This is just silly. I’m sure we’ve all played an opponent who neglected to hit the clock for whatever reason, most likely he forgot. Are you seriously suggesting that if I’m playing one of those, and I make my next move, and then he makes his next move and hits the clock, then everything is fine, but if for some reason I hit the clock after I make my move (which would have no effect, since my time isn’t running) I’ve done something illegal? Or are you saying that this is only true in a blitz situation? The only time I can see this mattering is when the opponent hits his clock immediately after the player has moved, because he didn’t realize that he didn’t do it earlier. I think we’re all agreed that this is allowed, whether or not the player has hit his clock (again ineffectually) after he moved. At this point, the player is allowed to hit his clock. I don’t understand the logic here, or what I’m supposed to do when, in a regular game, my opponent neglects to hit the clock.
Blitz, in order to keep some structure to the game and prevent someone from never allowing their opponent to punch the clock which can happen when someone is MUCH faster than someone else. I always have the right to hit my clock after making a move. If my opponent responds and hits his clock before I get to punch mine, that isn’t allowed. As to your other question, that is up to you, but I think you already know that. You can tell your opponent he didn’t punch the clock, or you can sit there letting his clock run. Blitz is different, but again up to you what to do when your opponent doesn’t hit his clock.
Mike Atkins scenario C occurred in the Orlando K-6 blitz last December.
White played Nd8xg7+ and black claimed the win. It turned out that black realized he’d stopped the clock (for the claim) prior to white hitting the clock. Since it was clock move, white then changed his move to 0-0 (moving the N to any legal square allows mate). Black was about to claim a win (white castled though the attacked f1) but stopped himself at the last moment and waited for white to first hit his clock.
A couple weeks ago at the club there was a G10 time scramble (black already flagged and white having just five seconds but not yet having noticed the flag) where 1) black made a move and hit the clock, 2) white made a move and started moving his arm to hit the clock, 3) black made a move and hit the clock while white’s clock was still running, 4) white finally completed step 2 by hitting the clock, 5) black was in confusion about his clock running during white’s move and drew attention to the clock, 6) white finally noticing that black had flagged while white still had one second.
USCF Blitz rules are touch move, but I realize that much of the scholastic community still does clock move. If you want to get them ready for regular non-scholastic blitz events, at some point they ought to play or practice with touch move. Had it been touch move, he would have been mated above. Maybe I am an old-fogie, but it doesn’t seem to be good practice for kids to be able to play moves and take them back just because it is clock-move. It would seem to create bad habits that could carry over into forms of chess which actually enforce touch move. Just an opinion
This has gone back and forth over the years. So rather than losing the scholastic vote it might be better to say Mike is either living in the past or is a visionary seeing the future (depending on which way you want to spin it ). It seems almost certain that at some time in the future the national scholastics will change to touch-move blitz. Then even later they will again change to clock move (and so on, and so on, and so on).
). It seems almost certain that at some time in the future the national scholastics will change to touch-move blitz. Then even later they will again change to clock move (and so on, and so on, and so on).