History behind the Crawford rule?

Blitz · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 18

I was wondering if anyone knows the history of the Crawford rule. Is it named after someone named Crawford and if so, who was he? I understand what the Crawford rule does—it prevents a player from doubling because he has nothing to lose when his opponent is one win away from winning the match. I’m really just looking for some history behind where the rule came from.

Jade · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 27

The Crawford rule was invented by a man named John Crawford. John Crawford was the chairman of the tournament committee for Bahamas and Las Vegas tournaments. It seems that a lot of players thought that it was unfair to use the doubling privilege in a setting where your opponent is only one point away from winning the match because they player can double no matter what the condition of the game because they have nothing to lose. Several people suggested that a rule be implemented that stated that once a player comes one point away from winning a match the doubling cube cannot be used. However, this resulted in some very long, drawn out 1-point games such as in a fifteen point match where one player was ahead 14-3. John Crawford, the tournament chairman, devised a rule in which the player who has one point left could have one chance to win the match, without the doubling cube. After this chance the doubling cube would be reintroduced to the game. Everyone has agreed that this is fair and the rule is used everywhere.