88th FIDE Congress: Executive Board Agenda and Annexes

[Chris Rice]

FIDE has published the Agenda and Annexes for the Executive Board meeting of the 88th FIDE Congress which will be held on 13-14 October 2017 in Goynuk, Antalya, Turkey.

I've picked out a few items that I found of interest:

On the audited accounts for 2016 I noted that the President's travel expenses had decreased from 183,204 Euros in 2015 to 29,945 in 2016. That's good news.

At Note 7 of those audited accounts confirmation that the President has repaid a debt of 241,000 Euros to FIDE so that is also good news.

The Verification report stated that FIDE's assets had increased by 817,602 euros in 2016 from the "parlous" 332,343 euros in 2015 for a total of 1,149,945 euros. I noted that women's chess seemed to be a nice little earner for FIDE but there was clearly an austerity drive going on which the report admits would have upset a few people but they had little choice. On AGON we have some revealing information that they owe at least 500,000 Euros to FIDE, they have made late payments to players which have hurt FIDE's reputation. Looks like AGON have agreed to pay back this money over 5 years at 100,000 Euros annually. The report also queries FIDE's reluctance to punish debtor federations.

Rule changes include making two handed castling illegal.

After that I got bored....

[Gerard Killoran]

Hang on, wouldn't rule change 7.5.2 make underpromotion illegal?

[Ian Thompson]

Rule changes include making two handed castling illegal.

That could be a bit disruptive to the game. It doesn't count as an illegal move until you press the clock (which is the modification to the existing rule, I think). Presumably, that means that if you use two hands and want to avoid being penalised for an illegal move you have to put the king and rook back where they were and then make the move again using one hand.

What happens if I make a move using two hands, don't press the clock, and then my opponent makes his move, because I've made my move? How do I deal with that?

How does this rule fit in with Law 7.5.1? If the player isn't immediately penalised for using two hands, but it's pointed out to the arbiter a few moves later, Law 7.5.1 requires you to go back to the position where the two-handed move was made. Is that really what's intended?

It also needs clarification on what counts as using two hands. Suppose I want to promote a pawn to a queen. I'm right-handed and there's a spare queen to the left hand side of the board. If I pick up the queen with my left hand and transfer it to my right hand before putting it on the board does that count as using two hands or not?

[IM Jack Rudd]

Hang on, wouldn't rule change 7.5.2 make underpromotion illegal?

No, because you replace the pawn with a knight/bishop/rook before pressing the clock.

[Alex McFarlane]

It also needs clarification on what counts as using two hands. Suppose I want to promote a pawn to a queen. I'm right-handed and there's a spare queen to the left hand side of the board. If I pick up the queen with my left hand and transfer it to my right hand before putting it on the board does that count as using two hands or not?

No. Pieces off the board are not covered by the Laws in any way (other than if they are used to distract the opponent).
As long as the same hand is used to put the piece on the board as is used to move the pawn then only one hand has been used. That has been clarified.

Note that using one hand to move the piece and another to press the clock is not allowed but does not count as an illegal move.

[Reg Clucas]

Hang on, wouldn't rule change 7.5.2 make underpromotion illegal?

No, because you replace the pawn with a knight/bishop/rook before pressing the clock.

And 7.5.2 is not a rule change anyway. That is the existing rule. The proposed changes are in bold text in the document.

[Gerard Killoran]

Hang on, wouldn't rule change 7.5.2 make underpromotion illegal?

No, because you replace the pawn with a knight/bishop/rook before pressing the clock.

It states...

7.5.2 If the player has moved a pawn to the furthest distant rank, pressed the clock, but not replaced
the pawn with a new piece, the move is illegal. The pawn shall be replaced by a queen of the same
colour as the pawn.

...shall be replaced by a queen...

[Paul Dargan]

There's no issue Gerard. If you choose to make the move in an illegal manner (not trplacing the pawn with your chosen pice) - and assuming it's longply so you don;t lose for the first offence - then you lose the right to choose the piece the pawn is promoted to and it automatically becomes a queen..

[Gerard Killoran]

My bad. Missed the fact it is after an illegal move.