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What is Amici Sumus? |
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April 26, 2004 |
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Amici Sumus - We are friends. Amici Sumus has been the motto of the International Correspondence Chess Federation for almost two decades now. But what does it mean? In my research for this article, I learned that ICCF President H. W. von Massow proposed the motto in 1984 and it was adopted by Congress in 1985 (ICCF Gold, pp.36-37). But what does it mean? A quick search of the official ICCF site, http://www.iccf.com brought no easy answer. In the forward of the email playing rule guidelines there is a wonderful section, as follows: Important principle for all games of correspondence chess played with ICCF – what is Amici Sumus? Now we are getting somewhere - despite the rather strange reference to "...the play of ICCF" (obviously the ICCF is not engaged in play - the players are, but the intended meaning is quite clear). I started to deliberate in earnest on this fundamental philosophy. I had seen the motto bandied about on TCCMB, and elsewhere. Was that all there was to Amici Sumus? I started to think of behavior which, according to the philosophy, definitely would not be friendly. It isn't difficult for an active player to do this - this is because, once and awhile, you come into contact with opponents, and others, who are definitely not friendly. What impressed me the most, when I started thinking about Amici Sumus, was a couple of assumptions one must make when dealing with it. Probably the first assumption should be that everyone has worth, has value. How can you deal with someone on a friendly basis otherwise? Respect is a factor - just as one wishes to be respected, he should respect in return. Even in disagreement, you have to be open to another's point of view. There is also the vexing question of, what may be friendly, or Amici Sumus, to me may definitely not be friendly, or Amici Sumus to you. A balanced person recognizes this, and does not force his personal opinions on others (this by itself being anti-Amici Sumus). Examples of unfriendly behavior abound in international correspondence chess. Playing on in a totally lost position (for which I have coined the term Dead Man Defense - because your only hope is that your opponent will die before the game is over), not replying in a timely manner, because you are busy (or whatever) but not bothering to let your opponent know this, etc. The possible list of bad behavior is a long one, perhaps only limited by a person's efforts to make it as difficult as possible for his opponent, away from the chessboard.
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We have had a recent serious test of Amici Sumus in action - the live/delayed replay issue. This hot topic has resulted in hundreds (thousands?) of postings on TCCMB. Many posters feel that they can post ongoing cc games over the objection of their opponents, regardless of the reasoning. How friendly of them - not! Would this way of thinking tend to be Amici Sumus, or not? One player posted his ongoing games regardless of how his opponents felt about it, because it was "right" to do so in his mind. His opponent, of course, did not agree with him. He complained to the TD and the TD rightfully ordered the removal of the offending replay. His opponent appealed this decision, and was awarded a momentary decision in his favor - and he promptly gloated about his victory by posting the Appeal Commission decision on a web site. The Executive Board (proper and Zonal Directors) of the ICCF promptly issued an amendment to the ICCF Code of Conduct, which, among other things, forbid live/delayed replay over the objection of an opponent, period, with immediate effect. Naturally, this caused quite a stir - how could they do this - only Congress can issue guidelines like this. How could they overrule the Appeal Commission? There must be something rotten in Denmark. It is obviously a conspiracy of some sort. When you stop to think that the Executive Board of the ICCF consists of many people, from many nations - not to mention the Zonal Directors, who, together, are in charge of the day-to-day operation of the ICCF, well, it isn't so difficult to understand - they opted for conservatism, and Amici Sumus. Thank goodness for it - it was the right thing to do, in the we are friends sense. The lawyers, nay-sayers, extremists and other shady types simply cannot abide by the simple concept of Amici Sumus. They have to question/disagree with everything decided upon, because their views/opinions are "right", and damn what you or I think. There should be consequences for questionable behavior. A good example of this is an article added to the "official" web site of the Netherlands national federation to the ICCF - http://www.correspondentieschaken.nl/ "De Ayatollahs hebben Gesproken" (The Ayatollahs Have Spoken) In my opinion, being a webmaster does not give you license to do what you want to do, without regard, in the larger sense, for the things you do. |
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