EGM

[Alex McFarlane]

Alex McFarlane wrote:an arbiter is provoked into punching a player Where do you start with a quote like this?

David - That was a brief simplification of an accusation made in an appeal I was involved in. Such things happen occasionally. In that case the police were (surprisingly) not involved but should have been.

Whilst I support the idea of things being done locally there can be problems with this. The first one being that it is very easy for those you wish to be involved in making the final decision already having been involved in the dispute. Another being that if the complaint is made against a senior person locally then there can be problems with either people being unhappy to have to investigate that official or the person making the complaint may have great difficulty accepting that a fair decision was reached.

Just as Chess Scotland can go to FIDE, any local association should be able to go to Chess Scotland if necessary. Remember the Standards Committee can be seen as a method of supporting a decision not just as a disciplinary procedure.