Illegal Moves Now Lose

[Michael Flatt]

ECF arbiters are particularly slack in applying this law correctly; it seems to start in junior chess where players are often told to "stop the clock and summon the arbiter for any problems".

The Arbiter is charged with applying the Laws of Chess, for supervising play and resolving disputes.
A player is permitted to stop the clock and summon an Arbiter when he or she has a dispute with an opponent over the rules during a game.

I have found that Juniors as a rule are scrupulous in following the rules. Recently two under-10 Juniors in the London Junior Chess Championships* observed the rule on loss of the game due to a second illegal move; they only called me over to confirm that what they had done was correct. I assume that they had previously heard me explain the rule to another player.

Juniors are wiser than we are sometimes prepared to admit.

Notes
* Normally in Primary School aged Junior tournaments I work to the EPSCA rules on illegal moves but in this particular competition the organisers were adamant that the FIDE rules should apply without modification.

[E Michael White]

A player is permitted to stop the clock and summon an Arbiter when he or she has a dispute with an opponent over the rules during a game.

It's what happens next that is important.

Leaving aside junior chess lets say player A infringes a law and insists he is correct, whereas B insists that A has infringed. Or A claims a draw by repetition which B disputes.

a) A stops the clock and calls the arbiter who agrees with B that there was an infringement or the claim invalid. A did not then have good reason to call the arbiter so A should be penalised.

b) If however B stops the clock he had good reason and should not be penalised.

This is particularly important if say B is in a QPF and has less than 5 minutes left, as the pause is likely to be a source of distraction to B. Making spurious claims in QPF, when an opponent is low on time, is becoming more common and the arbiters need to revise their thinking on this to be more in line with law 6.12.d..

[IM Jack Rudd]

Well, there's a wide gap between "claim is valid" and "claimant did not have good reason to call the arbiter". I'm not in the business of punishing people who mistakenly think they have valid claims.

[E Michael White]

Well, there's a wide gap between "claim is valid" and "claimant did not have good reason to call the arbiter". I'm not in the business of punishing people who mistakenly think they have valid claims.

even if the invalid claim is distracting and/or you suspect it might have been deliberate? Reading between the lines and on what I've heard that's the way things will go. It is distracting when an invalid claim is made.

[Roger de Coverly]

It is distracting when an invalid claim is made.

If neither player was scoring, how can you make a threefold repetition claim?

It's reliant on the arbiter accepting the memory of the players as to what moves have been played, or if the game was played on a sensory board, having the moves reviewed by an arbiter. For top class events, I think that is the convention.

[E Michael White]

If neither player was scoring, how can you make a threefold repetition claim?

There are various situations when a player may attempt to claim and the evidence will show it's incorrect even though one player has less than 5 minutes. eg

a) the claimant has an up to date score sheet
b) the opponent of the claimant has an up to date score sheet.
c) a player has less than 5 minutes but elected to continue scoring.( I score down to 3 minutes. )
d) the first 2 repetitions may be shown on the score sheet prior to the claimant ceasing to score when he dropped below 5 minutes.

If neither player is scoring the position may be as you say but other claims could be made. My main point was that an invalid claim when an opponent is short of time is likely to be distracting and cause the opponent to have to recalculate some variations, using up time.

[Michael Flatt]

The FIDE Laws of Chess coming into force next year are removing the compulsory award of the two minutes penalty for the first illegal move; it will become discretionary.

1. Laws of Chess 2017: http://rules.fide.com/images/stories/La ... s_2017.pdf
2. Laws of Chess 2017 - Table of Changes: http://rules.fide.com/images/stories/La ... hanges.pdf