You can't do that, it's not your turn yet!! or can you??

[E Michael White]

That's a good question, which Adam Raoof is attempting to answer with "E.C.F. Rules for events played under its auspices" but there will always be doubters, who try to rubbish such initiatives.

[Eoin Devane]

There was, of course, the infamous Zatonskih - Krush armageddon match at the 2008 US Women's Championship in which this issue arose. Krush complained that: My opponent, seeing herself on the verge of losing on time, began playing moves before I had completed mine. She made her moves before I hit my clock, and as soon as I pressed the clock, it was punched back at me. That is how my lead in time was chipped away at, and this process began during the advance of Anna’s c-pawn, quite a few moves before the game ended.
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4686

[Ian Thompson]

4.2. specifies you may only j’adoube when you have the move.

I didn't know that, so I've learnt something today.

If you adjust the pieces at other times it counts as replacement of displaced pieces and is covered by 7.3.

I'm not convinced that adjusting pieces at the wrong time is covered by 7.3. That rule is aimed at the accidental knocking over of pieces, where they end up no longer on the square they should be on, and the game cannot continue until they are put back where they should be. Adjusting pieces is moving a piece within its square (or possibly from fractionally outside it to completely within it), so the game could continue without adjusting them. I still think an illegal adjustment is best dealt with under 12.6.

[Joey Stewart]

I think it is up to the knocker over of the piece to have to rectify his mistake so he would be ok touching any pieces in that situation.

I know the rules are different for blind players so i would assume that even if they accidentally knocked the whole set onto the floor you would have to pick it up for them, even in time trouble i imagine.

[Gavin Strachan]

Yes this discussion has been around before in the past.

Here are the rules:

4.6
When, as a legal move or part of a legal move, a piece has been released on a square, it cannot be moved to another square on this move. The move is then considered to have been made:

a.
in the case of a capture, when the captured piece has been removed from the chessboard and the player, having placed his own piece on its new square, has released this capturing piece from his hand

b.
in the case of castling, when the player's hand has released the rook on the square previously crossed by the king. When the player has released the king from his hand, the move is not yet made, but the player no longer has the right to make any move other than castling on that side, if this is legal

c.
in the case of the promotion of a pawn, when the pawn has been removed from the chessboard and the player's hand has released the new piece after placing it on the promotion square. If the player has released from his hand the pawn that has reached the promotion square, the move is not yet made, but the player no longer has the right to play the pawn to another square.

6.7 a. During the game each player, having made his move on the chessboard, shall stop
his own clock and start his opponent’s clock. A player must always be allowed to
stop his clock. His move is not considered to have been completed until he has done
so, unless the move that was made ends the game. (See the Articles 5.1.a, 5.2.a,
5.2.b, 5.2.c and 9.6)
The time between making the move on the chessboard and stopping his own clock
and starting his opponent‘s clock is regarded as part of the time allotted to the
player.

rule 6.7: b.
A player must stop his clock with the same hand as that with which he made his move. It is forbidden for a player to keep his finger on the button or to ‘hover’ over it.


These are directly from the FIDE website. The ECF has a annotated version of the rules (very good): http://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-conte ... s_2009.pdf

It is also well within the right of the player to press the clock (as that is what they have to do after each move not so strangely). So if a player makes a move and the opponent makes a move and press the clock player has then I cannot see that it is unreasonable for the player to press the clock if they have not had a chance otherwise you are just playing on one persons time. Rule 6.7a (see earlier forum post which erroneously called Rule 6.8a). Rule 4 really is in force with no clocks.

[Stewart Reuben]

A game proceeds 1 e4 e5 2 Bc4 Nf6 3 Nf3 Nc6 4 Qh5 Nd4 5 Qxf7 mate. Mate concludes the game provided the move giving mate was legal. Thus White has won.
How could this happen? Well, it was a blitz game and White picked up his queen on the fourth move. Before he could let go of it on e2 - the only legal move, Black played 4...Nd4. So White played the illegal move 4 Qh5 and then the legal move Qxf7. Having played Nd4, Black forfeited his right to claim an illegal move had been made.
I pointed out this problem in the Laws of Chess to the Rules and Tournament Regulations Committee (now a commission). We did nothing about it because the phrasing eluded us.

Stewart Reuben