Dartford & Swanley 2 v Petts Wood & Orpington 3

A dispute arose on board 6 after it was discovered that the clocks had been set incorrectly with no increments. The Petts Wood player lost on time as his clock ran out first. The Dartford player admitted afterwards that he had spotted that no increment was being added but failed to mention it at the time. I’m assuming that it is the responsibility of each player to check that his/her clock has been set correctly, so the result stands, but would be grateful for the tournament controller’s confirmation.
Roy Parsons, Petts Wood Captain.

As Kent Tournament Secretary I am incredibly disappointed to read the above. First & foremost players place a lot of trust in their Captains to get things right and secondly I don't know of any Away Captain who checks that the Home Captain has set the clocks correctly. Again, the Away Captain will usually trust that the Home Captain has done his job correctly. So the Home Captain here has messed up in setting up the clocks incorrectly and no-one noticed beforehand. Mistakes happen, I understand that, and I also understand that neither Captain or the Away player noticed while the game was in progress. What is disappointing however is that the Home player DID notice and chose not to bring it to anyone's attention. Given that the Home player won on time I can only assume that this was a deliberate tactical decision taken by the Home player to take advantage of the situation. Whilst definitely not cheating, and maybe arguably not gamesmanship it is definitely unsporting. I can understand if one player chooses not to mention to his opponent that he has not stopped his clock after making his move. That is the opponents responsibility and no player is responsible for the game management of another player. However, this is something quite different as, as I have previously explained, players generally trust their Captains, and especially the Home Captain, to have set the clocks correctly. I'm sorry, but this 'Victory at all costs' mentality leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

In an ideal World, the player who noticed the increment wasn't being added should have stopped the Clocks and drawn the attention of his opponent and the team Captains to that fact. Then the Captains could have calculated the missing time and added it to both clocks, adjusted the clocks to add increment from that point onwards and then restarted the game. But obviously we're not in an ideal World and unfortunately the result stands.

I fully agree that team captains should ensure that clocks are setup correctly, however it is PLAYERS responsibilities to look at their boards as well as the clocks. I am the home player in question and I have valid reasons to not bring the matter/this to anyone's attention
1. When I noticed it the game was already more than halfway through I had 30 min left and my opponent had 50
2. It is too late to do any changes ... normally this is changed within first 30 min of the game.
3. Why should I tell this my opponent? - He/she is responsible for watching their clock - If the opponent notices this will they stop?
4. The clock is the same for both players - increments or not it is the same for both players
5. I don't speak during the game - first to not disturb other players, second any word means that the player speaking is offering a draw which I don't want!

Finally here is the FEN of the game:
8/8/1p1b1k2/1P1P2p1/4KpP1/1N2p3/r7/3R4 b - - 4 49

Move 49 both players have around 7 minutes on the clock - evaluation of this position is -8.5 (I am playing black) - Do I really win on time? His clock ran out - shall I continue playing with winning position and his flag down?

Let's just be honest and don't blame the clocks for loosing positions

Having spoken to members of our club, the consensus was that I should appeal the result of last night's game. Personally, having read the comments of my opponent it appears that words like 'integrity, honesty and fairness' do not apply. Although Martin's comments about fair play were appreciated, the final outcome was not. The game should have been pronounced ' null and void ' in my opinion. Having tried to read the rules and regulations for the Kent league, it appears the only rule is turn yor mobile phone off. Because of this i have decided to take a break from playing any more matches in the Kent league for the foreseeable future and I request that Martin removes my captaincy from PWOCC 6. John Cook will endeavour to find a replacement.

If the clocks were not set properly,the whole match should be declared void. It was not played according to the stipulated format. Outcome of games is irrelevant.

TO MARTIN STEWART : All of the complications about who should have done what are irrelevant . The match was not played according to the stipulated format .You need to declare this match VOID.

David Rogers ....David: What you say is "clear" would not be clear to anyone with a legal mind . The players were not playing under the rule that they thought they were..........even if in total they played for what would have qualified as an acceptable length of game. Playing with a 15 second increment is a different recent innovation. It even modifies one`s style because you have the resource that even if one gets short of time , one will always have 15 seconds to make a move.........and regaining time is even a possibility.