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I see. Any ringtone by Kanye West should be treated with the maximum fine possible.
Seriously, I don't think a ringing phone in the possession of the arbiter should result in a loss. Kind of like being punished for being honest.
A far worse crime that I experienced first hand recently was my opponent eating a greasy burger at the board on a Sunday morning...
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Its a stupid rule and to be honest I hate it and always have. CS graded events we have leeway, FIDE ones we don't. If there was a rule in chess I could change it would be this one...
"How sad to see, what used to be, a model of decorum and tranquility become like any other sport, a battleground for rival ideologies to slug it out with glee"
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I have some sympathy with Jacob's view about the ringing of his phone, as this was held by the arbiters ... in the playing area.
I thought that FIDE rules now required that no phones or other electronic devices be held in the playing area at all. If that is the case (I don't check these things too religiously, so could be wrong), then technically I think it could be argued that the arbiters were at fault (not Jacob, even though he hadn't switched his phone off) by not holding any phones ... outside the playing area.
I've played a couple of games recently in Berlin, where the Bundesliga Nord arbiters made a point of collecting all phones before the matches and storing them (deliberately) outside the playing area in a separate room. I understood that this was being done to comply with the new FIDE rule (i.e. no phones in the playing area at all).
Possibly it might still have been technically correct to forfeit Jacob for his phone going off, as he was, I believe, aware that the phone was in the playing area, and not stored elsewhere, so the arbiters might reasonably argue (even if they were to a degree at fault on storage) that Jacob should nevertheless have made sure that he should have turned his phone off before handing it over to them, a duty for which he, as the player and phone owner, has prior responsibility.
According to Jacob's blog, he wasn't forfeited because of the phone ring but resigned for a range of other reasons. Nevertheless it would be interesting to hear an arbiter's take on the storage of phones and whether we ought to be doing things as in Germany.
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Hi Craig,
There is what is written in the Laws of Chess (that which you correctly state) and there is what should have been written in the Laws of Chess!!!
It was intended in Tromso to amend the Laws to state that phones were allowed provided they were switched off and kept in a bag which should not be carried by the player. The General Assembly was inquorate so this could not be passed and only a GA can change the Laws.
The proposed change in the Law was accepted by the Rules Commission, the Arbiters Commission and the Anti Cheating Commission. As a compromise it was agreed that a strong recommendation should be sent out to all federations that the 'new' law should be implemented in all but the most high profile events. The next GA should adopt this new Law for all events though tournaments may decide to ban them.
To have a separate room to store phones might be costly. Such a room might have to be hired. It would need to be staffed constantly for both convenience and security. It is the ideal situation but not always practical unless volunteers can be found and players are willing to pay more for the service.
At current prices the hire of even a small room could be £100 for the weekend or perhaps £2 per phone.
Another question. What would the organiser do with all the phones that people failed to collect before leaving?
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My solution to this is simpler.
Carry your phone if you want.
Caught cheating = lifetime ban (FIDE event) 5 years ban minimum (federation's to comply)
Phone makes a noise of any sort = default
Player's responsibility.
End of
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I am with Andy on this
"How sad to see, what used to be, a model of decorum and tranquility become like any other sport, a battleground for rival ideologies to slug it out with glee"
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But Jacob wasn't actually carrying his phone ......
As has been written earlier, it would be interesting to know what the arbiters would have done if he had not resigned.
