Post date: 02-Oct-2010 20:08:47
The latest versions of the Oxfordshire Chess Association Constitution and League Rules, as amended by the recent County AGM, have now been posted on the OCA website (http://www.oca.oxfordfusion.com/GetDocuments.cfm), as well as a new document approved by the AGM, entitled ‘OCA League Rules: Guidance for Clubs and Captains’. Captains should try to make themselves familiar with the relevant changes and with the new document, and may wish to make sure their squads are acquainted with at least the salient points. Several of the changes are mentioned in the OCA Chair’s AGM Report, posted on the website News page on 30 September. But it’s worth going into a bit more detail, so that Cowley members have an adequate idea of how the changes affect them. And I would urge those who are interested to look at the official documents themselves. (It’s unfortunate that the link to this Guidance document gives the impression that it is only of relevance to team captains; parts of it are important to all players; see paragraph below.)
1. One important point is that, as a result of a change to League Rule 7.6, this season Cowley 1-3 will begin home matches at 7.30pm. Only Cowley 4 will start at the earlier time of 7.15pm.
2. The respects in which the League does not follow the FIDE Laws of Chess are now collected together in Rule 7.11. The most obviously significant change here (Rule 7.11.2) is that a player’s mobile phone sounding does not now automatically mean loss of the game, but a second offence in a game would result in an automatic loss. One other change worth mentioning is that it is now explicitly permitted in the OCA League (but not under FIDE Rules) to use English descriptive notation. (See also paragraph 5 below.)
3. The eligibility rules allowing one to play for more than one team in a club have been made less restrictive. What was formerly Rule 2.6, on playing ‘across’, i.e., for two teams in the same division, has been removed. Now, with the same grading-based exceptions as before, the restriction on playing for more than one team in a club now simply says that a player who has played four games for a particular team ceases to be eligible to play for any other team of that club in the same or a lower division for the remainder of the season.
4. An important ‘fair play’ provision is explained in a new document (OCA League Rules: Guidance for Clubs and Captains), and the Committee given appropriate powers of enforcement (see paragraph 4.1 of the Constitution). As the new Guidance says, “ The Association recognizes that no set of rules can cover every eventuality, and clubs and captains are therefore asked to act in accordance with the clear intention and spirit of the rules rather than to seek out and exploit any possible ‘loopholes’ in the letter of the rules.” The main intention of this is to discourage practices which are manifestly unfair or clearly contrary to the intention of the Association’s Rules, such as: failing to star the highest graded regular players in a squad without good reason; seeking unfair competitive advantage by importing high-graded players into lower teams for key matches; or manipulation of board order.
5. Another very important development, though far from obviously so, is a consequence of League Rule 7.11.6, which says: “Since the FIDE Laws in general presuppose the presence of an authorized person acting as arbiter, and many of them refer to actions the arbiter may take, certain articles of the Laws cannot be followed to the strict letter in the OCA League. In the absence of arbiters, team captains are expected to carry out their role as far as is feasible during matches. To help them carry out their responsibilities in this regard, captains should familiarize themselves with any relevant guidance issued by the Committee.”
The chief way in which this impinges on all players in the League, and not just on captains, is a consequence of the adaptations, necessary to the Oxfordshire League (where no appointed arbiter is present), of the FIDE Law allowing one to claim a draw under the so-called ‘two-minute rule’. The League Rules formerly specified following the BCF's 1995 'Rules for Quckplay Finishes in games played without an arbiter'. These rules, which were published in the 1995 BCF Yearbook and are not now readily available to many of us, were in any case not entirely satisfactory. The new Guidelines document describes and explains what I believe is a more helpful procedure, adapted to the situation of the Oxfordshire League. I’ve extracted the relevant section and reproduced it in the attached file. It is fairly detailed, but I hope that not only captains but also other players will find it enlightening and profitable reading on a topic many of us find difficult and confusing.