Preparation for rapid and blitz events

IA Tomasz Delega

It just so happens that I arbitrate a lot of rapid and blitz tournaments. I mean relatively a lot,  comparing to standard chess. Some arbiters like them, others not so much. There are usually a lot more going on in rapids and blitz and it is worth preparing a bit for such a tournaments. Basically, you know what can happen, so everything should be simple, but practice and subsequent videos from tournaments show that it is not always like that.

Let’s start with something obvious. In the Laws of Chess we have detailed rules for certain types of irregularities, like for example in case of illegal move – for the first violation an arbiter need to add one minute to the opponent, for the second violation the game is lost by the player. But we also have irregularities for which the Laws of Chess do not specify a concrete penalty, like for example displace a piece of the opponent when making a move and pressing the clock.

In practice, it looks like this: if the arbiter is present at the chessboard and sees a case described in detail, he will most likely react (because he knows what to do and the penalty is also known to him), but if he sees another irregularity (where he can punish the player and has a whole catalogue of possibilities resulting from article 12.9), he will most likely not react. Let’s consider what is the reason for it?

Perhaps the problem is article 12.6, which states that the arbiter cannot intervene except in cases specified in the Laws of Chess. However, if we read the rest of mentioned article, we see that the arbiter cannot inform the players about the number of moves, that he can not inform the player that opponent has made a move, and can not inform the player that he has not switched the clock. So the intention of this article is rather to prohibit helping players by arbiter, and not to order to refrain from intervening in the event of irregularities.

Let’s go back to the displaced piece. What will you do as an arbiter when you see that the player has made a move after which one of his opponent’s piece is displaced (moved to the another square)? The provision of article 7.4.3 is flexible in this case, it says that the arbiter may punish the player, but does not have to, so some arbiters do nothing and no one can accuse them of violating the rules in this case. However, is such an omission appropriate?

Well, it seems that such action, especially in blitz, should be punished. It does not have to be a minute for the opponent right away, you can start with a warning, but something should be done. Leaving such a situation without reaction may cause more and more pieces in blitz to start flying around the board.

Knowing the problem, the organizers of some tournaments introduce their own provisions into the tournament regulations – for example Grand Chess Tour has concrete penalties for the displaced piece – for the first violation a warning, the second one is treated (penalised) like as if an illegal move, for the third one a loss. Thanks to this, different arbiters of the entire cycle act in the same way in a given case.

Of course, it is impossible to specify everything in the competition regulations, but it is worth considering before each tournament in rapid or blitz what we will do in various situations of this type. What do we do if a player claims a draw by three times repetition and we don’t have the scoresheet? What do we do if a player touches one piece and moves another? What do we do if a player release a piece from hand and then moves it to another square? It’s not my goal to answer the questions asked here, this article is to encourage arbiters to ask themselves these questions before the tournament. And to encourage chief arbiters to prepare recommendations for the entire team, where the rules are ambiguous or give arbiters a choice. In fact, many of chiefs are already doing it successfully.

by IA Tomasz Delega