Wesley So Forfeited In U.S. Championship Round 9

[syzygy]

Considering the contents of his notes, it seems bad sportsmanship to bark about it, according to my opinion.

How could he know what So was writing underneath his score sheet?

More importantly, why would we expect Akobian to be so careful about So if it is So that chooses to break the rules.

[Dann Corbit]

Considering the contents of his notes, it seems bad sportsmanship to bark about it, according to my opinion.

How could he know what So was writing underneath his score sheet?

More importantly, why would we expect Akobian to be so careful about So if it is So that chooses to break the rules.

You are right. I guess I did not know the details. I assumed that he could read it.

[chessico]

Anyway, whatever you may think of the rule, the rule is part of the laws of the game. If a player breaks the rule, he breaks the rule, whether you personally think the rule is good or not.

which rule?

[syzygy]

Anyway, whatever you may think of the rule, the rule is part of the laws of the game. If a player breaks the rule, he breaks the rule, whether you personally think the rule is good or not.

which rule?

That you can't take notes.

(Sure, you can read the written rules differently if you want, but that does not make that reading correct.)

[chessico]

Anyway, whatever you may think of the rule, the rule is part of the laws of the game. If a player breaks the rule, he breaks the rule, whether you personally think the rule is good or not.

which rule?

That you can't take notes.

(Sure, you can read the written rules differently if you want, but that does not make that reading correct.)

Well, I can and I do. The longer I think about it the clearer it becomes that it was a wrong decision.
The referee had warned him about something different, writing on the scoresheet. He did not do that. And as a matter of fact that changes everything.
The rule does in fact not state that you can't take notes. It simply does not.

[syzygy]

Well, I can and I do. The longer I think about it the clearer it becomes that it was a wrong decision.
The referee had warned him about something different, writing on the scoresheet. He did not do that. And as a matter of fact that changes everything.

Nope, he tried to outsmart the arbiter against what should have been his good judgement. He could and should have asked the arbiter to clarification if he seriously thought his trick might be lawful.

The rule does in fact not state that you can't take notes. It simply does not.

From a time when it was still allowed to first write the move down before making it:

There was one case in which a player wrote his move down before he made it. So far, so good. But it happened quite often that he changed his mind and made another move than he had written before. In one game it happened eight times. I informed him that I considered this making notes. The player involved disagreed with me and organised a small enquiry among arbiters and players. He told me that the majority, perhaps even everybody – I cannot remember precisely – shared his opinion that he did not do anything wrong. But I remain unconvinced: the rule is that each player has to record his moves. To record something means in my opinion to write down something that happens or happened and not what a player has in mind to play. By the way, the discussion between us was very friendly and relaxed.

So there was disagreement on whether writing down a move, scratching it out, and writing down another move was "making notes", but not on whether making notes was against the rules.

And still from before the rule was changed to explicitly disallow writing down the move in advance:

In one of the previous Notebooks I wrote about a discussion I had with IM Mark Heidenfeld during the Chess Olympiad in Bled. It is still my opinion that a player who writes a move before making it makes use of notes and this is forbidden.

Personally I think it is clear from the written rules that writing stuff down is forbidden with only one limited and well-defined exception for writing on the score sheet itself. I would find it very strange if players were allowed to bring stacks of paper for writing stuff down and the same applies to a single sheet of paper. Hiding it below the official score sheet is not going to make things better, either.

If there is an urgent need to write something down or quickly talk to someone, I suppose you can always ask the arbiter for permission. The argument that So was acting legally because it should be allowed to remind oneself of granny's birthday is not going very far in my opinion.

[gordonr]

Anyway, whatever you may think of the rule, the rule is part of the laws of the game. If a player breaks the rule, he breaks the rule, whether you personally think the rule is good or not.

which rule?

That you can't take notes.

(Sure, you can read the written rules differently if you want, but that does not make that reading correct.)

The rule does in fact not state that you can't take notes. It simply does not.

Are the FIDE rules in effect here? Because they say "forbidden to use any notes" which includes no note taking.

11.3 a.During play the players are forbidden to use any notes, sources of information or advice, or analyse any game on another chessboard.

[Graham Banks]

Anyway, whatever you may think of the rule, the rule is part of the laws of the game. If a player breaks the rule, he breaks the rule, whether you personally think the rule is good or not.

which rule?

That you can't take notes.

(Sure, you can read the written rules differently if you want, but that does not make that reading correct.)

The rule does in fact not state that you can't take notes. It simply does not.

Are the FIDE rules in effect here? Because they say "forbidden to use any notes" which includes no note taking.

11.3 a.During play the players are forbidden to use any notes, sources of information or advice, or analyse any game on another chessboard.

Pretty sure the intent of that rule is regarding notes relating to the game being played.

[gordonr]

Anyway, whatever you may think of the rule, the rule is part of the laws of the game. If a player breaks the rule, he breaks the rule, whether you personally think the rule is good or not.

which rule?

That you can't take notes.

(Sure, you can read the written rules differently if you want, but that does not make that reading correct.)

The rule does in fact not state that you can't take notes. It simply does not.

Are the FIDE rules in effect here? Because they say "forbidden to use any notes" which includes no note taking.

11.3 a.During play the players are forbidden to use any notes, sources of information or advice, or analyse any game on another chessboard.

Pretty sure the intent of that rule is regarding notes relating to the game being played.

It doesn't say that. It says *any* notes. Because, as pointed out elsewhere, players could just use a code to make notes look unrelated to the game.

[chessico]

He could and should have asked the arbiter to clarification if he seriously thought his trick might be lawful.

Indeed. Most likely the referee was angry and thought it might harm his authority and took the wrong decision.
I can only repeat: writing down a quick note during the game, like I mentioned before, and like Wesley did, was never against any rule, nobody ever wanted to forbid it. It is very clear that it does not act against the spirit of any rule against cheating, analyzing or whatever. It is too strong an interpretation of a potentially ambiguous wording which needs a rewording so that in the future it will be possible to ban players who have a tatoo which says: "Keep calm".

Of course, what is left is the argument that one is not allowed to disturb the opponent. This would be quite far a field, and almost everything is possible here. Strictly taken it will make chess man against man (women ...) impossible.