Title

Page published 16 June 2012

Proposed Guidelines for Team Captains

Notes in italics added for information from the Counties Controller

It has been noted that there is an absence of a document to advise captains on what to do should a dispute arise. Ideally, disputes would be resolved on the day, and not end up being brought to a Committee. Specifically, there was an absence of the responsibilities of the captain in an arbiterless situation. The following guidelines are therefore proposed for acceptance to be distributed to captains:

This is not wholly true, there is no formal document, but as part of the information issued to captains at the start of each seasons event,  captains are advised to refer queries/disputes to the controller where they are unable to settle the matter between themselves & are provided with a list of phone numbers of qualified arbiters who can be contacted if the controller is not available during a match. This facility has occasionally been used, but for the most part captains are able to agree how to proceed.

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Any reference to Articles or Appendices mean those in the FIDE Laws of Chess.

Preface to the FIDE Laws of Chess
The Laws of Chess cannot cover all possible situations that may arise during a game, nor can they regulate all administrative questions. Where cases are not precisely regulated by an Article of the Laws, it should be possible to reach a correct decision by studying analogous situations which are discussed in the Laws. The Laws assume that arbiters have the necessary competence, sound judgement and absolute objectivity. Too detailed a rule might deprive the arbiter of his freedom of judgement and thus prevent him from finding the solution to a problem dictated by fairness, logic and special factors.

1. Powers of the Captain
   The captain of each team, whose identity will be made clear to the teams beforehand, shall have the power to act as de facto arbiters, except for the following cases:
   
   (a) The captains shall not be empowered to point out any infractions with regard to Article 4 (The Act of Moving the Pieces). That is to say, the captain shall not point out any violations of touch move, or of the making or completion of a move.
   
   (b) The captains shall not be empowered to point out the flag fall either at the end of the first time period, or the end of the quickplay finish. The player must claim a win on time himself, free from outside interference.
   
   (c) Should a situation arise where the time control has been reached, but the number of moves completed it disputed, the captains may assist with the reconstruction of the game to determine whether the time control has been made. If the captain's game is ongoing, he may nominate someone else on his team to carry out this function. A captain should make no effort to communicate the number of moves that have been made to either player if both players have stopped recording. If possible, when both players have stopped recording the moves, someone may oversee the game, recording the unwritten moves from a distance where no player can see what has been written down. When the flag has fallen, the captains may use this in their reconstruction of the game to ensure that the correct number of moves have been made.
   
   (d) If a claim is made under Article 10.2, it is still considered to be made in an arbiterless situation, as per Appendix D. Once the claim has been made by a player, the opposing captain has the right to accept it, and hence note the result as a draw. Should the claim be contested, the scoresheets and time remaining on the clocks shall be noted. This information shall be sent to the Disputes Committee either by post or in electronic form. A claim may not be made after the game has ended; i.e. after the flag has fallen and a player has claimed to that effect.

Please note rule 18 of the MCCU County rules which states that all queries/disputes should go to the controller, with right of appeal to a disputes committee.

(e) A captain may intervene under Article 7 (Irregularities) as he sees fit, except for Article 7.4, which covers illegal moves. Illegal moves must be claimed by the players, but are subject to the same two minute penalty.

(f) If a game has begun with the wrong colours, the game must be restarted if this is noticed within the first hour of the scheduled start time. Thereafter, the game must continue. The clocks should be adjusted such that the game is still scheduled to end at the same time. The rate of play for the first time period must be the same, but the number of moves required to make the time control may vary. The duration of the quickplay finish must remain the same.

Art 7.2 of FIDE Laws. If a game has begun with colours reversed then it shall continue, unless the arbiter rules otherwise.

Example 1: A 5-hour game playing 40 moves in 2 hours plus 30 minutes for completion is found to have started with the wrong colours after 1 hour of play. The game would be restarted, and the game would become 30 moves in 1½ hours plus 30 minutes for completion. That is, deduct 1 move from 40 for every 6 minutes after the start of play has elapsed, and deduct 3 minutes from 120 for each clock.

Example 2: A 4-hour game playing 36 moves in 1½ hours plus 30 minutes for completion is found to have started with the wrong colours after 1 hour of play. The game would be restarted, and the game would become 24 moves in 1 hour plus 30 minutes for completion. That is, deduct 1 move from 36 for every 5 minutes after the start of play has elapsed, and deduct 2½ minutes from each clock.

(g) If a claim is made under Article 9.2 (three-fold repetition) or 9.3 (fifty move rule), the captains may assist with the reconstruction of the game in order to determine whether the claim is successful. If the captain's game is ongoing, he may nominate someone else on his team to carry out this function.

(2) Draw Offers

(a) A player may consult his captain if he has been offered a draw. The captain may only offer advice on the position of other games and the current match score. The captain may accept a draw on the player's behalf.

(b) A player may ask his captain whether or not a draw can be offered. The captain may only answer this question with “yes”, “no”, or leave it at the discretion of the player. The captain may not offer a draw on the player's behalf.

(3) Disputes Committee
Any violations of the above guidelines should be reported to the Chief Executive, who will then forward them to the Disputes Committee under the procedure outlined in the Constitution.

Please note rule 18 which specifies that any dispute or question goes to the Controller with right of appeal a disputes committee. Thus to agree the above would create a conflict with the event rules.

Proposals from Cyril Johnson Events Director

Instead of the above document proposed by Worcestershire the following additions be made to the County Team rules -

Insert new rule 10 -
If there is no arbiter present, then the captains acting jointly, may decide that they have the right to call flag falls, illegal moves, and any other action designed to facilitate the smooth running of the match. If no agreement is reached, then the captains must limit themselves to purely administrative functions
If there is no arbiter present, then the captains may agree to act jointly as arbiters and will have the right to ….
If agreement is reached then either captain may call flag falls, illegal moves or take such steps as to ensure that the LAWS of CHESS are complied with.
If a fully qualified ECF or BCF Arbiter is present as a player or spectator, then the captains may jointly ask that person to assist with any decisions. Captains must assure themselves that the person concerned is a bona-fide arbiter. Contested claims for a draw under Art 10.2 must be submitted with the relevant documentation to the Controller.

Insert new rule 11 -
A player may consult his captain if he has been offered a draw, or to ask whether or not a draw may be offered. The captain may provide information on the current match score, but otherwise may only answer this question with “yes”, “no”, or leave it at the discretion of the player. The captain may not offer or accept a draw on the player's behalf.

All other rules to be renumbered accordingly.

The reasoning behind the above proposal is as follows -
It is much simpler if items that must be complied with are all in one place and that there is no room for confusion between what are rules and what are guidelines. The National Club events had rules and various accompanying documents, this situation certainly caused confusion & when reviewed by the Chief Arbiter led to the recommendation that everything that was a “ must do” should be part of the rules.

Constitutional amendment

14. Notice of General Meeting shall be posted as least 14 days prior to the date of the meeting by the Chief Executive. Notice of items, rule amendments, constitution changes, should reach the Chief Executive at least 28 days prior to the date of a General Meeting.

To become:
14. Notice of General Meeting shall be posted as least 14 days prior to the date of the meeting by the Chief Executive. Notice of items, rule amendments, team captain guideline amendments, constitution changes, should reach the Chief Executive at least 28 days prior to the date of a General Meeting.

This amendment would only be needed if formal captains guidelines are created.