The warped side of me imagines upcoming changes to TD certification experience requirements to allow or even require restroom monitoring experience. Then again, the (in my opinion, misguided) suggestion comes along every once in a while to subdivide the certification levels, so that there would be certified scholastic TDs, certified backroom TDs, certified floor TDs. I can just see the new titles now: NRM (National Restroom Monitor), ANRM, SrRM, LRM, CRM. 
Prior to this post I’ve heard of the following categories
[1] Club/Local/Senior/Associate National/National/Uncertified <C/L/S/A/N/U>
[2] Adult / Kids / Mixed <A/K/M>
[3] Large prize fund / Trophy / Normal <L/T/N>
[4] Managing / Non-managing <M/N>
[5] Ballroom or playing floor / WinTD back room / Thad’s SwissSys back room / Pairing cards back room / FIDE program back room / Other back room <B/W/T/P/F/O>
Numbers 2 through 5 have 108 combinations and each would be assigned one of the six values in number 1. If the combinations of 2 through 5 are always in the same order then only 108 letters can give a full picture. If the combinations or 2 through 5 are not always sequenced (and not given if the person isn’t certified) then the uncertified category goes away and a person could be described by no more than 540 letters plus 107 commas (or other seperators) between combinations. Restroom would probably be another option in 5 and thus the number of combinations would increase from 108 to 126.
Strangely enough, efforts to do such a detailed display have been abandoned.
IMHO:
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The CCA cell phone policy appears to be cosmetic at best. Cheaters now have to move from the player’s washroom to some other place to do their dirty deed.
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The CCA policy does give some peace of mind to the player that is concerned by the fact that their opponent has a device that COULD be used to cheat when that opponent goes to the washroom. It keeps honest people honest.
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TDs are not necessary for the enforcement of this CCA policy. I would guess it is a lot cheaper to hire some non-TDs to enforce the policy.
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Can CCA really enforce their policy on non-players or other hotel guests? The opinions of those I asked were all over the map.
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At the Chicago Open the policy did appear at odds with a policy that allowed people to sit in the back of the playing room with laptops that were on and running.
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The policy needs some tweaking, but overall it seems acceptable to the players.
Baskin Robbins TD designations anyone?
There was also regular monitoring of the hallways, lobby and areas immediately outside the front door of the hotel. There were a number of warnings issued for suspicious behavior, and one penalty of which I was aware.
Of course, the TDs can’t cover every square inch of the hotel. However, increased visibility coupled with increased vigilance is, at the least, a very good start on an effective deterrent, IMHO.
It may be cheaper, but IMHO, it would not be better. There were definite advantages to having TDs stationed in the hallways or walking the hallways. TDs can answer questions, cover for one another or for TDs in other areas, better explain why this policy helps the event, and serve as a very visible yellow-shirted deterrent.
If this policy remains in place, I think having TDs do the work is a very good idea.
In areas that CCA is paying to use, I don’t see why it can’t be enforced. The specific question of enforcement at hotel restrooms may be best addressed with language in the site contract. This (along with the risk of angering a large number of customers) was the biggest question I had when these rules were discussed prior to implementation.
Another potential issue: with the advent of mixed-doubles prizes, it may be necessary to at least venture into women’s restrooms more frequently during events. This would mean recruiting more female TDs.
The exact opposite policy was actually in effect. While doing sweeps at the site, I frequently checked the back of the playing hall for laptops, cell phones, tablets, etc. Some Forums posters were also working in that room and can verify this.
The policies here were new for everyone. A TD meeting prior to the first round of a major event may prove very useful going forward, especially for clearly covering things like this. That meeting was attempted Friday evening, but it was after the evening session had started, so not every TD could be present.
I actually thought there would be much more angst. My evaluation of the comments I received over four days was that they were about 95% positive.
I agree that the system needs refinements. I believe this need was anticipated.
At the beginning of the tournament on Friday there kept being new spectators that needed to learn the policy, and that learning process was made longer with the multiple schedules that kept bringing in new spectators on Saturday and Sunday. By Monday almost nobody even attempted to pull out a cell phone or laptop in the back of the playing hall.
I had thought that people would simply be leaving their cellphones with the TD before they entered the restroom and picking them up when they left. If TDs had to actually enter restrooms to enforce the policy, this could complicate things even more, since at least one site in my area where tournaments are regularly held has separate restrooms for kids and adults.
Bob
TDs should occasionally look into the restroom, just to see if anyone is on a cell phone. Multiple players were found in restrooms, on their phones (in each case of which I was aware, the player in question was done with his game). My understanding from the 2014 Candidates Tournament is that the arbiters searched those bathrooms regularly. And the upcoming Millionaire Chess Open will likely have an even more restrictive electronic device policy than CCA.
A site with separate children’s bathrooms may not be suitable for an event with electronic device rules in effect.
I’ve moved this comment by ben2600 and subsequent replies to a new topic, “Stop giving gigantic prizes to low rated players”.
Players were also allowed to store their phone in their chess bag in the tournament room, powered off. See Rule 3.
- Cellphones in the tournament room must be stored out of sight in a pocket, bag or case and turned off (no vibrate, silent or sleep mode), unless the Director has given permission for a phone to be in vibrate mode…
I suspect that Millionaire will base it’s cellphone rules off FIDE rules which ban electronic devices from the playing venue without arbiter approval. CCA does the opposite, allow them in the playing venue but ban their use outside the playing venue. CCA has surveys, i’m sure very scientifically designed and administered to sample populations, and bases some of their tournament policies on these samples. It then tries to walk a fine line between eliminating cheating and not scaring away customers. What you get in the end is a compromise solution that is never perfect. Just one of many interpretations
Mike
I played in a CCA tournament last weekend for the first time since this thread started and was pleased to see that the electronic devices policy has been softened somewhat (the current version says “Revised December 8, 2014”). In particular, except for their biggest tournaments, you can hang on to your phone as long as it is powered off, and don’t have to check it when using the restroom.
Really hard to power up a cellphone. With all the hand cranking that is needed, one could never do it quietly 
Inside the stall with silent on/off, getting to a playing engine would be pretty easy… I suspect the first major controversy under the new revisions will produce an even newer revision.
At the major events the washrooms are more likely to have only chess players going into them. At smaller events it is more likely that there are non-chess people going to the washroom and they might be indignant at somebody asking them to temporarily surrender their precious cell phone. It isn’t easy telling the difference between somebody entering a washroom who is at another function and somebody entering a washroom who is willing to pass a phone off to a chess player.
I do hope that any major controversy like Mike mentioned isn’t one that includes invasion of privacy charges over somebody taking a picture of a person in the washroom using a cell phone (it would be particularly ironic if the picture was taken with a cell phone).
I can easily imagine it being taken with a not-so-disinterested spectator’s phone.
Alex Relyea
Just curious, what were the phone and electronic device policies used at the recent USAT’s? Were they the same at each site, or were there regional differences?