My dream for online events rated by U.S.Chess

Running Chess Tournaments
1

We can have another dream thread, can’t we? Dreams are the stuff out of which great products and services arise.

I would like U.S.Chess, working with the various platform providers, to create an online experience for the players that will be as similar as possible to the standard OTB tournament experience.

What is needed? For starters:

  • An organizer. This would be a U.S. Chess affiliate – the same person or group that already organizes and runs rated OTB tournaments.
  • A platform provider. This would be ICC, chess.com, lichess, or any other group that can do the job. Please, let’s NOT designate a “U.S.Chess Official Online Platform Provider” and create a monopolistic situation with unpredictable consequences. Let all three of them do it, if they want to, and let others jump in as well. (Maybe U.S. Chess could even develop its own, although the word “boondoggle” then comes to mind.)
  • One or more TDs. The organizer could double as TD, and there could be assistant TDs, at least for larger events. The TD(s) could sit at home in front of their computer screens, waiting for possible distress calls (e.g. rulings needed) from players.
  • A registration system for advance entries. This could be any of those now in use, such as Online Registration (used by CCA and others), King Registration (popular in Illinois and nearby states), or any other such service. Again, there should not be an “Official” one. The existing services should work fine just the way they are, although they may need to provide a way to maintain three-way contact among themselves, the organizer, and the platform provider.

What happens next? On the morning of the tournament, 15-30 minutes before the scheduled start time, the players go to their computers, log into the organizer’s (or the platform provider’s) website with the password provided by the registration system, and see their first-round pairings. In fact, players should be able to see everybody’s pairings (not just their own), complete with full names and ratings as they appear in the U.S.Chess MSA system, and colors – just the same as if they were looking at the physical pairing sheet at an OTB event.

A few minutes before the round starting time, both players would see a chessboard set up with the standard starting position, along with a digital clock display that would always show both players’ remaining times during the game. At the exact starting time, white’s clock would start, and both players would be directed to begin their game.

During the game, the website’s computer would keep track of the moves, the position, and the clock times. It would disallow illegal moves, deal with draw claims and draw offers, handle triple-occurrence and 50-move situations appropriately, and declare the game over upon checkmate, stalemate, resignation, or draw agreement. The result of the game would be marked on the internal electronic wallchart, which then could be viewed by any player(s) once their games were over, or perhaps even during their games.

Subsequent rounds would be handled in a similar manner.

More later, but that’s a pretty good start.

Bill Smythe

2

While I tend to agree that US Chess should keep official endorsements to a minimum, there may need to be a contractual link between the organizer of record, the online chess provider and any registration services provider. It is not clear that US Chess needs to be involved in this.

At least one online chess provider has been advertising that it has ‘automated reporting’ of events to US Chess. That’s arguably a bit inaccurate, it may be able to generate the upload formats, it is still the TD’s responsibility to upload them and correct any errors during validation, make sure they are accurate and complete, that all players are members, pay any ratings fees, etc., using the TD/A tools for this.

As I understand it, US Chess is in the process of contacting online chess providers to learn more about their anti-fraud measures. This may lead to a two-tier list of providers, those for which US Chess has that information and those those for which it does not. I’m not on the Online Task Force, so I don’t know any specifics as to whether this will affect players’ rights and due process.

3

It does not impact due process in an ethics case at all. While evidence from a platform’s fair play system may be presented as evidence before the ethics committee, that is only one piece of evidence. The respondent will have the same opportunity to review the evidence, present rebuttals, etc.

4

Question:

since USCF has established an online regular rating will they count as experience credits if event meets OTB reqs. For example today ICC is running an event for CCA; any one of these sections qualifies for credit.
The world open is going to ICC this year as well

5

It’s a question that needs some study by TDCC. Not all of the skills and duties required of a TD at an OTB event are going to be used in an online event.

Some experience credits should probably be awarded, but how many and at what level is something the EB will need to decide after consulting with TDCC.

Online directing should probably qualify for automatic renewal of one’s certification.

6

That is an issue that has most likely already been looked at by the committee on revamping the rules for on-line events. I am not the TDCC representative on that committee so I will not speculate on what their recommendations will be.

Jeff Wiewel
current vice-chair of the TD Certification Committee (TDCC)

7

bill, why would you let the platform “disallow illegal moves”? wouldn’t you want it so an illegal move still has to be acknowledged by ones opponent?

…scot…

8

IMHO the online technology makes it possible to dispense with illegal moves in a much more straightforward manner, without the need for all the mess inherently necessary with OTB situations.

I’ll betcha all online systems already disallow illegal moves. You make your move on the screen by mousing the piece from its origination square to its destination square. If you make an illegal move, the software will simply snap the piece back to its original square, tell you the move is illegal, and keep your clock running.

You then make a legal move, with ANY piece. There is no need even to have a touch-move-like rule, either, because you are not annoying your opponent with illegal move tries. Your opponent is not even aware of your illegal move attempts. Only when you make a legal move will your opponent see the resulting position and have his clock start.

Bill Smythe

9

That also eliminates the need to have a clock-punch step to confirm that you’ve finished the move (complete the move). In OTB play a piece either accidentally or intentionally dropped on an illegal square can be picked up and moved to a legal square and the illegal move is neither determined nor completed until the clock is punched, while a piece accidentally dropped upright on a legal square determines the move to that square (the clock punch completes it). If on-line play allowed illegal moves then a completion step would need to be added to every move and the game would be slowed down (imagine on-line blitz or bullet where every move required moving the cursor to clock on the clock punch button (or hitting a clock punch key).

10

I’ve always thought it absurd, even when just using an END (electronic notation device) in an OTB tournament, that the END must allow illegal moves. When technology advances, rules should follow suit.

When we go all the way to online play, we should go all the way in changing the rules, too. An online server can prevent an illegal move from happening in the first place. It can (and should, and I believe does) also declare checkmate and stalemate, rule on three-fold occurrences and 50-move situations, and accept resignations and draw agreements, all without the aid of a human TD. And it can post the result on the pairing sheet and wallchart instantly, for all to see.

When I said, at the top of this thread, that online play should be made to “feel” like OTB as much as possible, I did not mean that we should keep all the obsolete rules that apply only to OTB. I just meant that we should be able to see all the pairings (not just our own) at the start of the round, view the pairing sheet again (including results of games already finished) anytime during the round, and view a wallchart (in rating order) anytime, including results of games already finished.

Online play, done properly, can include most features of OTB play, and more besides. Let’s make online have as many advantages as possible, and as few disadvantages as possible, compared to OTB.

Bill Smythe

11

I would disagree. Yes, online the bots do the pairings most of the time. We have TDs who have done both manual pairings and pairings w/software. I have had to adjust pairings. Also, I quote the rulebook, and remined players of penalties, and taking action.

online is just different and has its own set of problems. Much of td’ing is working with people

12

In an online game as Black, I had a protected knight on c3 and just checked with a rook on the 2nd rank. I answered Ka1 with … Rxa2(mate?!?) but the system did not shut down the game declaring Black the winner. Too late I saw a White bishop at f7. Fortunately my opponent didn’t see it either and I won when my opponent abandoned the game.

For the “feel” of OTB, should players have to agree a checkmate has taken place?

13

thank you for recognizing that online chess is real. The issue is comp use.
we do our best there.

14

Nope. Checkmate is checkmate, whether OTB or online. In either case, the game is over as soon as the player releases the checkmating piece on its new square.

In your game, the failure of the system to announce the “mate” and declare a winner should have been a signal to your opponent that he had a legal move. You lucked out.

Bill Smythe