The two Minute Rule

[Patrick McGovern]

I am the player involved, the game was played at the Marymass tourney during the last weekend in August.
I would like to add some info to clarify matters. Firstly I agree that the 2 minute rule is not a good one but it is one we have to work with at the moment.

he plays slowly and is left with 1 and a half minutes and claims a draw.

this was not deliberate, I'm rarely (if ever) in time trouble. the position was such that whoever tried to win would lose (in my opinion).

my next idea was to retreat my King only to move him forward again to a better position - but the arbiter knows nothing so I play superficial attacking moves instead

the very thing that influenced the arbiter as by playing superficial moves shows an effort to win on time.

I don't know if I was better or worse I just wanted to play the position but was not allowed to

Donald was clearly worse when my "flag fell" in fact a pawn down and another about to go.

It is up to the opponent to play quickly enough to allow you to demonstrate that you don't know how to

surely a player can play at any rate that suits him? I was not their to aid Donald but to aid myself.

To me, the game was just reaching its interesting point when it was stopped:

the game was not stopped but, as instructed by the arbiter, we played until my flag fell.

To me there was no issue of me ever winning the game, even if at the end i had a won position. The claim had been made and the (very experienced) arbiter made his decision based on what he observed.

but the arbiter knows nothing

I feel this criticism of an unpaid arbiter was harsh and unfair. He explained his decision to both of us. But hey I guess he is an easy target. I'm very surprised this criticism has went without comment from other arbiters =|

as it was we were using digital clocks so the arbiter could have changed to Fischer time control if he had so wished

could he? I've never heard of this being done without previous notice but I'm sure the more knowledgeable will correct me.

Finally Donald was a gentleman about the decision despite it going against him, I hope that more tournaments go to the Fischer time control. It is on record on other posts that I favour Fischer time control.