Illegal move penalties

[kishanpattni]

It’s great that OTB chess is back!!

I recently played a game which I lost disappointingly. I felt like I was playing stronger than my usual level despite being a tad unwell. The manner in which I lost has lead me to raise questions on my finishing and pressure handling ability but also the fairness of the rules of the game.

I felt like I was outplaying my higher rated opponent for parts of the game in question. I reached an endgame with decisive material and positional advantage. We were both seriously low on time. My opponent made an illegal move. The application of the rules were applied correctly but I felt the time used to apply the penalty gained him calculation time advantage. I felt distracted for the remainder of the game as my opponent played more confidently especially from this point onwards. I succumbed to time and phycological pressure (again!) and walked into a mating net so I clearly need to improve in my ways. The arbiter did all they could within the law of chess and was sympathetic towards how I felt. I couldn’t suggest my opponent was unsporting and accept the result however the question of what the appropriate penalty should be springs to my mind. It’s normally at the end of a game where tension may become most difficult to handle. 

In future would it be fairer for an instant loss to be applied for a player who makes an illegal move in a classical game when there is very little time left? A time penalty perhaps being more appropriate earlier in the game. I do believe Intentionally or unintentionally a player who makes an illegal move may get an unfair advantage to recover in a situation when they are low in time.

So far I’ve had a mixture of responses. Some believe a time penalty is appropriate. Others support the idea of awarding a win. There was a suggestion I got from an active chess playing friend where the stipulation should be that the opponent of the illegal move player should be aawarded a draw even if they go on to lose over the board. At the moment I’m favouring this more than my initial idea. I believe this idea would also be fairer in situations where an opponent is distracting or offering draws in an illegal manner.

I might not be noticing certain factors at the moment as my loss is kind of fresh but I’d be very interested in knowing what other players/arbiters think! Thanks in advance for reading/suggestions

[Ian Thompson]

In future would it be fairer for an instant loss to be applied for a player who makes an illegal move in a classical game when there is very little time left?

That also depends on what you think should happen if the player making the illegal move gains no advantage from it, particularly if that player is clearly winning the game, or at least is very unlikely to lose.

What you can't have is a requirement that the arbiter has to analyse the position on the board to determine what the penalty should be, so any prescriptive penalty is going to have pros and cons depending on the particular circumstances of the game.

[Roger de Coverly]

. We were both seriously low on time. My opponent made an illegal move. The application of the rules were applied correctly but I felt the time used to apply the penalty gained him calculation time advantage. I felt distracted for the remainder of the game as my opponent played more confidently especially from this point onwards.

Perhaps it depends on whether there's an increment. If there isn't and it's the final phase of the game, the extra two minutes could be decisive. If there is, there might be a case for not claiming the extra minutes, particularly as it may take a finite time to adjust the clock.

In the early days of digital clocks, there were allegations of a dubious practice by some ex-Soviet players, that in the run up to move 40 when short of time, they would deliberately play an illegal move, exploiting the arbiter's lack of familiarity with how to add a couple of minutes to the opponent.

[NickFaulks]

In future would it be fairer for an instant loss to be applied for a player who makes an illegal move in a classical game when there is very little time left?

I have been saying that for years. An illegal move should be punished by losing two minutes on there clock and if they haven't got two minutes, hard luck.

If the illegal move involves putting or leaving the king en prise, as it typically does, then the solution is even simpler. Just let the opponent take it.

[Thomas Rendle]

I reached an endgame with decisive material and positional advantage. We were both seriously low on time. My opponent made an illegal move. The application of the rules were applied correctly but I felt the time used to apply the penalty gained him calculation time advantage. I felt distracted for the remainder of the game as my opponent played more confidently especially from this point onwards. I succumbed to time and phycological pressure (again!) and walked into a mating net so I clearly need to improve in my ways. The arbiter did all they could within the law of chess and was sympathetic towards how I felt. I couldn’t suggest my opponent was unsporting and accept the result however the question of what the appropriate penalty should be springs to my mind. It’s normally at the end of a game where tension may become most difficult to handle. 

In future would it be fairer for an instant loss to be applied for a player who makes an illegal move in a classical game when there is very little time left? A time penalty perhaps being more appropriate earlier in the game. I do believe Intentionally or unintentionally a player who makes an illegal move may get an unfair advantage to recover in a situation when they are low in time.

There are many reasons it's not ideal for a first illegal move to result in an instant loss - a piece getting knocked over whilst going to press the clock is an illegal move for example!

I have a lot of sympathy for the situation described but unfortunately there's no easy answer. Evening league matches are *not* played in ideal conditions, especially at the end when time scrambles are happening. Apart from the situation you describe it's often noisy and hard to concentrate, and there may be spectators standing far too close. All of these are (mostly) outside of your control, a lot of the time you have to accept things as they are and just do your best.

If a player was repeatedly behaving this way I suspect the best you can do is a quiet word to the captain. I've played in teams with players who always manage to get into some dispute and it's no fun at all.

[Joey Stewart]

Any sort of blitz finish will invariably court some kind of controversy - almost every dispute I have seen over the board has involved situations where time is short, but it is hard to have a one size fits all penalty and instant losses tend to be most punitive towards new players which is likely to push them away from playing and further diminish our already dwindling playerbase.

[Joseph Conlon]

I agree with Nick - I think taking 2 minutes off the player who makes an illegal move would be the fairest way to do it. If there is plenty of time on the board it has little effect, but it is a serious punishment if the move is made when players are low on time and takes away motivation for gamesmanship.

I would not be in favour of instant losses. When running junior events I want to (a) uphold the Laws and (b) try and ensure that games are settled over the board, rather than for 'technical' issues.

E.g. if a player promotes a pawn in a won endgame and presses the clock before putting the Queen on the board, it is good to be able to use this as a 'teaching' moment and explain to them that it is an illegal move, without having to tell them they have just lost despite being two queens up in an endgame.

While I agree in principle that arbiters' decisions shouldn't depend on the position on the board, I think with young juniors (who get lots of things 'wrong') it is very helpful to be able to have some discretion in stepping in, and choose circumstances where the position is totally decisive, so they learn the Laws without the distraught flood of tears from losing on a technicality when they are totally won.

[Jacques Parry]

There are many reasons it's not ideal for a first illegal move to result in an instant loss - a piece getting knocked over whilst going to press the clock is an illegal move for example!

Surely it's only illegal if you press the clock before correcting the position? People who do that deserve to be penalised. Likewise people who offer a draw on their opponent's move when their opponent is short of time. A while ago I complained to the arbiter about this, hoping to be given some more time as compensation, but no such luck.

[Thomas Rendle]

Yes, that's correct. If players keep doing that they do deserve to be penalised, but not with a forfeit for a first offence.

[Reg Clucas]

I agree with Nick - I think taking 2 minutes off the player who makes an illegal move would be the fairest way to do it.

Yes, I agree with this - however, some kind of time award should also be made to the non-offending player to compensate for the fact that their clock will have been started when their opponent completes the illegal move. If the non-offending player is very short of time then this could be important.

[Jacques Parry]

Yes, that's correct. If players keep doing that they do deserve to be penalised, but not with a forfeit for a first offence.

They deserve to be penalised appropriately, even for a first offence. If you're in desperate time trouble and your opponent unfairly nicks some of your remaining time, telling them not to do it again is not enough. Perhaps a forfeit is not appropriate. But if I accidentally put a piece on the wrong square (not where I meant to put it) that can mean an immediate loss. I don't really see the difference.