Quote:
Originally Posted by Do it Right
Their inability to properly play the game could be impacting other players. If you did not want to inform the players after they shook hands then at a minimum I would have informed the tournament director. The player who improperly declared mate should receive a penalty, but so should the person who can't even read the board. A draw seems a reasonable recorded result.
Disagree with the entire post.
1. From FIDE Handbook: "The game is won by the player whose opponent declares he resigns. This immediately ends the game."
In this case, "resigns" is completely interchangeable with "agrees that it is actually mate" and there is nothing you can do about it. Now, if the losing side did not agree with the fact that it is mate and would show a legal move, THEN he could call the arbiter and get the opponent penalized for the claim, and the game would continue. When the opponent agrees to it and shakes hands, it is OVER, and the arbiter shouldn't change the result.***
2. Where does the "draw seems a reasonable recorded result" come from? You can't just put a random result down because it is "reasonable". Why is it reasonable? Cause one is as "bad" of a player as the other one? That's not how things work.
3. "Their inability to properly play the game could be impacting other players." Right to some extent (tie-breaks), but your point is..? Putting a random result (draw, like you suggested) will make as big of an impact, so why not leave the result to which they both agreed to? And as to "inability to properly play the game", shall we just ban all the weak players from tournaments then, we won't have these disputes? Yes, they are much weaker in chess than you are, but that does not mean they don't have a right to play to the best of their abilities, compete and have fun.
***
This does not apply to those times where people agree to the result with clear malicious intent. Here, it is clear that players are quite weak, therefore the result should stay. Had it been two GM's playing, the arbiter should immediately put down 0-0 as a result.
Once during the European Rapid Championship in Warsaw there was a very interesting situation. It was a massive Swiss open tournament in day 1, but after day 1 I think 16 top players made it to the separate round-robin Final on day 2, while the rest of the field battled out in the Swiss on d2. Each player was guaranteed a solid amount of money had they made it to final 16.
So in the last round of d1 it was Gashimov vs some other Azeri GM, they were playing this rook endgame with Gashimov being the pawn up with no chances to lose whatsoever if played properly. I don't remember exactly what the situation was, but it became clear to them as their game was the last one still going, that if Gashimov wins, neither of them makes it to the final, same for the draw obviously. So the only way for one of them to make it in to the final was for Gashimov to lose (remember, rook endgame pawn up). Their game is the last one still going on and there are hundreds of spectators, including arbiters. Suddenly they start talking to each other in their language while still playing, and about 20 seconds later Gashimov drops a pawn, then drops another pawn, and basically loses the game in the next minute or so. The arbiters that were around analyzed the situation, and after 10 or so minutes their verdict was that both players lost the game, basically 0-0.