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2 away 2 away Score -- Idea

Posted By: Phil Simborg
Date: Monday, 26 August 2013, at 2:17 p.m.

In Response To: 2 away 2 away Score -- Idea (mamabear)

Good idea, and a great place to start and see how this rule works and is accepted in practice. This would make 2 point quickies much more fun and interesting and challenging.

For those who argue that applying Crawford in 2 point matches helps the weaker player because they can't make any cube error, that is true, but the makes the game far more interesting, challenging and skillful for equal players or for skilled players, and I believe that is our goal in tournament play.

When there is a match where there is a wide range of skill level between the players, I think an argument can be made that the weaker player is still at a great disadvantage when the Crawford rule is applied at 2away as he won't be as skilled playing the checkers at that score, and since the match is very likely to take more games to finish, he has a further disadvantage since more games will be played.

As for "complicating" the game, I don't think it is much more difficult for people to understand that the cube is dead at 2away/2away as well as the first time someone is 1away, and let's remember that we are only applying this rule in match play. Most people who play matches in live tournaments, except in the Novice Division, are fairly knowledgeable about the game and should have no problem with this rule.

As for the complexity of changing software for on-line play, let's not even worry about that now. If the rule becomes accepted around the world at major tournaments, eventually on-line servers will make the change or offer that option as well, and in the meantime, it won't be that difficult for us to adjust to playing both ways. Further, if I am playing another top player on line, we can agree not to use the cube at 2away even if the server doesn't offer that option.

By the way, just as I ask my opponent if he would agree to legal moves, I will start asking my opponent if he would agree to Crawford at 2away/2away from now on. Of course, I will check with the tournament director first to ask him if it is okay with him that we do this, as he might object and I don't believe we should be able to make this agreement without the permission of the director. But starting today, I will be asking directors and if they agree, then asking my opponent.

I know one objection of the director will be his problem enforcing it if we agree to the change and then one of us forgets or says he didn't understand and went ahead and doubled, but to eliminate this problem, I recommend that in order to apply this rule change, both players must write a note on their score sheet saying "2away Crawford" so there is no debate that this has been agreed.

I also know that some directors might say they don't want some players in a tournament playing with one rule and others with another rule, but my answer to that is the change only affects the two players who are playing each other and agreed to play that rule.

Then the director might say he doesn't want that done because it could make those matches slower, and to that I would reply that we would be willing to use a clock and not add to the total time when we play this rule, so he is guaranteed that our match will not exceed regular time.

Now, the major problem I see with this change is that if I record my match, it will throw off the PR because XG does not offer the option of adding this rule. However, it only takes a quick keystroke to eliminate the error from the evaluation, and, of course, I will talk to Xavier about the possibility of adding this option to future XG's...which is not something he needs to address until and unless this change becomes more widely accepted.

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