Is notetaking allowed during rated OTB games? In other words, am I allowed to take notes in a seperate notebook in terms of lines I see, tactics I might want to try later in the game, etc. Or is this considering to be a form of cheating?
On a side note, I played in a Quad tourney this past weekend and one of the higher rated players was logging all of his moves into what looked like a chess PDA as opposed to taking normal handwritten notation. I was wondering if this too was allowed and why no one said anything about it.
It’s not considered legal to write down anything except your moves on the score sheet during the game and by today’s rules you’re supposed to write the move after you play it. In the old days most players wrote it down first but now it’s considered “using notes” by the nitpickers. The guy may have been using MonRoi, a new electronic score sheet device.
Originally posted by masscatYou can see the reasoning here for not allowing the taking of notes:
It’s not considered legal to write down anything except your moves on the score sheet during the game and by today’s rules you’re supposed to write the move after you play it. In the old days most players wrote it down first but now it’s considered “using notes” by the nitpickers. The guy may have been using MonRoi, a new electronic score sheet device.
Later on in the game you may have forgotten the thread of your thoughts and the notes may help you get back on track so it is considered cheating because of that. If you make notes, make them in your head, nobody can stop that.
The first is a clear violation of the rules.
In the second case, the player was probably using a MonRoi Personal Chess Manager (see http://www.monroi.com/products/products.php). The USCF now advocates its use, and the recent rule change forbidding the writing of moves before playing them on the board is due in part to its implementation. See http://beta.uschess.org/frontend/magazine_124_156.php and http://beta.uschess.org/frontend/news_7_127.php
What I don’t understand is how writing my move down first can be considered note taking or how it would help me. I’ve played thousands of moves that I wrote down first so by today’s standards I used notes…never helped me win a game. I’ve even seen players in time trouble write down 2 or 3 forced moves in advance to save time. Nobody complained. We used to sit down, shake hands and just play.
Originally posted by masscatI remember a case when a player had a forced win but his opponent was using up his time.
What I don’t understand is how writing my move down first can be considered note taking or how it would help me. I’ve played thousands of moves that I wrote down first so by today’s standards I used notes…never helped me win a game. I’ve even seen players in time trouble write down 2 or 3 forced moves in advance to save time. Nobody complained. We used to sit down, shake hands and just play.
In his impatience the player made a show of writng down the moves that would win him the game.
He was disqualified but it was a big commotion. I don't know what happened to the appeal.
Interesting info here. I can see the argument about taking notes being a form of cheating but at the same time, you're writing the notes as you go with your own thoughts and it's not as though you brought in sometime prepared before the match. Also, should people with very bad short term memory not be allowed to jot down some thoughts?
Originally posted by petrosianpupilWell one thing: If player A is watching player B who is about to make his move, if A sees B's move before he makes it, A gets a bit of a heads up and gets an extra second of thinking time, not that is a big deal....
I remember a case when a player had a forced win but his opponent was using up his time.
In his impatience the player made a show of writng down the moves that would win him the game.
He was disqualified but it was a big commotion. I don't know what happened to the appeal.