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BGonline.org Forums
Legal Moves Club
Posted By: Daniel Murphy In Response To: Legal Moves Club (Stick)
Date: Thursday, 9 September 2010, at 5:42 a.m.
1. That doesn't really answer the question. Why should the issue not be addressed directly in the rules, instead of putting the TD in the position of adjudicating "gentlemen's agreements" that the TD's tournament's rules say nothing about?
2. One possible disagreement that might arise without any ill intent would be along the lines of: "Yes, he said 'legal moves?' and I did say "sure," but only thinking 'of course, because I always play legally.' I wasn't agreeing to 'legal moves.'" So there we might have a legitimate and unmalicious misunderstanding. Yet the TD, I presume, would be expected to make some ruling about an agreement not addressed by the rules.
3. I'll disagree somewhat with Phil's not-bad argument that agreeing to play "legal moves" is not a departure from the rules. It is a departure in that under current ABT rules a player bears sole responsibility for ensuring that the plays he makes are legal. The "legal moves" agreement is different: it makes both players responsible for their own and for their opponent's play. Note that the current rules do specifically charge both players with responsibility in a couple of other areas. One is initial board set-up: "An incorrect starting position must be corrected prior to the fifth roll of the game." A player does not have the option of noticing an illegal set-up but fail to correct it. Another is scoring: "Each player shall keep a running match score and compare it to his opponent's score at the start of every game." Both players are responsible for ensuring that the score is always correct.
There doesn't seem to me to be any good reason for not amending the rules, and some good reason to amend them.
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