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BGonline.org Forums
Pgh Labor Day BG Tourn- Director's Decision
Posted By: Phil Simborg In Response To: Pgh Labor Day BG Tourn- Director's Decision (neilkaz)
Date: Thursday, 30 August 2012, at 4:33 a.m.
Playing "legal moves" eliminates the possibility of accidentally hitting the clock and forfeiting your turn. That is just one more reason I like legal moves.
Now, even with legal moves, if you accidentally hit the clock and miss your turn and I don't stop and tell you and you don't catch it and I roll, then you have lost your turn. In that case, BOTH you and I have messed up not catching an illegal play, and as such I believe that good sportsmanship and fair play would require me to pick up my dice and allow you to roll. And that is why we need a "code of ethics" and/or a "standards of ethical practice" that puts fair play and good sportsmanship above all other rules and standards (and we are working on such a document).
Good sportsmanship DOES NOT MEAN that you do not follow the rules and expect clemency from your opponents, and it does not mean that when your opponent makes a stupid error that it is your responsibility to help him. If he forgets to pick up a checker he should have hit, and he could have played the move legally without hitting, that's his problem. But if he makes an illegal move and it is my responsibility as well as his to catch it, I am not about to penalize him for something that is also my responsibility to catch. And the rules should not let me get away with being a jerk.
Yes, these are gray areas, and there can often be fine lines and interpretations, but MOST of the fine lines can be drawn more heavily with written standards and examples and clearer rules and rule interpretations, and then the few questionable areas that remain can be left up to the judgement of the tournament director. Right now, too much is hazy and too much is left up to the tournament directors, many of whom have completely different opinions on what the rules are, much less how they should be interpreted and enforced. That ambiguity puts us players in a tough position to try to decide how nice or fair we are supposed to be and how much slack to cut our opponents when they screw up, and how strictly to follow the rules ourselves.
We should NOT be having these debates about what is right and what the rules should say...the rules should tell us what is right for all of these situations.
Now, I also agree with some critics of more detailed rules that these kinds of things don't come up that often, but when they do, they can ruin your day and your experience and cause hard feelings and the possibility that they can happen forces us all to be "on guard" much more than we need to be to "protect" ourselves from the few bad actors, lazy players, inconsiderate players, people who don't know the rules, and of course, people who will try to take advantage of their opponent whenever they can any way they can.
I strongly disagree with some current ABT directors who state that the rules we now have are just fine and have worked well for many years, so if it ain't broke, don't fix it. They have not worked well. We have all suffered problems and and concerns over how to deal with opponents that don't follow the rules and good sportsmanship as we think it should be, and we are often faced with the dilemma of trying to decide just how far we should go ourselves to be a good sport (because we have no idea what our opponent would do for us if the tables were turned and because there are not clear guidelines as to what really should be enforced strictly and what should not).
Clear, complete, fair rules, REQUIRING good sportsmanship and fair play, and defining what that means, will solve much of these kinds of dilemmas and make the tournament experience more enjoyable for all.
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