From: Peter_Stockhausen@mindlink.bc.ca (Peter Stockhausen)
Subject: Re: E-mail etiquette
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 18:43:11 GMT

> Teri A Meyers writes:
>
> Msg-ID: <8f=K3N_2ATo3FH50kj@pitt.edu>
> Posted: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 04:36:4
>
> Org.  : Chessnews list (chessnews-request@tssi.com)
>
>
> For those of you who play postal or E-mail chess, I have a question on
> etiquette for you.  Earlier this year I was involved in a 4-way playoff
> to decide the winner of USA Today's (aka "the LINC") yearly E-mail ladder
> competition for 1991.  As a national competition, winning the tournament
> is more a matter of prestige than anything else, although it does carry
> a $100 award which can only be used to pay for online time charges on that
> network.  In a key game between Alex Dunne and myself, I made a very
> obvious typo.  I had a rook on g8, which I intended to exchange for his
> rook on d8.  Unfortunately, instead of playing g8d8, I entered g8e8 on
> my computer, hit return, and instantly discovered to my horror that instead
> of exchanging rooks, I had moved it to an unprotected square one square
> short of the intended destination.  The TD, who I contacted immediately,
> said it was up to my opponent to decide whether to allow me to correct my
> typo or not.  Alex refused to let me correct my move, and gives his reasons
> in his column in this month's Chess Life (Jan 93, p32) - basically stating
> that asking for a move back is like picking a pocket.  He also asks for
> input from his readers, but since he only presents what I consider to be
> one side of the story, I wanted to raise the issue here.  My argument is
> that a typo can be likened to the situation in OTB chess where a piece
> falls out of one's hand in mid-air and happens to land on a legal square.
> It is not really a "move"; it is an accident, similar to brushing against
> a piece with one's elbow in a "touch-move" game.  If there is no
> 'intention',
> than a 'move', in the proper sense has not been made, even though a piece
> may appear on a legal square.  So I don't feel I was even asking for a
> move back--I was simply asking to correct the accident and make my move.
> At present the game is over, so I am simply asking for opinions.  Alex
> took my rook and I choose not to continue.  He will win the championship
> by 1 point (whereas I would have won by 1 point if we had finished the
> g me and I won, although neither of us knew for sure that the game would
> be that pivotal at the time).  Lest anyone doubt that the move was indeed
> a typo, I present the game score below, so you can judge its obvious
> absurdity for yourselves.
>
> Jerry Meyers (BG2) 2498 - Alex Dunne (PK4) 2352  1991 LINC Playoff
> 1. g3, d5 2.Nf3, Nf6 3.Bg2, Bg4 4.c4, c6 5.cd, cd 6.Ne5, Bf5 7.Nc3, Nbd7
> 8.Qa4, e6 9.g4, Bg6 10.h4, Bd6 11.N:d7, Q:d7 12.Q:d7, K:d7 13.h5, Bc2
> 14.g5, Ne4 15.B:e4, B:e4 16.Rh4, Bf5 17.d3, Rhc8 18.Bd2, Ke7 19.e4, de
> 20.de, Rc4 21.Ke2, Be5 22.f3, h6 23.Rg1, Rac8 24.gh, gh 25.B:h6, Bh7
> 26.Bf4, Bh8 27.Rhg4, b5 28.Bg5+, Ke8 29.N:b5, Rc2+ 30.Kd1, R2c6 31.b3, a6
> 32.Na3, Rd6+ 33.Bd2, Bc3 34.R1g2, f5 35.ef, B:f5 36.Nc4, Rdd8 37.Rg8+, Ke7
> 38.R:d8--intended, but entered as h8e8, K:e8 39.Forfeit
>
> I would appreciate any comments either directly, or via E-mail.  Thanks,
> Jerry Meyers  (Tasst2@pitt.edu)
>
>

It seems to be a case where the person leaning towards enforcement of rules
will react like your opponent did (and be "right") and a person leaning more
towards "sportsmanship" will look at the case and accept your explanation.
--

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   Peter_Stockhausen@mindlink.bc.ca         Vancouver, Canada
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