Is “clock-move” even a permitted variation for rated blitz? If not, then that would explain why it’s not mentioned.
Has clock-move ever been a variation in any time control as relates to a “completed” move?
For a while the scholastic regulations had clock move for the national scholastic blitz side events.
Plenty of national scholastic blitz tournaments were played with the abomination of “clock move.” On the other hand, if memory serves me correctly, the motion to disallow “clock move” at the national scholastic events was passed before the creation of the blitz rating system, so those games would have been quick rated.
So, what exactly was that? Did it allow an illegal move to be taken back if the player didn’t hit the clock? In other words, determining an illegal move was not enough to exact a penalty?
That’s the rule even in touch move blitz games. In clock move a player can take back any move if he hasn’t pressed the clock.
I’m just recently coming back to chess after a sabbatical, and I guess I’ve lost some knowledge. I guess my question is: what is “clock-move”? Does it differ from the Determination and Completion of a move as stated in regular chess? Someone please refresh my memory on this.
OK, so that’s a change I wasn’t familiar with. In all the Blitz I’ve ever ran, a move determined could not be taken back, unless it was illegal. If a player determined an illegal move, they could take it back and play a legal one, but if the clock was it, then the move was completed, and if illegal, a penalty was given. Touch move, even in Blitz, was always the standard, I thought.
I think several other improvements to the Blitz rules would be:
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Add “Insufficient material to continue” in the section “Defining a draw”
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The 6th edition states “Take note that Blitz is not Quick Chess with a 5-minute time control (which follows standard sudden death rules).” I think something like “except scorekeeping is not required” should be added to the end of this statement.
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I think it should be mentioned that scorekeeping is not required in Blitz. (The 5th edition stated that scorekeeping is not required in Blitz.) It’s kind of weird to have mentioned in the rulebook that scorekeeping is not required in Quick chess but not mention this for Blitz.
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At the end of rule 2 add “See Also 5G, the Flag”
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I think it would be good to add to the end of the first paragraph that Blitz events are often played in double swiss or double round robin format and this has the advantage of making the event go faster and avoids potential color problems.
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I think it would be good to add to the first paragraph that Blitz games are sometimes used to break ties in tournaments.
Also, Blitz rule 15 states “A legal move is completed when the hand leaves the piece.” In regular chess, a move isn’t completed until the player presses the clock. Why is this different in Blitz?
I agree with this. Very well articulated Bill. It says in the rulebook that Quick Chess follows standard sudden death rules except scorekeeping is not required. This makes it seem like you can’t claim a draw by “triple occurrence of position” or “The 50-move rule” in Quick Chess unless you have under 5 minutes or are notating.
It’s already clear from the rulebook that K vs K+N+N without a forced win is considered insufficient mating material for regular chess. We just need this clarification for Blitz.
Why don’t you like clock move?
That makes no sense. Neither requires scorekeeping. Where does “except” come in?
Has anyone ever been confused about whether scorekeeping is required in blitz? QC can be up to G/29. That’s plenty of time to keep score, it’s just not required.
Apparently this is to clarify that the move cannot be withdrawn.
It seems like you’re suggesting a lot of amendments. There is a time for that; at the Delegate’s meeting.
Perhaps we should start a new thread specifically for such discussion? Call it: Proposals to amend 6th Edition? It would be convenient to be able to search for proposed ADMs.
Micah, the standards are already mentioned there (or, I guess at least capable of being inferred). Organizers who elect to allow ILC should follow the tips in the numerics (1-5) that follows.
Be aware that organizers can adopt their own rules, and replace/amend every rule in the book, if they give advanced notice in pre-publicity. Otherwise, players have the right to expect that USCF rules will apply.
But, I wonder if you’re trying to understand the written rules more so than attempting to make changes? If that’s the case, you should consider simply asking for those interpretations.
Just my thoughts, given amicably 
You obviously don’t understand what I was talking about. I know scorekeeping isn’t required in quick or blitz. The statement quoted above said that quick follows standard sudden death rules and I am saying something like “except scorekeeping is not required” should be added to clarify that scorekeeping is not required in quick. It is stated earlier in the rulebook that “Sudden-death rules are used in Quick chess, except scorekeeping is not required.”
This is a description of the Blitz rules. This is a reminder (not a rule) that Blitz isn’t just fast Quick. How would an extra clause that tells how Quick is distinguished from Regular help someone understand that? Answer: it won’t. At all. It won’t help, it will just be as confusing as your post was.
Tom, I think Micah’s point is that reference to the sudden death rules takes the discussion out of the “blitz vs quick” realm. I don’t agree with him, but I understand what he is trying to say.
While in quick chess it is sensible to specify that scorekeeping is not required since it is obviously possible at the longer time controls, it seems incredibly silly for blitz. Only an idiot would even attempt it. And anyone who would try to argue their opponent had to keep score is either an idiot also or else the worst kind of chess lawyer.
I’m assuming that 15C from the 5th edition is in the 6th edition:
15C. Scorekeeping in time pressure, sudden death time control. If either player has less than five minutes remaining in a sudden death time control, both players are excused from the obligation to keep score. A scoresheet is not required to win on time in a sudden death time control (13C).
So wouldn’t that handle the situation - without any additional comments, rules necessary.
To me, the statement does exactly what it seems intended to do—it warns that blitz has some special rules that make it different from other relatively short TC’s. Since it’s not a rule, it could be eliminated without any real harm, but I see no point at all in complicating it by somehow trying to add a definition of QC to it.
While keeping rules simple is the ideal, it never seems to happen that way. Maybe some knucklehead TD in his advance publicity will try to have a variation and require notation even in blitz. That sounds silly, but we have allowed lots of discretion on how to organize tournaments. In quick chess events (Game 29, Game 25, and Game 15), I often see players trying to write down their moves or at least as many as they can until the 5 minute mark. They don’t have to, but they do it.
The one section in the Blitz rules that just doesn’t feel right is the description of draws. While the language doesn’t preclude that there are other possibilities (it says “if” not “only if”), given that it lists some “well, duh” items such as by agreement or by stalemate, it’s written like this is exhaustive. Yet, it omits mention of triple occurrence, even if the player can demonstrate perpetual check. With delay or increment, the “inability to demonstrate progress” draws (triple occurrence and 50 move) are much more likely to come into play since you’re no longer limited to maybe 80 moves on each side in a 5 minute game. Just as the blitz moves don’t need to repeat “how the horsie moves”, it doesn’t need to repeat that stalemate ends the game. SFAIK, the draws (should?) work the same way as they do for other forms of chess (with the sudden death time pressure handling for triple occurrence and 50 moves) except for
(a) not allowing ILC
(b) the clause about having insufficient mating material when the opponent makes an illegal move
This should either include all the possibilities, or be reduced to referring to the standard rules for draws except …