21-01-2013, 04:21 PM
As Alex says, rule 6 makes no mention of grades, nor in my view, should it. Many of the complications (eg which of several possible grades? – mine differ by nearly 300) have been alluded to and I’d not favour making the rule as complex (or more) as the bona fide one. There was a case many years ago (before live grades) where a team put a player ‘out of order’ by 150 points or so. When the other team complained I checked with the grader who told me the order used was correct on current playing strength. As usual, be careful what you wish for. There may be unintended consequences, eg Craig’s point about his CS grade relative to Keti’s.
Likewise, the idea of exchanging team lists the day before (and tossing a coin remotely) is over-bureaucratic and has too many holes in it (eg if a strong player becomes available at the last minute, does he replace board 8 or is he ineligible, or what?). In the last Glasgow League match I played, I went expecting to meet three of the team at a station. Two got off the train, including one who was not among the three.
Fairness. To my mind it is pointless to argue with Andy B in detail. This is just one of many random factors in a match – home/away draw, availability of players, toss for colour, random or seeded draw, etc.
“Something must be done”. Maybe people just need to be more reasonable and realistic, and remember that the work of CS is done on a voluntary basis. In an ideal world we would pay an independent arbiter to run the tournaments. It is not perfect that Andy M (and I before him) played in the tournaments, but that’s the way it is.
Rule 12. Although this gives the Home Director power to change rules, this should really only be used in exceptional circumstances, eg to escape a situation like last year’s regarding the central venue final when strict application of all the rules was impossible.
Likewise, the idea of exchanging team lists the day before (and tossing a coin remotely) is over-bureaucratic and has too many holes in it (eg if a strong player becomes available at the last minute, does he replace board 8 or is he ineligible, or what?). In the last Glasgow League match I played, I went expecting to meet three of the team at a station. Two got off the train, including one who was not among the three.
Fairness. To my mind it is pointless to argue with Andy B in detail. This is just one of many random factors in a match – home/away draw, availability of players, toss for colour, random or seeded draw, etc.
“Something must be done”. Maybe people just need to be more reasonable and realistic, and remember that the work of CS is done on a voluntary basis. In an ideal world we would pay an independent arbiter to run the tournaments. It is not perfect that Andy M (and I before him) played in the tournaments, but that’s the way it is.
Rule 12. Although this gives the Home Director power to change rules, this should really only be used in exceptional circumstances, eg to escape a situation like last year’s regarding the central venue final when strict application of all the rules was impossible.