04-05-2015, 08:11 AM
At the Euro Seniors in Greece.
Yesterday I was watching Douglas McKerracher's game as it approached the time control. His opponent moved his queen and accidentally knocked over his passed pawn on d4. He then picked it up and placed it on d5, one square nearer queening. Neither player noticed the error.
I informed the arbiters who did not appear to believe me at first but after I demonstrated what had happened on a spare board, they went to investigate. After a cursory examination of the scoresheets they fobbed me off again until after the time control had been reached then stopped the clocks and reconstructed the game which proved I was correct. The pawn was repaced on d4 and the game continued from the position reached at the time control.
It may not have affected the outcome but I am interested to know what should have happened. Should the arbiters have intervened at all? Should the game revert to the position where the error was made? How should it have been rectified? Can anyone advise?
Yesterday I was watching Douglas McKerracher's game as it approached the time control. His opponent moved his queen and accidentally knocked over his passed pawn on d4. He then picked it up and placed it on d5, one square nearer queening. Neither player noticed the error.
I informed the arbiters who did not appear to believe me at first but after I demonstrated what had happened on a spare board, they went to investigate. After a cursory examination of the scoresheets they fobbed me off again until after the time control had been reached then stopped the clocks and reconstructed the game which proved I was correct. The pawn was repaced on d4 and the game continued from the position reached at the time control.
It may not have affected the outcome but I am interested to know what should have happened. Should the arbiters have intervened at all? Should the game revert to the position where the error was made? How should it have been rectified? Can anyone advise?