ECF Level 2 Norms

To acquire ECF arbiter level 2, an arbiter needs to be a level 1 arbiter (have passed the test) and have three tournament norm passes from two different assessors:

Attaining this level will require three tournament norm passes from a minimum of two different Assessors. At least one of these three tournaments must be from a tournament that is either Rapidplay or Blitz. At least one of these three tournament norm passes must be from a tournament that is Standardplay. Each norm must have been obtained at a tournament that had a minimum of 30 players and five rounds. Level 2 norms can only be acquired by arbiters who are not considered inactive, and after the candidate has attended the ECF Arbiter seminar and passed the examination. The title can then be awarded by a majority vote from a panel consisting of the Director of Home Chess, the Manager of Arbiters (Home) and the Chief Arbiter.

The details about writing and filling out level 2 tournament norms will be outlined in this page.

Paperwork

The arbiter level 2 norm documents can be found at the bottom of the ECF Arbiters website. This comprises of two documents:

• Arbiter Regulations – proforma guide for assessors - a "mark scheme" for assessing level 2 norms
• Arbiter Regulations – proforma - the form to fill out for a level 2 norm

For writing norms, you want the normal proforma (not the mark scheme).

Things to test candidates on

Take these with a grain of salt. Of course, if a candidate is competent and has already shown some of these points, there's no need to re-test them on that.

Section 2: Decision making

When testing decision making, we're just hoping the player makes the correct decision. If they get a decision wrong, that's fine, but make sure they can at least answer a question correctly.

• Weird player movement:
  • Player promotes to upside down rook, then tries to move diagonally
  • ⚠️ Player moves king two spaces, (as if to castle), but presses the clock before they move the rook
  • A simple touch move scenario (they touch a piece, but then move another one)
  • A touch move scenario, but the piece they were about to move would be classed as an illegal move, so they touch another piece and move it before pressing the clock

Section 3: Playing conditions

If there's noise near the playing area, give opporunities to allow the candidate to deal with it. If they don't, ask them to deal with it. If they don't, deal with it yourself (and make a note of that for assessing purposes)

Section 4: Pairings and results

• Ensure we have a procedure for checking results, and ensuring that results are checked correctly.
• Ask them a question about pairings
  • Why did so and so play white/black twice in a row?
  • Why is so and so playing so and so when they have different points?

Section 5: Anti-cheating measures

• Let them use a scanner. If they've never used one before, show them how it's done, let them demo on someone

Things to test new arbiters on

New arbiters have a tough time getting used to the role of an arbiter. As a fellow arbiter as part of a team, as well as an assessor, you're not trying to "catch them out" on anything or "looking for ways to fail them". In general, you want to aim to build their confidence and ensure that they're adhering to the expectations of an arbiter.

Fun things to ask a new arbiter:

• Give them a tally counter. Ask them what they'd use it for. (It's for keeping track of moves made for 50 and 75 moves)
• Give them a clock (ideally before the tournament). Ask them to add 2 minutes to the clock
• If it's a live board clock. Ask them to add 2 minutes to the clock (after some moves have been made and the lever has been placed wrong). Help them out if the lever issue crops up (in which case, lever first, then set the time)
• Let a new arbiter enter results into SwissManager
• Let a new arbiter generate pairings (Pairings > Computer pairings...)
• Let a new arbiter generate ratings (Other > Rtg. admin. file ENG)
• Are boards set up correctly? Kings and queens the right way round?

Writing norms

The top headings are fairly straight forward:

• Candidate Grading Reference can be found on the list of arbiters in the "Reference" column
• Candidate Membership Number can be found via ECF Rating or otherwise (do a lookup, that's all)
• Tournament Name is trivial, but it's worth noting the year that the tournament took place (if need be)

Fill out the rest of the norm as normal (awarding marks). When it comes to the comment section, the aim here is to provide comments on the marks you've awarded and give feedback on marks that were lost. An example of a comments section could be like this:

1. ...
2. ...
3. ...
4. ...
5. ...
Other comments here

When providing feedback on marks that were lost, it's best to write along the lines of "In future, the candidate should ..."

Submitting norms

After your norms have been written for the given tournament, send them off to the manager of arbiters at manager.arbiters@englishchess.org.uk.

Alternatively, fill out the online submission form here