Petition from chess players at the 11th EICC in Rijeka
The zero default time questioned again
Report by Chessdom

The participants of the European Individual Men and Women’s Chess Championsh in Rijeka have submitted a petition to the Organizing committee and the ECU President Boris Kutin in which they request changing the delay tolerance from 0 to 30 minutes. They require this measurement to be valid from the 4th round. The petition was signed by 110 participants.

Due to request, on the behalf of Organizing committee, the president of the Executive Committee Damir Vrhovnik said: “The organizers are trying to do their best for the sake of our players. In accordance to that, on the behalf of Organizing committee and myself, I support the participants’ request. However, this question is under the European Chess Union’ jurisdiction and therefore, they are the ones who must make the decision“.

The rules of chess according to FIDE

At the Presidential Board Meeting 2009 Q1 the zero default time was discussed and it was decided that, “the PB approved changes in the Laws of Chess including that the default time would be zero unless otherwise specified in the regulations of the tournament.” The specific FIDE rule is now present in the Laws of Chess, saying,

6.6 a. Any player who arrives at the chessboard after the start of the session shall lose the game. Thus the default time is 0 minutes. The rules of a competition may specify otherwise. b. If the rules of a competition specify a different default time, the following shall apply. If neither player is present initially, the player who has the white pieces shall lose all the time that elapses until he arrives, unless the rules of the competition specify or the arbiter decides otherwise.

As per tournament regulations in Rijeka (text here) no specification about time of appearance at the board is present, thus, the FIDE regulations for zero default time are valid.

Stay tuned for more details on the matter, we will bring you all reactions by the arbiters, appeals committee, the players, ECU, and FIDE officials.

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