secondly, it will create a giant pen pyramid scheme, which can be converted into other goods and services at some later date.
1 comment:
Maybe if one player has a pen and the other it could result in a forfeit - after all as the saying goes: pen and win.
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