FIDE is proposing that, as of July 2009, games be forfeited if a player is not present at the scheduled start of the game. There may be a "compromise" of 15 minutes suggested, but that too is flawed.

I need not tell other Canadians about the vagaries of public transit. A bus may be late or not appear at all. To avoid forfeiture, bus-enabled players will have to arrive over 30 minutes early, and often stand outside a locked door in the snow or rain.

That is just one of the nightmares of a zero or 15- minute rule. Among the others are logistical and administrative.

But here's one that they surely didn't think of: a zero or 15 minute rule encourages cheating. A nasty form of cheating is the thrown game. In 2008, if a player does not show up at the start of the round, he is often hunted
down by friends or tournament directors and dragged to the board before the Rubinstein one hour has elapsed. If he wants to throw the game, he has to make bad moves, or intentionally exceed the time control: quite an investment in time for doing nothing. Either way, he loses both rating points and face. In 2009, the same player just appears ten seconds late, apologizes to the opponent, loses no rating points, experiences no internal conflicts, and
the rest of the day is his.

If forfeit games are rated, that opens up the full panoply of thrown-game cheating.

If games in which no moves are played are left unrated (as at present) the zero or 15- minute rule opens up a new method of cheating. The norm hopeful will have to pay the unscrupulous opponent simply to show up on time for the game.

I encourage all FIDE member nations to vote against this rule change at the 2008 General Assembly in Dresden.

Jonathan Berry IA,