| |
BGonline.org Forums
Awkward Clock Situation
Posted By: Bill Riles
Date: Monday, 6 July 2009, at 4:56 p.m.
There was an awkward clock situation in Novi during the Michigan Masters final between Brent Cohen and myself.
Though I know it was a difficult decision and an awkward moment I think CJC and Sam handled it appropriately.
Sam, apparently, had set the clock at the table prior to my arrival at the table, and perhaps prior to Brent's, I'm not sure. All the prior rounds had been to 11 points and the clocks were correspondingly set at 22 minutes. So, here again, the clock was set at 22 minutes.
However, the final round was 13 points and the clock should have been set at 26 minutes. I noticed the error when I sat down and, with Brent's presence and knowledge, I reset the clock to 26 minutes.
We began a marathon match -- the match ultimately lasted on the order of three and one-half hours, on the clock !! With Brent leading 11-9/13 and me involved in the backgame from hell (with ten checkers back and three of his home board points at one time) trying to win the game and, very definitely, trying to make sure to save the gammon/match I was also trying to further complicate the game as much as possible as Brent was precariously low on time and, to that point, not terribly aware and/or responsive to the clock. He was down around 40 seconds remaining while I had roughly 12 minutes.
There was a fair crowd watching and I presume Sam noticed the time situation and, again presuming, brought CJC to the table to discuss what to do -- he apparently realized he had wrongly set the clock at 22 minutes and was unaware I had reset the clock to the correct 26 minutes. Obviously, to varying degrees, both players play was being affected by the time considerations. If, in fact, we should both have had 4 additional minutes, the entire dynamic of the play, the game, and the match would be different.
Brent and I were oblivious to the concerns and the dilemmma. I'm sure after considerable agony over the decision, and with Brent having only 28 seconds remaining, CJC requested we stop the match midgame and asked us into the hallway for a private conversation. She explained their worry and we explained we had correctly reset the clock prior to beginning play.
We resumed play and Brent, now very aware of the clock, finished that game and two additional games while using only 5 seconds of reserve time -- he ended the match with 23 seconds remaining. I was fortunate to win all three of the final games and to win the match.
I'm not sure there was a perfect solution; however, I appreciate the position/action they took. Had his time expired only for us to discover we had more time the ramifications to play and result, for both of us, could have been even more substantial. Further, I did not care to win on the clock in the final and was torn on what I should do (not related to the 4 minutes in question). However, we were playing by established rules. Did I have a responsibility to warn him of the time? And, if so, at what point?
Initially, I thought it somewhat unfair for someone to, in effect, warn him of his most precarious time situation. However, I realized that had we been playing with four minutes less than we should have, and if four minutes were to have been added to our times, my play strategy would have been affected also, perhaps favorably, we'll never know.
I think CJC and Sam acted responsibly and with the best interests of both players in mind and at heart.
| |
BGonline.org Forums is maintained by Stick with WebBBS 5.12.