There is an increasing trend of young players wearing headphones, ear plugs, and ear buds to block out extraneous noise. This is accompanied by parents willing to defend the practice. Parents with kids on the autism spectrum find the devices helpful. Since the devices are similar to non-approved music/message delivering devices, there are now complaints and arguments over kids wearing them. I once received a complaint about an adult wearing ear plugs. His opponent argued that “all players should play under the same conditions”. I expect in the future we are we going to have to make rulings on acceptable non-electronic items, too.
Even when TDs know in advance, it does not stop complaints from other competitors who feel slighted. If all of these anti-noise devices are acceptable, what happens when a player decides to dress up her noise blocking device with horns, sparkles, feathers, and other stuff which others may find distracting? Have already seen one with a unicorn horn attached. Players are always willing to push limits.
I have molded earplugs that I use for shooting. They work quite well for chess tournaments. When you buy them, you mix two resin type tubes and insert the paste into the ear letting it harden for about ten minutes. Maybe I’ll make a new pair and bling them with jewels or something before they set…
If there’s an active shooter situation, I doubt I’d be paying any attention to a chess game. We found out after the fact that when the Pittsburgh shooting occurred last October, our granddaughter was about a block away, rehearsing a play at her school. That’s too close for comfort!
I directed a tournament many years ago where a card game was going on nearby.
One of the players in the card game was evidently upset at his result, and returned later on with a revolver, which he proceed to fire into the room to express his unhappiness. Almost everyone ducked for cover, but I did notice that two chess players did not let the sound of gun fire interrupt their blitz game.
After almost 50 years of play, I’ve really started to cut down on my weekend tournaments because I’ve run into this situation waaay too many times. I also have a problem with the idea that any room or hallway around the playing room can be used as a playground, with kids running around, screaming, throwing balls, etc…I don’t know – maybe I’m just getting old but I don’t remember ever behaving like this when I started playing as a young teen. It’s just not that much fun anymore. Next year. I’m going to limit myself to a few senior tournaments!
I’ve not seen this often. When it has happened a word from the TD has usually been all that’s been needed. On one occasion a TD made an announcement that the halls were to be kept clear and quiet with side/fun games being limited to the skittles room or lobby/lounges where there were tables to set boards up on. TD/Organizers have an interest in maintaining control over the areas around their events for the benefit of their players and other guests of the facility.
Have you approached the TD of the event when this has happened?
That said, children aren’t all they’re cracked up to be… youtube.com/watch?v=8m89lZQLxvQ
At the last tournament I competed in, I noticed that there were only four of us with gray hair. Over half of the players were kids, with many young girls playing. The youngest player had just turned 5. He hummed to himself during the round, sometimes breaking into song. He talked to his opponent and to others. The boy even informed one opponent that he missed a checkmate! Everyone shushed him. His mother shushed him repeatedly, but to no avail. In the end, we put up with it. He really enjoyed playing and had a smile on his face the whole afternoon.
Most of the kids are well behaved. If you do not like kids, do not play. The kids are not going away. There is a new wave every year. Play in senior events where some of the players snort, spill coffee on the board, talk too loudly because they cannot hear, complain about not being able to use an analogue clock that they have had since the Middle Ages, and think that those who are in the 50-59 age range are kids who need to learn their manners.
There is no need to put up with players (parents, coaches, spectators) who do not exhibit proper decorum. I once was on the brink of forfeiting someone for writing the move before he played it. I went through all manner of lesser penalties first, but he understood and adapted. If it can be fixed for something as minor as that, there is no reason it can’t be used for more egregious behavior. One would hope that when certain players (whether seniors or not) determine that all important games have finished because theirs has and begin to analyze loudly in the tournament hall, Mr. Magar puts a stop to it. From what he has written in threads like this, I tend to doubt it.
Please remember that the silent majority is the customer at least as much as the happy five-year-old. No one player has the right to disturb 57 without consequences.
Ahem, I do not allow players to analyze their games in the playing room when others are playing. They are sent to the skittles area. I, as a player, did quietly ask the mom to address her son’s humming/singing/talking. The TD asked her, too. She tried the best she could; he tried to comply, too, but he is just a kid just beginning his journey in the chess world. By round 6 he was better and limited himself to humming. From adults I expect a higher standard of behavior.
Over the years, I have noticed some arbiter/organizer/TDs kowtow to GMs and IMs, allowing all sorts of poor behavior, like analyzing in the playing area; talking to each other or to friends during games about the game they are playing; receiving no penalty when their phones go off; being disrespectful to lower rated players for playing on in poor positions; scattering pieces on the floor when they lose a “winning” position to that lower rated player; scarf up more than their fair share of complimentary snacks and drinks put out for the players; not bringing a set, board, clock or pen to the event while demanding that the TD bring them something to play with; coming to play a round while inebriated; wander in ‘fashionably late’ to a round after missing the announcements on rules and procedures and then complain about said procedures because he is a GM; etc. , because the arbiter/organizers are so desperate to get high rated titled players to play in their events. These freeloaders, who pay no entry fee, are much worse than 5 year old kids. At least the chess mom is paying an entry fee.
Of course the bad behavior by titled players should not be tolerated, either. I’ve never had a titled player demand equipment, but I’ve had players of all ratings ask. As a matter of fact, I’m doing a tournament with +30 as I type and I insisted that the #3 seed replace his clock with one of mine before round 1 because it was a (very nice) analog.
As I say, it is all customer service, and you want to make sure the behaving majority comes back before the one “trophy player” who can’t or won’t exhibit proper decorum. I have no problem discouraging players from playing if they don’t seem able to handle the conditions. It is, for example, rarely a good idea for a player accustomed to completing his games in 15 minutes to play an event with six hours between rounds.
I HAVE had titled players demand equipment, and then complain when I loaned them the same type of plastic set and vinyl board that nearly everyone else brought.
However, these players are the exceptions among titled players, most of the titled players who came to my events were players I’d happily have attend any time.
Part of “customer service” is to make accommodations for players who require it. I do not know what “consequences” a TD might think a barely 5 year old boy is going to understand. Do you plan yelling at him? Would beating him into silence help? Would throwing him out of the tournament generate the goodwill necessary to run a successful program? Having dealt with chess moms and dads for many years, I think it is safe to say if you make their child cry or made to feel unwelcome, then you have a big problem on your hands as the parents of these little darlings network quite well and will destroy your future tournament attendance, and thus your income. Other players will recognize your attitude toward the kids and take their dollars elsewhere, too. It is better to work with the parents and find some solution that allows the happy little 5 year old to play with the “big boys” and keep your grumpy kid-hating clientele at bay. Maybe they should learn “Baby Shark”, too.
I am sure that if you had called the young boy a “trophy player” his mother and the other chess moms would have been extremely insulted. I have often reminded folks that words said to a kid or parent are never forgotten. Never.
Whether we like it or not, it is getting noisier everywhere. I have played in tournaments where bands were rocking it out in an adjacent room or outside the windows of the playing site. In some hotels, you can end up with a playing room which is next to the kitchen where pots banging, people yelling, and plates crashing to the floor are a common occurrence. In college venues, you may share the building with all sorts of groups who are singing, dancing, or using bullhorns. Kids chess tournaments are often as noisy as a school. Even regular tournaments have gotten noisier as more and more players listen to music while they play. Noise from the skittles room spills over into the playing room. So called “serious” players need to read up on their chess history as the classical tournaments held at ritzy hotels and spas usually had a noisy casino attached. The grand maestros of chess often played in conditions that were closer to the noise level of a street. Spectators, as they do today, talked freely and sometimes wandered among the boards. Rather than holding phones, they held cigars and glasses of whiskey. I like it when it is quiet, but I have learned to accept that I am never going to play under ideal conditions. Having all of the kids around generates energy and makes me feel younger. If the noise is consistent, it is possible to put up with a lot of distractions. When you have a good position, a bomb will not change your focus. If the position is poor, the fluttering of a butterfly in Brazil can disturb you.
