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BGonline.org Forums
Nordic Open Ruling in Quarterfinals -- O'Laughlin vs. Mitrelis
Posted By: Albert Steg In Response To: Nordic Open Ruling in Quarterfinals -- O'Laughlin vs. Mitrelis (Jason Lee)
Date: Monday, 28 March 2016, at 4:38 p.m.
It sounds like there was some sloppy play on both sides in this situation, but to my eyes, moving an opponent's checker from where he played it without his knowledge is very far beyond the pale of what can be allowed to pass without consequences. To suggest otherwise would be to open a Pandora's box of completely unnecessary conflicts.
One thing I have not seen acknowledged here is that Mitrelis could just as easily have "corrected" the play by moving the checker back from the Bar Point to the 8-pt, leaving himself a whole lot more shots from the bar. While this might seem more brazenly to his advantage, it's also to his advantage to have Ed play 18/12 rather than 19/13, as he likely would have if immediately asked to correct the play.
The ruling sounds absolutely right to me. If the incident draws attention to a concern that there are insufficient penalties for illegal plays, then that's fine, but totally irrelevant to settling the situation at hand under the current rules of the game.
Surely theres a bright white line that says it's never, ever appropriate to alter the arrangement of checkers without an opponent's knowledge and assent. Steen did the game a service by delivering a ruling that imposed a degree of penalty on this action, whatever its intention.
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