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BGonline.org Forums
rules/ethics question: consciously playing your best
Posted By: Phil Simborg In Response To: rules/ethics question: consciously playing your best (Tom Keith)
Date: Saturday, 7 May 2011, at 8:06 p.m.
Tom, with your interpretation, that anything you do or don't do that would in any way detract from your match equity is wrong, then clearly, any act of good sportsmanship or anything you do in the interest of being fair would be unacceptable. So in the match where my opponent was about to make a play, and the person next to us spilled his drink, we helped clean things up, and then he forgot to take his checker off the bar, I should not let him correct the mistake for fear of violating the rule that I am expected to do everything to win. This, and many other examples I could provide, is why we do need to apply the concepts of both "fair play" and "reasonableness" to the application of the rules.
If a player announces that he will always ask his opponent to correct to legal moves in advance, which is his option under the current rules, and his opponent announces that he will do the same, then it is NOT "reasonable or fair" to not live up to this pre-stated declaration once an illegal move occurs.
The only problem is that we cannot expect the tournament director to ruling based on verbal statements or agreements (unless they can be verified by both parties or by reliable witnesses. So if my opponent and I both state we will insist on legal moves, and then I decide to not do it when an illegal move (like putting his own checker on the bar) occurs, and I decide to lie about it, and there are no witnesses, the TD can only allow the illegal play.
We must assume that people will be honest and not intentionally cheat, but of course we will take reasonable steps to limit the possibilities of cheating when we can. With this in mind, I am happy to agree to legal moves with anyone I play UNLESS I have a strong reason to distrust the honesty of my opponent.
There is another issue, of course, and that is if the person who bought me in the calcutta, or any spectators that might be watching, see me correct an illegal move of my opponent that greatly favored me, when I do this, I will, out of courtesy to them, explain that this was in accord with a promise I had made before the match started. Having said that, no reasonable person would think that my action was a result of not doing my best to win the match, as of course, the agreement could just has easily been to my benefit. Further, if I state that I will correct to legal moves and my opponent does not make the same agreement or statement, the I will rescind my statement and make sure my opponent knows, without question, that I will uphold any illegal move that favors me.
I have some good friends who I respect highly who do not like to agree to legal moves (Herb Roman is one that comes to mind). When I play Herb, I would love to see him make a bad illegal play and I would certain, in the spirit of good fun and good old fashion "schtick" I would rub it in and take advantage of it without a second thought. And I would expect him to do the same to me. Either way, the integrity of the game is intact and we are both doing our best to win.
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