I have recieved this message this morrning regarding a request to restart timed out games in a league match. My reply follows.

Hi Richard,

I wanted to make you and the other CCUK&I admins aware of the following (I'll send this to Sean as well). One of our Kent players, , was recently sent this message by chess.com:

"One of your opponents has reached out to us regarding restoring 2 games played against your account: https://www.chess.com/game/daily/651220331?username=gk2007 / https://www.chess.com/game/daily/651220329?username=gk2007

"To do so, we need your confirmation to restore the games so you both can continue playing them! I'll be awaiting your reply to confirm whether you agree to restore the games or not."

This was in relation to Kent's current D1 R6 match against Berkshire.

Its fair to say that nearly all of us had no idea that restoring a timed-out game was even a possibility. We have no information on why this request was made, or the reasons for the time-outs. That said, we are firmly of the view that we will not accede to the request. This is a competitive match, with a lot at stake. Moreover, since timing out either or both players will probably have reviewed the moves using an engine which would obviously influence the moves they might make on any resumption.

I assume this request was made solely by the Berkshire player who timed out, rather than originating from the Berkshire admins. However, I note that so far there have been 5 other time-outs by Berks players so there might be an incentive for our opponents to try to redress the scores. I hope this wasn't the motivation, but perhaps you could raise the issue with the Berkshire admins?

Regards, Mark

Hi Mark

Thanks for the message.

I was aware that timed out games could be restarted by staff, but it is a very rare occurrence. In my experience it has only been done in exceptional circumstances such as server crashes or system issues, not because a player has had personal issues.

In principle I concur with your view. Time out is an end to any single game and that result should stand. You are also correct about analysis. Looking at the game archive at least one of the players has already reviewed the games so this would preclude continuing under the ‘Fair play’ rules.

It is not acceptable for an individual member to request staff to restart a game in our competition without due process. Had Berks admins approached Kent first with a substantial reason then I would expect that both teams could jointly put the request to CCUK&I admins who would make the final decision.

I will post your message and my reply in CCUK&I HQ.

My personal view is that a continuation will not be acceptable and both board points are awarded to Kent.

Regards

Richard

UK and Ireland County Championship HQ

Super Admins