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BGonline.org Forums
DEAD CUBE RULE
Posted By: Phil Simborg In Response To: DEAD CUBE RULE (ross gordon)
Date: Sunday, 3 September 2017, at 2:18 p.m.
Where to draw the line is one of the toughest questions about the rules. If you allow someone to give a dead cube, should you also allow someone to put their own checker on the bar? Should you keep your mouth shut if your opponent forgets to hit the clock? What if he only takes 2 points and he should have taken 4 for the gammon? What if he sets up his checkers wrong and it is to your advantage? And of course, what if he makes an illegal move that is to your advantage? Where do we draw the line as to how much a player must be responsible for his errors in thinking? Some argue there should be no line...if he does anything wrong that hurts him, he should be punished for it.
We have set rules to cover these things based on what "most" of us think is reasonable. But clearly, we don't all agree.
And of course, many of us, including me, think we should apply the rules very differently for Open Players than we should for novices, since Open players should be more aware of the rules and be responsible for all of their mistakes. Where do we draw those lines for Intermediates? But even there, most don't think it's good sportsmanship to let our opponent's clock run during a break, or to put down the wrong score. In fact, many will say we are cheating if we allow those things. Where do we draw the line?
So where we draw the line is subjective. I don't believe there is any "right" answer to all these questions, but I do believe that we must set very clear rules, and so long as they apply to everyone, even if the rule is not what I think it should be, at least we have a level playing field.
My biggest problem with the rules in the past was that many of the above rules were not clearly defined, and from tournament to tournament different directors and players interpreted and applied the rules differently. Also, many players felt that things like allowing your opponent to put their own checker on the bar or giving a dead cube is poor sportsmanship and is a horrible thing to do regardless of what the rules say. Players (like Herb Gurland) who followed the rules appropriately were condemned, and other players who wanted to be "nice" and help their opponent, in my opinion, were not living up to their responsibility to do everything they can to win within the rules and to respect the rules, even if they didn't like them. So we had a slippery slope problem, hard feelings, and we all were forced to choose between trying to be a good sport and respecting the game and the rules and trying to win.
I am happy to see that both the USBGF and the European federations no longer want these decisions to be subjective and undefined and left to the individual players or tournament directors...they agree it is best to set rules so we all know what is expected and we can hold ourselves and our opponents to these rules. Of course, many still don't agree on what the rules should be, and the current approach of the USBGF is to leave many of these up to the TD to set for his tournament, which I guess might be okay for a while because of the need to try to make everyone happy (which in the end makes most unhappy), but that really must stop at some point, and I hope soon.
Now, to your specific point. If one player can double when it is legal to do so, but stupid, and the other player cannont, because it is illegal and stupid, I am fine with that, because we all have to live by those rules and it is a level playing field.
If it is Crawford, and no one is allowed to double, and if someone does, it doesn't count, I believe, is the proper rule. If we allowed the double at that point, it would greatly change the game and in effect, it would be allowing the players to agree to revise the rules. Yes, an argument could be made that if a player makes a mistake, why should the rules protect him, but I think that since this error truly changes the nature of the game, it should not be allowed.
And since you can't give a cube on Crawford, if makes sense that you should not be allowed to redouble when you are 2away or whenever you have a dead cube. That seems to me to be consistent.
Now, if we changed the rule that you could double when it is Crawford, then I would agree that a player who is 2away could also redouble. But that is not the conventional wisdom and feelings about the game.
Again, even though you don't like it, you must admit it is a level playing field and others like it that way, so yes, you can object and offer your reasons for changing it, but until it is changed, you simply have to respect the rules. There are other rules I dislike far more, but what can I do...I'm outvoted.
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