White: a classic New Englander wearing a plaid shirt under his cardigan sweater. Older gentleman with a clear desire to instruct everyone around him on proper behavior (for which he has very strict rules)
Black: New York (I’m guessing Queens) young adult male wearing his NY Yankees cap backwards. Testosterone set to HIGH.
TD is accosted by White in the aisles, well away from the board. He reports that:
a) he quite properly, on his own time, said “j’adoube” and adjusted one of his pieces
b) his opponent responded, while White’s clock is still running, by chanting in a sing-song voice “j’adoube, j’adoube, j’adoube” and adjusted every one of his pieces.
c) a player at the next board started laughing at this
d) White says “don’t do that, or I’ll call the TD”, and then points at the neighboring player and says “and I’ll call the TD on you, too!”
e) Black says “The TD can lick my …” [perhaps trying to demonstrate that he had a pair]
How do you handle this?
for extra credit: how do you handle Black’s counter-claim that “on move 1 - he touched his King. Doesn’t he have to move it? I mean, what’s fair for me should be fair for him! What’s up with that!?”
Yes, but the TD willing to accompany you to your room was not the TD accosted by the player, but rather the poor, overworked Floor TD who had the problem dumped in her lap while the first TD fled to the backroom (where he belonged) to avoid making things any worse than they already were. That TD would have respectfully declined your invitation…unless there were cowgirls involved.
Penalize white two minutes under rule 20G (Annoying Behavior Prohibited) for pretentiously saying “J’adoube” instead of “Adjusting.” This isn’t France. Or Quebec.
Penalize black two minutes under rule 20G for his deliberately childish, mocking and antagonistic response.
Penalize white two more minutes under rule 20G for overreacting.
Penalize black two more minutes under rule 20G for his offensive comment.
No penalty at all for the player at the next board, who responded to the scene in the only way that made sense.
Penalize myself 10 minutes under rule 21K2 (Beware Abuse of Power).
This brought back some memories, because I was once giving a chess lesson to a 9-year-old boy and had been explaining the touch-move rule to him, and he responded by doing exactly what Black did in b. (And, no, I am quite sure he has never been to a National Open!)
Besides confirming to me that I was dealing with a very funny kid, it also made me realize that, in spite of having read the rulebook from beginning to end, I had never given any thought to the possible implications of a player straightening pieces on his opponent’s time. I amended the instructions I give at the beginning of each tournament to include a warning that players should not do this.
Assuming that I could verify the facts, I’d give White two additional minutes and warn Black that his behavior was inappropriate and that more severe penalties could be imposed if it were repeated. The rationale behind this would be twofold:
First, the time adjustment would compensate White for any time he may have lost while Black was doing all of the j’adoubes (which is the real problem with a player straightening pieces on his opponent’s time).
Second, it would let Black know that if he thinks engaging in behavior like this at a tournament is a funny joke, he should also think that a time penalty or possible forfeiture of his game is a funny joke.
If White seriously complained about the other player laughing, I’d tell him to lighten up.
First, I’d tell him that since White couldn’t legally move his king on move 1, it would be irrelevant if he touched his king.
Second, I’d tell him that if he wants to claim a touch-move violation, he has to do it before making his next move.
It figures the kid was from New York! I’ve had kid opponents adjust all 16 pieces while saying adjust every time. However they usually just do it at the very beginning of the game before making their first move. When I have an opponent who adjusts pieces on my time, I will quietly, but firmly tell them not to adjust on my time. That usually puts an end to it.
In this case if I can verify what happened here, I would warn Black about adjusting on opponent’s time. If it can be verified that he made the crude comment I might penalize him for that by taking time off his clock. I’m not sure how much would be appropriate, but adding to the opponent’s time, especially early in the game doesn’t seem like an effective deterrent.
I would tell the player sitting next to them that he should not get involved with the neighboring game.
What?? The player type wasn’t on the wall chart? You could look up “New York Dude” and “New England Old School” in the player-type column, and find the result.
