14.)
A player who has played an illegal move must retract it and make a legal move with the piece touched prior to pressing the clock.
17.) . . .
TD TIP: Illegal moves for any reason lose instantly if claimed correctly.
What am I missing, these two contradict each other.
Nothing. An illegal move loses as soon as the lock is pressed (assuming it is properly claimed). Until the clock is pressed the player has the option to retract his illegal move and make a legal one, but touch move applies.
Alex Relyea
The apparent contradiction is removed with a small change in the TD Tip:
TD TIP: A completed illegal move loses instantly if claimed correctly.
( “completed” = “clock has been pressed” )
Actually, U.S. Chess should update its blitz rules. FIDE has already done so. The first completed illegal move results in 1 minute being added to the opponent’s clock. The second completed illegal move (by the same player in the same blitz game) results in a loss.
Bill Smythe
I was thinking the same thing!
Well, since you are on the rules committee, perhaps you could try to get the rules committee to submit some proposals at the annual meeting.
Aren’t rules changes supposed to require passage at two meetings unless they’re deemed ‘urgent’ and have a supermajority?
Does this seem ‘urgent’ to anyone?
Ok, this is me being dense.
In (forgive me) NORMAL chess. If my opponent makes on illegal move, I hit the clock, start his clock and point out the move, he has to make it right, or, we stop the clock and get the director and have an argument.
Nowhere (besides in this TDTIP) do I see it spelled out that my opponent makes and illegal, hits the clock, and I pause the clock and claim a win. That seems to me to be a FUNDAMENTAL change to the regular rules that surely deserves its own line or own number (14a). If you don’t read the TDTIP (and they are tips not rules) how on earth would would you know?
Part of 14.) Illegal moves unnoticed by both players cannot be corrected afterwards. “CORRECTED”, not claims made, leads you to believe its just the regualar thing.
RULE BOOK . .
14.)
A player who has played an illegal move must retract it and make a legal move with the piece touched
prior to pressing the clock. If no legal move exists with that piece then he may make any legal move.
Illegal moves unnoticed by both players cannot be corrected afterwards. An illegal move is completed when the player presses the clock.
15.)
A legal move is completed when the hand leaves the piece.
16.)
If a player is promoting a pawn . . .
No, and I don’t think anyone suggested it was.
Better IMHO to stop the clock and summon a director, if the clock has a move counter, just punching it will make the move counter wrong.
Follow-up:
You should not start his clock. You should pause the clock and summon the TD. The TD will probably then assess a time penalty against your opponent by adding 2 minutes to your side of the clock.
If you prefer not to bother the TD, and you don’t mind not getting 2 minutes added to your clock, you should still pause the clock and point out the illegal move. Then perhaps you could start his clock, or just let your opponent correct the illegality while the clock is stopped. Either way, the clock’s move counter, if any, will now be off by one move. Whether this is important may depend on the situation. If it is important, you may still want to summon the TD.
This part is correct (and he must move the same piece, if it has a legal move).
Gore blimey, you’re right. 
It seems this isn’t supposed to be a rule at all, even in blitz.
A couple of years ago FIDE revised its blitz rules so that the first illegal move by a player does not result in an immediate loss. It results in a time adjustment instead.
It seems U.S. Chess might have tried to follow suit, and removed the old rule that an illegal move immediately loses, but forgot to also remove the TD TIP.
Based on all of this confusion, I would advise anybody who is a running a blitz event (such as a side event) to post a complete list of whatever blitz rules they intend to follow.
Bill Smythe
What about blitz rule 7d?
You’re right.
Bill Smythe
Thank You!
I think my problem in seeing this for mysellf is the commas and the “or”. These create the FALSE appearence of a link or tie to the king being in check or exposed to check not just ANY ILLEGAL MOVE.
7d.)
Who, after an illegal move is completed by the opponent, takes the king (if the king is in check) or claims the win and stops the clock, before the player determines a move and provided the player has sufficient mating material as defined in rule 7c. A player who moves his king adjacent to the opponent’s king and then attempts to claim a win under this rule based on the opponent’s failure to notice the check shall lose the game.
So, for instance, my opponent castles, when it is illegal for him to do so. Lets say he just forgot that he had moved the king then moved it back to its original square, and then castles.
I can then pause the clock and claim a win if I have mating mating material and a draw if not.
I suppose so, yes. That’s only in blitz, of course.
Capturing the king was originally developed as a handy, word-free method of claiming a win if your opponent makes a move that is illegal because it leaves his king in check.
But it led to problems. Some players, in a hopelessly lost position, would deliberately move their own king next to their opponent’s king, in the desperate hope that the opponent wouldn’t notice, and would make a move somewhere else on the board. Then the hopelessly lost player would simply play king takes king, and claim a win.
The now-defunct WBCA (World Blitz Chess Association, aka GM Walter Browne) fought back against this practice by writing a rule that said “This cheap shot will not be tolerated!!”. Unfortunately, this WBCA rule gave no specific advice as to what the TD should do, other than “not tolerating” the move. This silly warning even appeared in the U.S. Chess blitz rules for a time.
The next move in this ball game was to make capturing the king (with any piece, not just the king) illegal, to the point where you lost the game immediately if you did it, even though the opponent had just made an illegal move himself, by leaving his king in check.
Talk about countering extremism with counter-extremism!
Personally, I think capturing the king is just childish. Why not just pause the clock and claim a win?
Advocates of capturing the king should try to answer the question, what happens if my opponent castles through check? e.g. white castles kingside when black’s bishop is attacking the f1 square? Should black then be allowed to play BxKf1 e.p. and claim a win?
Bill Smythe
Provided he presses his clock after he castles, yes.
Alex Relyea
At the moment the rules committee is in rather sad shape, with the deaths of two of its most important members, including its chair, within the past few months. Additionally, there is pressure on the committee to start caring about online chess, which most committee members are not naturally inclined to do. A third stumbling block is that the vice-chair, aka the acting chair, is beginning to feel overwhelmed by his new duties.
Under the circumstances, I’d rather not burden the committee with new proposals, just yet.
Bill Smythe
Are there any openings on the rules committee now?
Delegate-appointed committees are named during the Delegates meeting, other committees are reappointed by the Board after the US Open. The chair usually makes recommendations as to members for the next year.
If you want to be considered for a committee, you need to make sure you’re known to the people who name the committee, and known as knowledgeable and helpful. Just being active in the Forums may not be sufficient visibility.
Your suggestion of adding the word “completed” to the TD Tip has been added (thanks Tim!).
However, there appears to be two different versions of the TD Tip.
On this page, new.uschess.org/news/just-rules … es-2021-22, the TD Tip is worded as follows:
In the updated online edition of the rulebook, new.uschess.org/sites/default/f … -23-21.pdf, the TD Tip is worded as follows:
Perhaps the TD Tip should add in the “provided the player has sufficient mating material” clause.
TD TIP: A completed illegal move for any reason loses instantly if claimed correctly (and provided the player has sufficient mating material). The one-minute penalty does not apply to illegal moves. The standard penalty of one minute applies to other Blitz rules infractions.
Who is “the player”?