31-12-2013, 01:01 AM
Quote:1.2 Motion to create a Working Party to explore the use of live boards and internet to allow players from remote Scottish communities to participate in Chess Scotland congress events.
The logistics and expense of travelling to Chess Scotland congress events precludes a proportion of chess players who live in remote locations of the country from participating at Chess Scotland supported events. Internet is now widely available in many of these remote locations which would allow chess players to transmit played moves to a congress event in real time. It would be possible for a player in a remote location to play a game over the internet and have those moves relayed onto a chess board by a volunteer sitting at a congress board or in time by an automated board as demonstrated in the following video clip <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX37LFv8jWY">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX37LFv8jWY</a><!-- m -->. To ensure fair play the remote player will be supervised by an independent observer such as an arbiter, fellow chess club member etc. Such conditions may also apply to participants within Scotland who cannot attend Congresses for other special reasons e.g. a disability. Although there are a number of potential logistic problems the Working Party will investigate these and make recommendations on overall feasibility.
Proposed : Sean Milton Seconded: Gerald Lobley, David Deary, David Congalton, Calum MacQueen
Laudable enough idea, but since I won’t be at the meeting, may I float a few points out of curiosity?
1. Given the limited number of arbiters currently active in Scotland, how will one be found/chosen/allocated to supervise the ‘remote’ player, and who will pay his/her travel and accommodation expenses?
2. Would a fellow club member be truly acceptable as an independent observer? (Not suggesting anything!)
3. Would players have the option of indicating on their entry form that they would prefer not to play a ‘remote’ opponent? And before someone accuses me of some form of discrimination, I ask simply because I believe that a major part of competitive chess is having a flesh and blood opponent across the board.
4. What happens if the internet is dodgy, e.g. isn’t working at the start of a round or goes down during the game?