Just The Rules: Your Game is a Split Result?

When your tournament game ends there are typically three results: a win, a draw or a loss. It turns out there is a fourth option: split results!

Understanding Split Results

Split results is a tool in a TD’s or US Chess committee’s toolbox that adjusts an inequitable game result. It upgrades an unjust game result into something fair for both players: a 1–0 game score could be changed into 1–½, etc. See the cases below for some examples.

Split results can be rated. The TD simply uses special codes when reporting those games to US Chess: N for a Win, R for a Draw and S for a Loss.

Split results are not required to be rated. Rather, it is up to the TD.

Split results are used for both prizes and pairings.

If a case is appealed to US Chess, one of their committees could impose a split result to resolve the appeal. The organizer might be required to redistribute the prize fund.

Example 1

You make a claim that the position has repeated three times. You are essaying the white pieces. Your opponent disagrees. It is time for the TD to get involved. After checking your scoresheet, etc., your friendly tournament official does not uphold your claim. While your scorekeeping ability — and penmanship — are not ideal, it is clear to you that there was a threefold repetition. Now, you are required to keep on pushing wood. Your opponent eventually checkmates you. The game ends with a score of 0–1. After all, it is hard to think when you know your claim was denied.

After your contest ends, you appeal the TD’s decision. Your scorekeeping ability is good enough to prove to the Chief TD that the threefold repetition claim should have been upheld. The Chief TD is on your side. The Big Kahuna declares the game a draw for you. Your opponent objects. She deserves her win, she argues, as it is not her fault that the initial TD made a bad call. The Chief TD declares a win for your opponent. The result is a split results of ½–1 as the new outcome of the game.

Example 2

You are the general of the black pieces. In time trouble you and your counterpart are banging on the game timer. Pieces are racing from one square to another. Some pieces are flying off the board. No one seems to have an advantage. An audience gathers around to watch the show. And then it happens: you blunder. Instantly, someone in the crowd yells out, “Take the Knight, it’s free!” The bystander is removed from the playing room. The knight capture is obvious. Your opponent grabs your errant stead. You are down a piece. A few moves later you lose. The game score is 1–0 in your opponent’s favor. You protest.

Your opponent had help, and that’s not fair. If the clear knight capture had been overlooked by your counterpart, the game was headed towards a draw. You point out that the bystander helped him find that move. The TD’s solution is a split results score: 1–½. Your opponent keeps their win. You get the half-point. Equity!

Bill Smythe, Jeff Wiewel and Mike Nolan contributed to this month’s column. Thanks guys!

Want more? Past columns can be found here or by searching the Chess Life Online archives.
 

Plus, listen to Tim when he was a guest on the podcasts “One Move at a Time” and “The Chess Angle.”

Tim Just is a National Tournament Director, FIDE National Arbiter, and editor of the 5th, 6th, and 7th editions of the US Chess Rulebook. He is also the author of My Opponent is Eating a Doughnut & Just Law, which are both available from US Chess Sales and Amazon/Kindle. Additionally, Tim revised The Guide To Scholastic Chess, a guide created to help teachers and scholastic organizers who wish to begin, improve, or strengthen their school chess program. US Chess awarded the 2022 Tournament Director Lifetime Achievement Award to Tim. He is also a member of the US Chess Rules Committee plus the Tournament Director Certification Committee (TDCC). His new column, exclusive to US Chess, “Just the Rules” will help clarify potentially confusing regulations.