Arbiter Fair Play Duties

When the Shift starts 2

Checking Presence in Zoom 2

Close Player Supervision 3

Inspecting a Playing Area 4

Rules of Supervision 4

Camera 6

Screen Share 7

Suspicious behaviour 8

Managing the Zoom call 8

When the Shift starts
Arbiters should help players get set and connect to the Tornelo platform.

They should be online in sufficient time before the start of the round, so all
players have a chance to connect to Zoom, turn on their cameras, share their
screen - or reach the correct breakout room or change their name on Zoom.

It is advisable to follow:

Round Number Join Zoom before Scheduled Start Time (minimum)

1 and 2 60 minutes before

3+ 30 minutes before

This gives arbiters enough time to assist players before the first round and do
Player Checks before the round starts for the rest of the tournament (see close
supervision).

Checking Presence in Zoom

The Arbiters should check that all players assigned to them are present on Zoom
and report to the Chief Arbiter.

The reporting procedure may be done through a spreadsheet prepared by the

Chief Arbiter. In such spreadsheets Arbiters may indicate whether Players are
present on Zoom, follow all the Rules and/or whether they observed any
suspicious activity.

An example of such basic spreadsheet is here:

Colors may be used to highlight and help to spot problematic cases.

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Arbiters can update the spreadsheet for every player as follows:

YES Screen Share and Camera OK

NO No Screen Share or No Camera

? Not in Zoom

It can also contain a field for a “note” to let the Chief Arbiter know, why is Anakin
or Mace marked in red, e.g. “no camera”.

You can create a copy of this spreadsheet and modify it for your event here (needs
a google account).

Another approach could be only marking those players, who are not following the
rules. This can help you create an overview of problematic players and give you
useful statistics for your Fair Play report. An example of such spreadsheet is here:

It can be especially useful for fast paced events with a higher number of players
per arbiter when time is of the essence.

Those who are not mentioned are assumed to be following everything correctly
and Arbiters can only mark players for rules violations in the following way (left
side):

1) Choose a player from the list

2) Choose the type of rules violation
3) Provide comment if needed

The right side of the table is then reserved for the list of players who need close
supervision. This list is provided by the Fair Play panel and gives Arbiters an idea
who they should supervise most closely and report back using the same
spreadsheet.

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The Fair Play Panel may be overseeing multiple tournaments with multiple
divisions. A simple overview like this:

Can give them quick and useful information about where their focus should be.

You can create a copy of this spreadsheet and modify it for your event here (needs
a google account).

Close Player Supervision

Fair Play supervision is one of the most important duties for any arbiter in an
online event. Supervision of players can help to collect physical evidence of
players getting assistance, which is very powerful when combined with statistical
analysis of games.

Arbiters may be provided with a number of players (such as 4), who require Close
Supervision each round. These are players who have been flagged by statistical
methods, or by previous observation of suspicious behaviours.

Close Supervision involves 3 things:

● Inspection of Playing Area

● Screen Share
● Camera

If either Camera or Screen Share are not visible Arbiters must ask the Chief Arbiter
to pause the game (or pause the game on their own), who will inform players by
chat why the game is paused:

“Sorry players for the interruption. Fair Play regulations require all players
must be visible on camera and have their screen shared. PlayerX, please
start your screenshare so the game can continue.”

The absence of Camera or Screen Share may lead to sanctions up to and

including forfeiture of the game.

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Inspecting a Playing Area
Arbiters can ask the Chief Arbiter to move you and the player in question to a
breakout room (or move them on their own).

Arbiters (as co-hosts) can join a breakout room themselves by clicking the icon
Breakout Room at the bottom of the screen:

And then choosing the appropriate room and clicking Join. It can be called the
‘Arbiters Room’ or similar.

During the inspection Arbiters should ask the player to take their camera and
show you their playing area - that means:

● The player
○ Do they have any other electronic devices, such as smart watches,
phones or tablets in their pocket?
○ Do they have any electronic devices in their ears?
● The table
○ Are there any additional electronic devices anywhere?
○ Is there a second screen?
○ Is there a chessboard?
○ Are there any chess books?
● The surroundings and whole room
○ Is there another person in the room?
○ Is there another electronic device anywhere?
● Arbiters should make notes or take screenshots about their findings and
report to the Fair Play Panel

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Rules of Supervision
Arbiters Supervise players by observing their behaviour on Screen Share and on
Camera at the same time.

Here you see an ideal layout to view, with player Face Camera, Side Camera and
Screen Share:

Things to watch for:

● Eye movement
● Mouse on screen (disappearing, hovering)
● Correlation between mouse and eyes
● Consistency of behaviour

If Arbiters are observing multiple players the ideal layout will be with videos from
all 4 players under supervision, Pinned and easily visible, as follows:

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The screen-share will be visible at the same time so it is possible to observe and
correlate the behaviour on both.

The line between screen and video can be dragged to the left or right and make
the videos larger or smaller when you need to observe more closely.

Reaching this ideal layout can be challenging in Zoom. Arbtiers must navigate to
find the Player on camera and screen share.

Camera
Firstly, it is good to change the VIEW to “Side-by-side Gallery” - this will tile all the
video icons on the screen.

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These videos are sorted in a seemingly random order, so it is necessary to scroll
(using the ^ or ⌄) carefully through until the player for Close Supervision is found.

Next step is right-clicking the video and choosing PIN. This will
change the view back to “Side-by-side Speaker” view with the
selected camera view remaining in place.

Following that it is possible to repeat this process for all videos

which need to be PINed in place.

Screen Share
When there are a lot of players sharing screens, the selection
list will become longer than is the space on the screen. The list
is sorted alphabetically, so it is easy to select players with
names starting close to the letter Z.

Players who need Close Supervision can be moved to the

bottom of this list by Renaming.

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On the Participant list, Arbiters (as co-host) can right-click the player name and
select Rename.

Simplest solution is adding the letter w, x, y or z to the player name (usually each
letter represents a particular arbiter).

The name such as “xAUS - David Cordover” is then moved down the list and can
be selected (possibly renamed back).

Suspicious behaviour
If Arbiters have any concerns, their job is to Collect Evidence.

A simple method is to use their phone to record a video of the suspicious activity
(immediately available, no need for search, etc.). Also taking Screenshots, making
sure your Zoom is recording.

Last step is to share these findings and recordings (eg. via WhatsApp) with the
Chief Arbiter and Fair Play Panel for feedback and discussion.

Managing the Zoom call

All players usually must be connected in a Zoom Room during the round. Based
on the number of players in the tournament, it is possible to have players split in
multiple Zoom calls, each with multiple breakout rooms.

A Deputy or a Sector Arbiter may be the Host of the call and can control the room
when participants arrive.

When (Match/Zoom) Arbiter enters the room, the Host:

● checks their name is set in the following way: Arbiter - Name Surname
● makes them a co-hosts
● helps them into their respective breakout rooms, if necessary

To assign a player into a breakout room the Host needs to click on the icon
“Breakout rooms” at the bottom of the screen in Zoom and the following window
will open:

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After hovering over a name “Assign To” option appears and after clicking on it, it
is possible to select desired room and send the person there

If participants should be able to join a room on their own it is necessary to click on

“Options” and check “Allow participants to choose room” is checked. See picture
below:

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When a player or captain enters the room, the Host:

● checks names of players follow: “CountryCode-BoardNumber-Surname”

e.g. “USA-1-Fischer”
● checks names of captains follow: “CountryCode-BoardNumber-Surname”
e.g. “USA-C-Fischer”
● help players/captains into their respective breakout rooms, if necessary (see
the procedure above)

First attempt to help must be to teach participants how to do it themselves, the

second attempt can be to do it for them (both renaming and assigning to rooms).

Note that it is possible to message players in the Waiting Room to change Zoom
display name to be ready before they enter.

For communication with players in the “Main session” of the zoom call is possible
to use

● microphone and speak to them directly

○ might be easier for some players
○ note - some players may have speakers turned off)
● text in the Chat (the only option for some players)
○ possible to copy-paste prepared messages
○ in case of trouble with languages ask for assistance or use Google
Translator

It might happen that during the round a player gets disconnected and needs to
rejoin, in that case they might need help to join a room during the round.

In case any (Match/Zoom) arbiter has trouble with settings, the Host should help
them find a solution, either by changing the settings or consulting the Chief
Arbiter.

The Host should make sure that all (Match/Zoom) Arbiters are recording the
session (on their local computer). All arbiters must be aware that recordings are
private information and should be retained only in case of Fair Play investigations.
The regulations should state when they are no longer needed for Fair Play
purposes, and therefore must be deleted (14 days is Tornelo’s recommended time,
but up to one year according to FIDE Online Regulations).

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