25-03-2012, 08:27 PM
Question 1 is a bit of a stinker. My opinion is as follows:
- Black may well have won quite legitimately, but has compromised the crucial evidence;
- Black has committed an infringement in picking up the clock;
- if the flag was indeed still up when Black picked up the clock, it is possible that White might have claimed a draw before flag-fall - a Q up, it is likely the draw would have been given;
- deducting a point is an excessive penalty for picking up a clock.
So my inclination would be to declare the game drawn - it can be argued that's as much as (or even more than) either player deserves.
I think Question 2 is a bit more straightforward:
- the players were "in the process" of agreeing a result, but hadn't actually agreed it, so the game was still in progress;
- the scoresheets show clearly that an illegal move was played.
So the game is restored to the point immediately before the illegal move Rh1; Black has touched the R, so if a move of the R can end the check Black must play it.
- Black may well have won quite legitimately, but has compromised the crucial evidence;
- Black has committed an infringement in picking up the clock;
- if the flag was indeed still up when Black picked up the clock, it is possible that White might have claimed a draw before flag-fall - a Q up, it is likely the draw would have been given;
- deducting a point is an excessive penalty for picking up a clock.
So my inclination would be to declare the game drawn - it can be argued that's as much as (or even more than) either player deserves.
I think Question 2 is a bit more straightforward:
- the players were "in the process" of agreeing a result, but hadn't actually agreed it, so the game was still in progress;
- the scoresheets show clearly that an illegal move was played.
So the game is restored to the point immediately before the illegal move Rh1; Black has touched the R, so if a move of the R can end the check Black must play it.