Something changed in The Laws of Chess

Arriving (late) at the board

Old rule:

6.6 If neither player is present initially, the player who has the white pieces shall lose all the time that elapses until he arrives; unless the rules of the competition specify or the arbiter decides otherwise.
6.7 Any player who arrives at the chessboard more than one hour after the scheduled start of the session shall lose the game unless the rules of the competition specify or the arbiter decides otherwise.

New rule:

6.6 a. Any player who arrives at the chessboard after the start of the session shall lose the game. Thus the default time is 0 minutes. The rules of a competition may specify otherwise.
b. If the rules of a competition specify a different default time, the following shall apply. If neither player is present initially, the player who has the white pieces shall lose all the time that elapses until he arrives, unless the rules of the competition specify or the arbiter decides otherwise.

For simply information,

This rule was already tested at the Olympiad in Dresden, November 2008, where the one-hour margin was changed to zero, which was possible because the October 2005 Laws of Chess already state that it’s possible to arrive late one hour unless the rules of the competition specify or the arbiter decides otherwise.

Optional: no short draws

In the July 1, 2009 version of the Laws of Chess, Article 9, which is about the drawn game, starts with a new, extra rule:

9.1 a. The rules of a competition may specify that players cannot agree to a draw, whether in less than a specified number of moves or at all, without the consent of the arbiter.

This means that the Sofia Rule hasn’t become part of the Laws of Chess (yet) but at least it has now been specified that organizers are allowed to include measures to prevent short draws.

Besides, the rule about incorrectly claiming a draw is now a bit simpler:

Old rule:

9.5 If a player claims a draw as in Article 9.2 or 9.3, he shall immediately stop both clocks. He is not allowed to withdraw his claim.
1. If the claim is found to be correct the game is immediately drawn.2. If the claim is found to be incorrect, the arbiter shall add three minutes to the opponent`s remaining time. Additionally, if the claimant has more than two minutes on his clock the arbiter shall deduct half of the claimant`s remaining time up to a maximum of three minutes. If the claimant has more than one minute, but less than two minutes, his remaining time shall be one minute. If the claimant has less than one minute, the arbiter shall make no adjustment to the claimant`s clock. Then the game shall continue and the intended move must be made.

New rule:

9.5 b. If the claim is found to be incorrect, the arbiter shall add three minutes to the opponent’s remaining thinking time. Then the game shall continue. If the claim was based on an intended move, this move must be made as according to Article 4.

Mobile phones

The most famous story about a player losing his chess game because his phone rings is still that of Ruslan Ponomariov. His phone sounded during a match between Ukraine and Sweden at the European Team Championships, Plovdiv 2003.
The article about mobile phones needed a change as well, since the 2005 version of the Laws of Chess did not sufficiently deal with fact that phones sometimes make a sound even if they’re switched off, which happened to no-one less than Nigel Short at the 2008 European Union Championship.

Old rule:

12.2 b. It is strictly forbidden to bring mobile phones or other electronic means of communication, not authorised by the arbiter, into the playing venue. If a player`s mobile phone rings in the playing venue during play, that player shall lose the game. The score of the opponent shall be determined by the arbiter.

New rule:

12.3 b. Without the permission of the arbiter a player is forbidden to have a mobile phone or other electronic means of communication in the playing venue, unless they are completely switched off. If any such device produces a sound, the player shall lose the game. The opponent shall win. However, if the opponent cannot win the game by any series of legal moves, his score shall be a draw.

Rapidplay

Old rule:

B2. Play shall be governed by the FIDE Laws of Chess, except where they are overridden by the following Laws of Rapidplay.

New rule:

A.3 Where there is adequate supervision of play, (for example one arbiter for at most three games) the Competition Rules shall apply.

Blitz

Old rule:

C2. Play shall be governed by the Rapidplay Laws as in Appendix B except where they are overridden by the following Laws of Blitz. The Articles 10.2 and B6 do not apply.

New rule:

B.2 Where there is adequate supervision of play, (one arbiter for one game) the Competition Rules and Appendix A.2 shall apply.