The above post is over two years old…but I would love to hear some stories on how Tim or Jeff have handled some of these situations.
If you read through the thread you’ll see a number of ways TDs handled this prior to the new rulebook. Since then, I’ve found that simply explaining the rule to a stalling opponent is enough to get the opponent to either move or to resign. I know it was cited a few times in the 2005 Supernationals, and every time it was cited the player stopped their stall.
As a TD, I only cite the rule to players who have an opponent that has summoned a TD and the player has essentially abandoned the game (even if the player happens to be sitting at the board without expressing any interest in the game).
If a player is actually concentrating on the game then it is not abandoned and I have no reason to cite the rule, in which case I tell the opponent that he’ll simply have to continue playing.
One time a player summoned me because his opponent was not moving (he would be mated next move) and I talked with the opponent away from the board and said that the game would continue as before. The mere fact that I would say that (even after making a ruling in a different game in a different round where I told a player he couldn’t abandon the game) was enough to alert the player that he had not yet hit his clock and it actually wasn’t yet his opponent’s move. Once he hit the clock the opponent resigned (he had been hoping the player would let another 4 minutes run off the clock so that he could claim a time forfeit).