adjudicate

Adjudication means having the result of a game decided by admins who are
skilled at chess instead of being completed by the opponents.

IMPORTANT
---------

Before you ask for an adjudication, please 'carefully' read this file and
help disconnection. Failure to follow the guidelines will result in your
request being dismissed, often without comment. These guidelines apply
whether the game was adjourned by agreement, disconnection, or server outage.
You should also "finger adjudicate" for guidelines on how games are
adjudicated. Remember that adjudications take time and effort from a
volunteer staff, so only ask for an adjudication when you absolutely need
one.

COMPLETING GAMES
----------------

Adjudications should only be used as a last resort. Adjourned games should be
completed by the opponents if possible. Any of the following methods can be
used.

 o Message your opponent trying to find a time to complete the game, and give
   them ample opportunity to do so.

 o When an opponent is online you can either use "resume" or "match
   <opponent>" to resume the game. Your opponent must not be involved in
   another game or closed to match requests for these commands to work.

 o Ask your opponent to agree to an abort. "sabort <opponent>"

 o Ask your opponent to agree to a draw. "sdraw <opponent>"

 o Resign a game if it lost, and only if it is lost. Resigning a game that
   isn't lost is ratings abuse. You don't want to do that. Resign lost games
   with "resign <opponent>"

IMMEDIATE ADJUDICATION
----------------------

If you have mate in 1 or 2 moves and your opponent disconnects, you may
contact any available online admin for immediate adjudication. The admin may
be busy and is under no obligation to adjudicate the game for you. This is a
courtesy only. To find an available admin use "showadmins".

REQUIREMENTS
------------

You may request an adjudication when the following requirements have been
met.

 1. The game must be MORE THAN a week old.

 2. You have contacted your opponent several times about continuing.

 3. You have 4 or fewer games already pending.

 4. One of the following situations applies.

     o Your opponent does not reply to your messages, even though they have
       logged on several times. Use "log <opponent>" to check this.
     o Your opponent has not logged on in several months.
     o Your opponent refuses to continue. Use "resume" to try to continue the
       game with an open opponent.

All of these conditions must be met.

EXEMPTIONS
----------

The seven day waiting period may be waived in the following circumstances.

 o You have a forced win and can provide the analysis to back it up. Note,
   and this is important, you must show the moves out to checkmate. Simply
   being up a queen and a rook is not a forced win.

 o If your opponent immediately logs back on after disconnection and refuses
   to "resume", you may request adjudication. However, if you are already
   involved in another game, your opponent is under no obligation to wait for
   you, so the seven day period still applies.

TIME
----

Please be aware that the Adjudicate team is composed strictly of volunteers.
Depending on the number of adjudicate requests it may take a few days or even
weeks for your request to be processed and a decision sent to you.

DECISIONS
---------

An admin will look at the position of the game and decide how to proceed. The
admin will either set the result of the game (win, draw, abort) or contact
both players about continuing the game. You and your opponent will be
messaged concerning the decision. The admin's decision is final.

PROCEDURE
---------

message adjudicate <White> <Black> <result> <analysis>.

White    The name of the white player.
Black    The name of the black player.
Result   Can be win, draw, or abort. If you want a loss, you can resign the
         game yourself with "resign <opponent>".
Analysis Be sure to mention any series of moves you will follow to preserve
         the win or draw. Also, if the game is a variant, be sure to include
         the type of variant in the message.

If adjudicate's mailbox is full, use AdjudicateII instead. Also notice that
there is nothing in the Usage format that allows for multiple games. Please
only include one game per message. And remember that you can only have 5
adjudication requests outstanding.

EXAMPLES
--------

 
     message Adjudicate bozky DAV draw; neither of us can make progress or
     gain an advantage.
 
     message AdjudicateII toddmf pminear win; After I play Bxg5, I'll be
     ahead a piece.

SEE ALSO
--------

abuse         abuser        adjournments  disconnection log           
match         resign        resume        sabort        sdraw         
stored        

AUTHORS
-------

Created: 12 November 1998 toddmf
Last Modified: 13 November 2006 mhill