Answers.Body: <p>In FIDE rated tournaments I remember hearing that if the starting position was set up wrong and roughly &lt;= 6 moves were played, the game could be restarted. So if this tournament was also FIDE rated, FIDE rules take precident and restarting was fine. If this tournament was just USCF rated I'm not sure (you'd have to look up the official handbook).</p>
  
  <p>I agree that some time should have elapsed for your opponent. You did nothing wrong but he did. However, you'd have to have said this during the game.</p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2019-01-05T03:46:52.270Z
Answers.Text: It wasn't FIDE rated; someone actually asked and the TD said no.
Answers.UserDisplayName: D M
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Answers.Text: In general you can't do much more after that point. The only option left would be citing the USCF handbook to him.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Inertial Ignorance
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Answers.CreationDate: 2019-01-05T04:02:28.550Z
Answers.Text: FIDE rule 7.2.1 just says the game should be restarted if it hasn't been completed if it was initially set up wrong, with no move limit. USCF rule 11F says a game can be annulled if the initial position was incorrect, or the game started with colors reversed, and it is discovered before move 10. However, this isn't a case of the starting position being wrong...
Answers.UserDisplayName: D M
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Answers.Text: (... actually, by some weird coincidence, the starting position WAS wrong - my first opponent's king and queen were swapped, which I noticed after his first move, and after fixing it I told my opponent he could start over, which he did - but that's not part of my question here.)
Answers.UserDisplayName: D M
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Answers.Text: Well for the sake of argument, assume your real opponent is 1 minute late. The wrong opponent arrives right on time and blitzes out a bunch of moves with you. Does that mean your real opponent isn't allowed to play? He did nothing wrong since arriving 1 minute late is completely allowed in USCF tournaments.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Inertial Ignorance
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Answers.Text: I think I see what you're saying, but what if he was 15 minutes late (still totally legal) and I had already beaten the wrong opponent and left for lunch (seeing as how he was from the U1200 section, that outcome would be perfectly plausible)?
Answers.UserDisplayName: D M
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Answers.CreationDate: 2019-01-05T09:56:41.307Z
Answers.Text: That's an interesting case. Since neither player did anything illegal, a good TD would first try to find a way for them to meet and play before the next round. Or give full-point byes to each player, since anything less robs each rule-abiding player of a potential full-point. In your case though, your opponent was present before you left, so the TD had the best-case option open (getting you two to play). So I think what he did was justified (whether your opponent deserved to lose a bit of time though is up for debate).
Answers.UserDisplayName: Inertial Ignorance
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Answers.CreationDate: 2019-02-04T08:31:38.217Z
Answers.Text: This rule is for boards that are set up wrong (eg king and queen on the wrong squares). The case where the wrong _player_ started the game is not the same.
Answers.UserDisplayName: RemcoGerlich
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Answers.CreationDate: 2019-02-04T09:35:47.777Z
Answers.Text: I think @InertialIgnorance 's last comment is a much better answer than his actual answer.
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Answers.CreationDate: 2019-04-10T01:25:57.643Z
Answers.Text: @RewanDemontay "If this tournament was just USCF rated I'm not sure" and that was the case, so I can't say the question is definitively answered.
Answers.UserDisplayName: D M
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Answers.CreationDate: 2019-04-10T04:42:36.263Z
Answers.Text: @D M Ah it's cool, dw :)
Answers.UserDisplayName: Inertial Ignorance
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Answers.CreationDate: 2023-05-07T16:59:10.727Z
Answers.Text: @RemcoGerlich True, but on the other hand FIDE rule 0.2 says "Where cases are not precisely regulated by an Article of the Laws, it should be possible to reach a correct decision by studying analogous situations which are regulated in the Laws." USCF rule 1A has similar language. I could buy this as an "analogous situation" even though it's clearly different. I've therefore accepted this answer, although I'd be open to accepting a better one if one appeared.
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Inertial Ignorance
Body: <p>Recently I was at a USCF tournament. Six moves into my first round game, the tournament director came to my board and had me stop my clock. It turned out that the person across from me had the wrong board - he was actually supposed to be at the same-numbered board in a lower section (which was playing in the same room.) And the opponent I was supposed to play had sat down at the board in the lower section. </p>
  
  <p>The TD stated that he was nullifying those two games in progress, and that those clocks should be reset and those games restarted with the proper opponent.</p>
  
  <p>Is this the proper action? Can a game in which multiple moves have been played be simply nullified? Also, since my opponent was not at the correct board at the start of the round, and I was, and I properly started the clock, should some time have elapsed from his clock when we restarted?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-02-04T09:15:14.630Z
Comments.Text: If the game isn't nullified, what do you want to happen with it? Arguably it's not a game played in the tournament, as that particular pairing was never part of it.
Comments.UserDisplayName: RemcoGerlich
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-02-08T21:44:09.447Z
Comments.Text: do'H!  you cant play the wrong person.  of course that was correct.  all y' all should have been at their correct boards.
Comments.UserDisplayName: edwina oliver
Tags: <rules><uscf>
Title: Can a tournament director nullify a game in progress?
ThreadText: # Can a tournament director nullify a game in progress?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2019-01-05)
  
  Recently I was at a USCF tournament. Six moves into my first round game, the tournament director came to my board and had me stop my clock. It turned out that the person across from me had the wrong board - he was actually supposed to be at the same-numbered board in a lower section (which was playing in the same room.) And the opponent I was supposed to play had sat down at the board in the lower section.
  
  The TD stated that he was nullifying those two games in progress, and that those clocks should be reset and those games restarted with the proper opponent.
  
  Is this the proper action? Can a game in which multiple moves have been played be simply nullified? Also, since my opponent was not at the correct board at the start of the round, and I was, and I properly started the clock, should some time have elapsed from his clock when we restarted?
  
  **Tags:** rules, uscf
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: If the game isn't nullified, what do you want to happen with it? Arguably it's not a game played in the tournament, as that particular pairing was never part of it.  
  > **username_2**: do'H!  you cant play the wrong person.  of course that was correct.  all y' all should have been at their correct boards.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2019-01-05. Score: 1 | Accepted answer
  
  In FIDE rated tournaments I remember hearing that if the starting position was set up wrong and roughly <= 6 moves were played, the game could be restarted. So if this tournament was also FIDE rated, FIDE rules take precident and restarting was fine. If this tournament was just USCF rated I'm not sure (you'd have to look up the official handbook).
  
  I agree that some time should have elapsed for your opponent. You did nothing wrong but he did. However, you'd have to have said this during the game.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: It wasn't FIDE rated; someone actually asked and the TD said no.  
  > **username_3**: In general you can't do much more after that point. The only option left would be citing the USCF handbook to him.  
  > **username_0**: FIDE rule 7.2.1 just says the game should be restarted if it hasn't been completed if it was initially set up wrong, with no move limit. USCF rule 11F says a game can be annulled if the initial position was incorrect, or the game started with colors reversed, and it is discovered before move 10. However, this isn't a case of the starting position being wrong...  
  > **username_0**: (... actually, by some weird coincidence, the starting position WAS wrong - my first opponent's king and queen were swapped, which I noticed after his first move, and after fixing it I told my opponent he could start over, which he did - but that's not part of my question here.)  
  > **username_3**: Well for the sake of argument, assume your real opponent is 1 minute late. The wrong opponent arrives right on time and blitzes out a bunch of moves with you. Does that mean your real opponent isn't allowed to play? He did nothing wrong since arriving 1 minute late is completely allowed in USCF tournaments.  
  > **username_0**: I think I see what you're saying, but what if he was 15 minutes late (still totally legal) and I had already beaten the wrong opponent and left for lunch (seeing as how he was from the U1200 section, that outcome would be perfectly plausible)?  
  > **username_3**: That's an interesting case. Since neither player did anything illegal, a good TD would first try to find a way for them to meet and play before the next round. Or give full-point byes to each player, since anything less robs each rule-abiding player of a potential full-point. In your case though, your opponent was present before you left, so the TD had the best-case option open (getting you two to play). So I think what he did was justified (whether your opponent deserved to lose a bit of time though is up for debate).  
  > **username_1**: This rule is for boards that are set up wrong (eg king and queen on the wrong squares). The case where the wrong _player_ started the game is not the same.  
  > **username_4**: I think @InertialIgnorance 's last comment is a much better answer than his actual answer.  
  > **username_0**: @RewanDemontay "If this tournament was just USCF rated I'm not sure" and that was the case, so I can't say the question is definitively answered.  
  > **username_3**: @username_0 Ah it's cool, dw :)  
  > **username_0**: @username_1 True, but on the other hand FIDE rule 0.2 says "Where cases are not precisely regulated by an Article of the Laws, it should be possible to reach a correct decision by studying analogous situations which are regulated in the Laws." USCF rule 1A has similar language. I could buy this as an "analogous situation" even though it's clearly different. I've therefore accepted this answer, although I'd be open to accepting a better one if one appeared.  
  
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