I believe that the USCF rules need to be changed and reviewed. A new rule book would be nice especially for the new speed playoff system. I want to here all opinions from USCF TD’s.
I think it would be nice to have a new set of rules documents, however, I think it would be a mistake for USCF to produce another comprehensive rulebook. In my opinion, the USCF needs 3 new documents:
- Rules of Chess
- Tournament Guidelines
- Tournament Director’s Handbook
At a minimum, these documents would be made available as electronic files (PDF). Whether or not it’s worth creating actual hardcopy manuals would be up to the USCF.
- Enrique
Agreed!
All the best, Joe Lux, NTD, TDCC
Which rules need to be changed? What new speed playoff system? Note that there are about 30 pages of rules changes on the website. As far as a new rule book is concerned, that has been discussed here many, many times.
Alex Relyea
Sorry to disagree, but I think having a printed rulebook is VERY important, especially when players demand to see the rule(s) you are citing when making a ruling.
In any event, the 5th edition was printed in 2003, so it’s certainly reasonable to start looking into the options for the next rulebook.
I’m not sure with what (or whom) you’re disagreeing. When I said I think it would be a mistake to produce a new comprehensive rulebook, I was referring to an all-in-one document like we currently have (emphasis on comprehensive not on book). Unless you’re disagreeing with me regarding having an electronic format available at a minimum.
I agree that some TD prefer a hardcopy to an electronic copy. They will always have the option to print out the documents if they wish. Take for example the Blitz Rules. The rules printed in the book are not the current rules. The current rules are only available in electronic format.
I’m in favor of leaving the decision of printing the rules up to the individual directors (and players).
- Enrique
The round robin tables in the Rulebook can be replicated here along with other options as to the order of the board and how they are constructed. A rewrite of Chapter 12 is here, but it was shot down in Dallas, 2008.
Having a portable rulebook is important for that reason. That being said, even though there will be fuddy-duddies like me who invariably prefer print, an electronic version that can be displayed on an e-reader or other portable device is functionally just as good.
Not quite. If I hand someone my copy of the printed rulebook while I work on some other task at a tournament and he walks off with it, I’m unhappy but not out big $$.
If I ever shell out for a Kindle or Ipad (don’t hold your breath waiting for this!), I probably won’t give him the opportunity to walk off with it, so that other task will just have to wait.
When I discovered there was no record of the official rules on this web site, I wrote an email inquiring about it. I received a nice response from the editor of the rulebook, telling me that “a contract with the publisher signed in the middle of the last century gives them the first right of refusal when it comes to publishing the rulebook in any format”. Few would have foreseen the changes the internet has brought about, but it seems high time to renegotiate any contract to allow for online or electronic publishing, PDF downloads, as well as a bound paper version.
The fact that the USCF cannot offer the rules free to paying members seems absurd to me. This is the game the organization is trying to promote. It should, and I think must offer the official rules as a first order of business, and not just as a purchase option. So many questions come up in tournaments --questions about details (like how or when to “declare a draw by repeated position”, or how the use of analog and digital clocks affect play) that the rules should be made readily available to all players, not just those ready to pay for them.
The publisher is likely to have the whip hand in any negotiations. After all, they already HAVE a contract, what incentive do they have to change it?
Perhaps. It all depends on the contract and how it’s written. They may apply only to this fifth edition. Would they apply to a sixth edition?
We don’t have the answers to these questions. One hopes that a contract that may have been signed as much as 50 years ago has some expiration point, because the USCF signatories surely signed away a lot of rights, in effect surrendering control over rules distribution to the publisher. Circumstances have changed considerably. One wonders if it might even be argued that the terms are unrealistic at this time.
Does anyone know if the contract has a termination date or clause? Again, would producing a brand new document (or 3) require a new contract which can have its own terms.
- Enrique
I know of book contracts signed in the 1940’s and 1950’s for books that are still in print under that contract, some of which have been through a dozen or more editions.
What if I write a new Rule Book, call it “Rules of American Tournament Chess?” Can the USCF delgates, or whoever, deem my book to be the final word on USCF rated events? Thus making the old book defacto obsolete. The USCF wouldn’t own the book, but it seems they don’t own the rules now anyway.
If I was the publisher, I might have reason to claim such a book is a ‘derivative work’ which would, at a minimum, give me first rights of refusal on it.
Publishing a new rulebook is a process that will take many months no matter what the final form is. Perhaps we can agree on starting THAT part of the process?
I’ve never read the USCF Rulebook, how could my rule book be derivative?
Are they comparable? Are they fiction? Non-fiction? Rule books? With the USCF rules there might be significant changes in content from one edition to the next. Works of fiction might go through several editions without any change in content while undergoing significant change in design & layout. Of course, the rule book has undergone 5 editions (presumably with changes) with the same publisher, so perhaps it makes little difference.
I can easily imagine that legal concerns could and would prevent the kinds of change I’d like to see. I’m just hoping that there’s a chance the USCF can rectify what might have been a good decision in the short term that has come around to be rather poor in the long term.
There really hasn’t been that many changes since the last full edition. Some stuff will continue to be debated and changed, and even if we had a new edition, the same rules would invariable end up getting debated and changed.
If the USCF endorses it as their official rulebook for USCF rated tournaments, then it could be considered the successor to the current rulebook and thus a derivative work even if the entire thing was written from scratch by someone not involved in any previous version.
The whole point to derivative rights is that the publisher is the one who made a capital investment to print and market the book, so the publisher should get an opportunity to profit from things that generate sales based on the existence of that book, like new editions of the book.
The logical thing to do is for the USCF to contact McKay/Random House and say: It’s time for us to start preparing a new edition of the rulebook, let’s talk about having an electronic version. (Random House is very aware of electronic books, according to the Wall Street Journal they’ve been contacting the authors of many of their titles reminding them that Random House contractually controls the rights to all formats, including electronic ones.)
Maybe they won’t want to do another edition at all. In most book contracts from that era, if the publisher lets the book go OP, all rights revert to the copyright holder, ie the USCF.
But the thing to do is TALK to them, not start planning things that might only antagonize the relationship.