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BGonline.org Forums
KIbitzers should STFU unless asked or appointed as monitor
Posted By: Daniel Murphy In Response To: KIbitzers should STFU unless asked or appointed as monitor (Robert Maier)
Date: Wednesday, 23 February 2011, at 8:08 p.m.
Inviting onlookers to comment on a match in progress opens of a can of worms and I don't think we want to go there. I believe Mary said something similar.
A match is a contest between two players. Kibitzers shouldn't be talking, disrupting, interfering, helping, hindering, or aiding, whether their intentions are good or nefarious, whether they're right or wrong. Would it be ok if impartial, attentive, and always correct kibitzers spoke up about illegal moves? Maybe. But kibitzers aren't always impartial, attentive and correct. And because they aren't, I think it best they observe silently, lest their comments about allegedly illegal moves inadvertently or intentionally aid one player or the other or simply disrupt flow of the match. I mean, if you had a dozen people watching you play, would you really want any of them at any time to be asking "wasn't that a 6-5" or some such? I wouldn't. I think Matt's comment is right on -- better to play a match in a closed room with kibitzers elsewhere watching on a big screen, then to have a roomful of spectators all permitted to comment on possibly illegal plays.
Spectators must observe the match in silence. Spectators may not direct attention to mistakes in the game nor comment on the game.Good rule. Simple. Enforceable. Avoids all kinds of potential problems. I'd rather not make any exception, even for well-intentioned comments about illegal plays.
Spectators can always speak to a tournament director, of course, and TD's can appoint a monitor specifically for a match, or even (as WBA rules do) authorize "tournament officials" to point out illegal moves.
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