Body: <p>Yesterday. Our club's summer tournament. One specialist A is in time trouble as always (to his defense, 90+30+no bonus) and no longer writes. The other specialist B still has 10 minutes and writes like Kortchnoi, in addition sometimes writing not at all and trying to counterblitz. And that for about forty moves (neither of them even bothering to estimate whether they reached time control). Clock did not fall for a long time (actually, not at all, A mated first).</p>
  <p>What I did NOT: Act by the (FIDE) book. Interfere at the first infraction of B, give him a bum rap to cleanly write and not counterblitz more than the allowed half-move. Default him at repeated offense.</p>
  <p>Reason: I was at most tournament director, not &quot;official&quot; arbiter. (I even play in the tournament as a sort of inverse bye, if really necessary, so how can I be? Technically, none exists, but I'm accepted to act as &quot;unofficial&quot; arbiter. It was a fun tournament and consider the amount of bad blood, especially given that A is a club member of mine, B not. Both were rather rules-unexperienced youths.</p>
  <p>What I did: Write their random blitzage for forty moves (lucky that I beat The Flash all times.</p>
  <p>Here the question. I'm not even committed to defend my actions of yesterday, but assume</p>
  <ul>
  <li>it's an official tournament</li>
  <li>I'm the official arbiter</li>
  <li>no bonus (which is admittedly rare nowadays)</li>
  <li>both don't have to write, and blitz</li>
  <li>both do not think about time control, or it's the last phase</li>
  <li>I must notate (for threefold/50 move claims)</li>
  <li>those two specialists stretch even my abilities to do that</li>
  </ul>
  <p>Practical tips to handle the situation? I estimate I can play <em>at least</em>
  100 moves in a 5' blitz game, and emergency-memorizing the moves if I
  can't follow any longer is probably impossible too.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2023-08-07T08:32:02.333Z
Comments.Text: One obvious tip when moves are flashing is not to write them fully (no *34.Ra1xNa5*, and then miss the 35th to 38th moves) but just make a sign for which piece is played, or if it's a check, or a capture (e.g. *Rx*). Hopefully if the game ever needs to be reconstructed this (plus your memory, plus the players' memory) will prove to be enough. You might also ask an assistant to write the Black moves while you write the White ones.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Evargalo
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2023-08-07T10:51:36.543Z
Comments.Text: @Evargalo: Your last idea already crossed my mind, too.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Hauke Reddmann
Tags: <rules><time-control><arbiters>
Title: Time Trouble, Arbiter Trouble
ThreadText: # Time Trouble, Arbiter Trouble
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2023-08-04)
  
  Yesterday. Our club's summer tournament. One specialist A is in time trouble as always (to his defense, 90+30+no bonus) and no longer writes. The other specialist B still has 10 minutes and writes like Kortchnoi, in addition sometimes writing not at all and trying to counterblitz. And that for about forty moves (neither of them even bothering to estimate whether they reached time control). Clock did not fall for a long time (actually, not at all, A mated first).
  
  What I did NOT: Act by the (FIDE) book. Interfere at the first infraction of B, give him a bum rap to cleanly write and not counterblitz more than the allowed half-move. Default him at repeated offense.
  
  Reason: I was at most tournament director, not "official" arbiter. (I even play in the tournament as a sort of inverse bye, if really necessary, so how can I be? Technically, none exists, but I'm accepted to act as "unofficial" arbiter. It was a fun tournament and consider the amount of bad blood, especially given that A is a club member of mine, B not. Both were rather rules-unexperienced youths.
  
  What I did: Write their random blitzage for forty moves (lucky that I beat The Flash all times.
  
  Here the question. I'm not even committed to defend my actions of yesterday, but assume
  
  * it's an official tournament
  * I'm the official arbiter
  * no bonus (which is admittedly rare nowadays)
  * both don't have to write, and blitz
  * both do not think about time control, or it's the last phase
  * I must notate (for threefold/50 move claims)
  * those two specialists stretch even my abilities to do that
  
  Practical tips to handle the situation? I estimate I can play *at least*
  100 moves in a 5' blitz game, and emergency-memorizing the moves if I
  can't follow any longer is probably impossible too.
  
  **Tags:** rules, time-control, arbiters
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: One obvious tip when moves are flashing is not to write them fully (no *34.Ra1xNa5*, and then miss the 35th to 38th moves) but just make a sign for which piece is played, or if it's a check, or a capture (e.g. *Rx*). Hopefully if the game ever needs to be reconstructed this (plus your memory, plus the players' memory) will prove to be enough. You might also ask an assistant to write the Black moves while you write the White ones.  
  > **username_0**: @username_1: Your last idea already crossed my mind, too.  
  
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  ## 0 answers
  
  