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BGonline.org Forums
rules/ethics question: consciously playing your best
Posted By: Rich Munitz In Response To: rules/ethics question: consciously playing your best (Tom Keith)
Date: Sunday, 8 May 2011, at 8:55 p.m.
Why should a player have an option to enforce the rules? Shouldn't the rules always be enforced?
I think the two rules that address that are these:
1.2 SCOPE. Except where otherwise specified, the commonly accepted rules of backgammon apply.
4.8 ILLEGAL MOVES. A player may condone his opponent’s illegal play by rolling his dice or turning the cube. Otherwise, he must require the opponent to replay the entire roll legally.
Yes, a player must always enforce the commonly accepted rules of backgammon. However the US Tournament rule 4.8 grants an exception that a player MAY condone an illegal play.
Regardless, there is nothing in the rules that ever require any player to always make the decisions that they believe will maximize their equity at all times. It is therefore not in my opinion against the rules to do so (maybe it should be). But it is most definitely against the spirit of competition and good sportsmanship to not play your best, and intentional failure to play your best raises questions of ethical conflict. I see a big difference between intentionally making a bad play on your turn, and choosing not to impose a penalty for an irregularity against your opponent that the rules permit you to impose.
Let's say that a director places a monitor on a match. Would the monitor be expected to point out and require correction of illegal plays? I would think so. So why is there a problem if the players agree to self-monitor and do the same?
We agree that additional clarity on these matters in the rules could only help.
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