MARK RUBERY CHESS
Geurt Gijssen is the world’s most prominent chess arbiter and he had an instructive (and at times humorous) column at the ChessCafe.com.
Question Dear Geurt, A situation occurred in a match I had recently. My opponent fell asleep. I was looking at the position, with my opponent to move, and suddenly heard him snoring. One of his team mates poked him, he woke up and continued the game. As a matter of interest, (I raised no complaint during the match), does the waking of a player by a team mate amount to interference such as when a team mate points out an illegal move or that a flag has fallen etc?
Dave Burtonshaw (London, England)
P.S. I know that I play solid openings, but I didn’t think the position was boring enough for my opponent to fall asleep!
Answer: Article 13.6 says: “The arbiter shall refrain from informing a player that his opponent has made a move, or that he has failed to press the clock.” Article 13.7 says: “Spectators and players in other games are not to speak about or otherwise interfere in a game.” The question is whether waking up a sleeping player is interfering in a game? I can imagine that some people have this opinion. But I can also imagine that a snoring player disturbs his opponent. The only way to stop this is to wake up the player. But to be serious, I believe it is not a problem to wake up a sleeping player. I, for sure, would never blame someone who woke up a sleeping player.
FM Gibbs took a more serious slant on things:
‘I find it disturbing that the Laws of chess would leave it to discretion, whether or not players should come to the assistance of a player who has “lost consciousness” during the game. What if this guy had suffered a stroke and fell back in his chair. The arbiter comes around and notices the player with his eyes closed, and then just observes to ensure that no one assists him. Only for the game to end, wakes him to give him the news and then discover the player is dead. Would the debate be the same? Let common sense prevail. The player has to be assisted. I think it is imperative that this law be revisited so that common sense can prevail. I agree if it is observed that the player’s state based on the discretion of the arbiter would bring the game into disrepute, then the game can be forfeited. But let’s not wait for someone to die at a chess board and offered no assistance before the laws of chess are changed.’
Today’s puzzle has a startling solution. Note: R+B v R is a technical draw.
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN
‘Chess slays boredom and exhilarates the spirit. You’re always thinking, always in present time. You know you’re alive. You’re always being challenged and threatened. There is no social purpose, only the joy of creating a pocket of beauty in a noisy world!’ (Larry Evans)