Red Flag Rule: A player may call “Red Flag” on any opponent that does not center one of the opponent’s pieces on a square. The opponent has 5 seconds to center the piece before the player is allowed to remove it from the board.
A player at the super Nationals actually made this claim?!
Wow, it gets worse as it goes, The wall of shame gave em 10 seconds!!! (o:
I was going to say something witty, but seeing that and a reply by Tim and who knows how many are going to site this. 
I guess half the old guys are going to be in a big surprise if somethinh like this ever came to pass, although I think one guy actually put his pieces off kilter for effect. 
If something strange is going to happen, it’s likely to happen at a national scholastic event.
My favorite is still the player in the primary section of the National Elementary who came into the TD room asking “One of my kings is checkmated, does that mean I lose?”
I watched a game where there were no kings left on the board. Both players were frantically pushing pawns towards the eighth rank. Player one promotes to a King! Player 2 promotes to a queen and checkmates player one in a few moves!
And according to the USCF, you can’t get a rating less than 100?
Thats classic.
I’d like to make that claim against some of the annoying kids I’ve played who leave the piece off center and then adjust it on my time.
I once heard of a kid who asked the TD, “I used up only 20 of my 30 minutes in this game. Can I keep the remaining 10 minutes for my next game?”
Bill Smythe
Only if the TLA specifically advertises rollover minutes.
Maybe we could do a tournament in which each player gets 4 hours for the whole tournament. They start the tournament with 4 hours and keep what is left after each game. So if they use 0.5 hours the first game, they retain 3.5 for the remaining games. (o:
Only problem is if they get to the final round with less than 30 minutes, it would only be quick rateable, and less than 5 minutes, it wouldn’t be rateable at all.
And what about if one player only had 10 minutes and the other 45? Which system would you rate it in if at all?
:mrgreen:
<5mins? Nah…still rateable…I’d treat it as if they showed up to the board late.
From a coaches perspective this format would drive me batty…but it’s a cute concept.
And it would be nearly impossible for the TD to keep track of time unless he had to approve each game as it ended to write down the times.
Imagine setting the clocks at the beginning of each round as well…
What would happen if they flagged in the first game of the tournament?
Theoretically, they’d forfeit the rest of the games.
That is the drawback with it. No conclusive round start times!!
Though it might be fun in a blitz/quick format where long times like that couldn’t happen.
I hope everyone knows I wouldn’t seriously try this and was just having fun! (o:
If it was something like 2 hours + 5 seconds delay, at least the players would have 5 seconds per move in subsequent games.
I’m not sure I’d run it as a rated event, but as a ‘fun chess event’ at the local chess club it might be worth trying.
We used to run handicap speed chess tournaments. Starting at 7 minutes per player, you subtract 1 minute from the higher rated player for each 100 points of ratings difference and give it to the lower rated player, stopping at either 1 or 2 minutes. You can run 4 rounds in about an hour.
Well one could always have a set amount of time per game, like Game 30, and still get the rollover time. That way there would always be a minimum time control.
That’s nowhere near the strangest thing to happen at a National Elementary. We can organize a Workshop in Indianapolis to discuss them (it will take a long time - so, we should convene in
the Joel Channing room, just off the lobby).
Just to get started, there’s the kid who filed a written appeal, saying:
“My opponent offered me $3 if I would take a draw. I gave him the draw, but now he won’t give me the $3.”
we haven’t even gotten to the K section stories…
That would probably be the most attended workshop at the US Open. You could probably charge admission.
Hey, you could even get me to show up! --Michael