Board 10 - Your decision is needed.

All Things Chess
1

The situation:

[]You are Chief TD of the annual Podunk City Championship.
[]You look at Board 10.
[]Both players have less than 3 minutes remaining on their clocks.
[]Both have mating material.
[]White to move.
[]Black is one move away from being checkmated by White’s Queen at h7.
[]White reaches for his Queen.
[]Before he touches her White undergoes spontaneous combustion.
[]During his agony White falls backward and no part of his body (not even his ashes) touches the board or pieces.
[]White’s clock is running and shows 2:17 remaining.

And your ruling is?

2

Anticlimactic!

3

The decision has already been made at a higher level.

4

Over the board, Black wins.

In ICCF correspondence play, White would win by adjudication.

5

White wins? Talk about a Pyrrhic victory!

6

Black would win if White is allowed to flag. If Black claims abandonment of the game and requests an adjudication then (per the rule that says best play on both sides must be used when adjudicating in an emergency situation) White would win.