I'm going to chalk this one up to a learning experience and let it go.  I don't see how any good could come from doing otherwise (my word vs. his, etc).  I'll definitely keep a close eye on this opponent in the future.

Thanks everyone for reading and responding!  Your perspectives help me see through my emotional disappointment.

ErictheRed wrote on 09/17/10 at 15:59:05:


OK, I will concede that the guy seems to have been a bit unsporting, though this is based on the assumption that he knew what he was doing.  If it bothers you, I would ask him about it purely on a sporting basis.

If it were me I think I would just chalk it up to experience and not trust the guy all that much in the future.

I agree 100% that I had to stop the clock during play to make any kind of claim; after my time ran out, there's nothing that can be done.

Markovich: I respect your experience and opinion.  You don't think I should be upset that my opponent (who was also a TD in the event) clearly noticed that there wasn't time delay set and didn't do anything to notify me or correct the clock?  Especially after assuring me before the game began that there was time delay?

I've considered talking to my opponent in private, explaining that I considered his actions rude/unethical, but I'm afraid it wouldn't go over well.  I guess the best result I could hope for is an apology, and at worst a falling-out that might affect our ability to work together in the future.

ErictheRed wrote on 09/16/10 at 13:54:01:


http://main.uschess.org/forums/

once you create an account and login there will appear a forum section that can't be seen unless you are logged in which is something like uscf issues or a name to that effect. You should probably post it here.

You can also try the ICA forums if you want. Many NTDs post there as well since the last of edition of the rulebook was done by Tim Just who lives in IL. There is also another 3 NTDS in IL (Glenn Panner, Wayne Clark, Wiewel) and then Sevan Muradian is our local FIDE guy plus Senior td. 


Markovich wrote on 09/16/10 at 16:58:04:



This is not correct. If the otherside can not mate, then it is a draw if the flag fell.

trw wrote on 09/15/10 at 20:22:07:


I think I will post something there, it can't hurt and I'll probably feel better afterwards.  Can you provide a link?  I've never used the USCF forums.  Thanks!

The entire Bronstein delay system is ridiculous. In any game, players should not be given time to think without that time being deducted from their clock. Otherwise there can be ludicrous situations where an experienced bullet player can stay on 1 second for half a dozen moves, thus being rewarded for poor time management. 

If you want to avoid losing on time, use a Fischer time control instead. And don't play any tournaments with a Bronstein time control in the future.

ErictheRed wrote on 09/15/10 at 16:59:44:

Ask another TD to set or verify the clock. Your opponent already had indicated that he had some problems with it.

And, as you already mentioned, you should have stopped the clock the first time you asked "What? No time delay?" The fact you played on meant that you agreed with the unexpected circumstances.

I just moved to a new state a couple of months ago and their aren't many tournaments in my area.  I've decided to start running some one-day Saturday events, and before our local club meeting I met with the 2 TDs in our area to discuss organization, etc.  Everything went amicably and I'm optimistic about the whole idea.

At our weekly rated game (G/75 or G/70 with 5s delay), I was  paired against one of the TDs (they play and direct during the week).  My opponent was Black and already had his set and clock out, so I sat down at the board.  The clock was one of those black USCF digital clocks, which I'm not very familiar with.  He asked me if wanted time delay and I said, "Yes."  He then started to explain that he wasn't sure how to set it, and I began to suggest that we use my clock instead, when he turned on his clock and said: "Ahh, there we go.  I guess it's still set from last week."  The clock read 70 minutes per side, and we began our game.

The game was pretty interesting; I sacced a pawn for an attack but used a lot of time.  We got one of those positions where I had 1 and only 1 way to win the game (a very pretty combination pointed out by Rybka in 0.01 nanoseconds).  Unfortunately, at that moment I only had about 15 minutes left and I played something else, allowing my opponent to trade into a pawn-up ending.  This shortly turned into a two-pawn up ending .  I stopped keeping score because I was under 5 minutes on the clock, and my opponent had about 30 minutes.

I had some very slight drawing chances when my opponent, probably fatigued, hung his Rook (those crazy Knights)!  A move or two later I traded my Knight for his last remaining piece and had Rook + 3 pawns vs. 5 pawns on a completely open board.  In other words, I'm completely winning.  I looked over at my clock and was kind of surprised to see it read 0:44, but I breathed a big sigh of relief.  I knew that, with time delay, I'd have plenty of time to win the game.  The other TD had finished his  game and was now watching the finish of ours.

For the next 10 or so  moves I purposely spendt about 3-4 seconds per move, just making sure I'm not accidentally hanging my Rook.  Also, I still had some nervous energy from when I was losing, and lastly I try to be a polite player so I wasn't just blitzing out my moves.  My opponent had "hunkered down" with an intense look in his eyes, and was moving his King back and forth at breakneck speed, staring at the clock.  I didn't look at the clock again until I was queening a pawn and reaching over to grab a new Queen.  Imagine my surprise when I saw that my clock read 0:02!!  

At his point I said something like "What!?  There's no time delay?" My opponent made some reply but I don't remember what it was.  I had just enough time to Queen my pawn and frantically capture his last pawns, but my flag fell with a mate in 3 on the board.  The TD watching the game declared it a draw.  I pointed out that I thought there was time delay, that my opponent had told me we had time delay at the start of the game, but the TD said that it was too late to do anything.  You have to catch an error in the clock setup early on, although in this case, the clock doesn't show the second digits until you get under 10 minutes, so I'm not sure how I would have noticed that there wasn't time delay  within the first few moves of the game. 

If I had more presence of mind, I might have stopped the clock when I first noticed that we didn't have time delay (when I had 2 seconds left).  As it was, my flag had fallen and I didn't think there was anything I could do about it.  I pointed out that we both had 5 minutes less for the game, but the TD said that you have to catch clock errors early on, which is probably correct "by the book."  I didn't really argue, partly because it's not in my nature to make a scene, and partly because we had just a meeting about running Saturday tournaments together and I didn't want bad blood between us.  

However, I'm sort of bitter about the whole thing because:
1) I was informed by my opponent (who was also one of the TDs) that we had time delay set,
2) We each had 5 minutes less for the entire game, and
3) I don't know how I could have noticed that time delay wasn't set until one of us got under 10 minutes anyway, and
4) I also suspect that my opponent realized there wasn't any time delay, which is why he started blitzing and keeping an eye on the clock, and didn't notify me or do anything to correct the clock.  Of course I can't
verify that.

So...was the TD correct?  What should I have done differently during or after the game?  In my opinion, the ethical thing--if not necessarily the "correct" thing--would have been to either add time delay or add 5 minutes to each of our clocks at the moment I noticed we had no time delay  Opinions?