Is it correct to interpret the above, seemingly conflicting rules, to not be conflicting at all, in that 11D presupposes that the opponent of the player who made the illegal move notices the illegal move before he has completed a move himself (as was, I believe, the case in the 4th Ed.)?
I had to rule on this over the weekend during a game where four moves had been made after an illegal move had been played. The opponent, referencing 11A, wanted 2 minutes added to his clock. I reinstated the position, but denied his request for additional time based on my interpretation (though it isn’t specifically mentioned in the 6th Ed) that a player, in order to be awarded the time penalty, had to claim the illegal move before he, himself, completed the next move, in other words, I ruled, it had to be claimed immediately.
Did I make the correct ruling? Did I make it for the right reasons, or was I wrong?
I would make the same ruling you did, and for the same reasons. The rules you quoted strongly imply that the time penalty is only assessed when the claim is made immediately after the illegal move. Among other things, the opponent may be making illegal moves himself if he plays on after an illegal move has been made.
1C2b. Non-standard penalties.Except where specifically noted in the rules, the director may assess penalties either more or less severe than the standard penalty (1C2a). It is often more appropriate for a director to issue a warning( s) before applying 1C2a in cases involving young or inexperienced players.
allowing a warning to young or inexperienced players in the case of illegal moves, rather than always adding the two minutes. I know at the Scholastic Nationals, the addition of two minutes is waived for at least a portion of the tournament.
I believe it’s the scholastic regulations that only after a hour has past, the TD may add the two minute penalty… but more often than not, the game ends in two minutes after the illegal move (overkill mates etc).
Terry’s ruling is correct. Plus to reinstate the positoon before the illegal move probably took more than two minutes so that’s the “free” thinking time.
In my experience, most scholastic players play so quickly that time penalties are irrelevant anyway. The ones who play slowly enough for a time penalty to matter are generally not “inexperienced”.
I thought it was only after at least an hour has elapsed on at least one side of the clock (two players who have only played for 59 1/2 minutes each, plus delay, may still be in the no-adjustment phase even with more than two hours elapsed since the start of the round.
Yes, Terry’s ruling is correct. I am seeing if there is any consensus about using 1C2b (not adding two minutes), instead of always applying the standard penalty (adding two minutes) for illegal moves in general.
I guess I’m curious how you would justify a nonstandard penalty to the opponent. If neither player notices the illegal move then I think you’re on firmer ground.
When the player makes the claim of an earlier illegal move, and the position on the board is legal [Opponents King is not in check or a piece misplaced or other illegal position] then I would not award the 2 minutes and just go back to the initial illegal move, enforce touch move and continue the game with no time adjustment.
The illegal position has continued or another illegal position has occurred, then I would award the 2 minutes, return the previous illegal position, enforce touch move and continue the game with no time adjustment.
Note in both above, you have to apply the correct rule based on time pressure or not.
I was asked what I meant by time adjustment in a private message. Time adjustment would be to adjust the clock times to return the time the players spent playing the illegal position. This is clearly against the rules. Awarding the 2 minutes is a penalty per the rule book and something I call restoring equality as noted by Ken. This is an idea I learned while studying duplicate bridge rules when I played.
I’m getting in a bit late on this thread, but:
The purpose of applying the standard penalty (i.e., adding 2 minutes to the remaining time of the player’s opponent) is really not to penalize the player who made the illegal move, but to avoid letting him penalize his opponent by depriving him of some of his remaining time. That’s why the “penalty” isn’t imposed if the player realizes his error and corrects it before hitting his clock button. 2 minutes is probably an overestimate of how much time the opponent actually lost, but since the exact amount of time the opponent lost can’t be determined, it makes sense to err in his favor (since he wasn’t the one who made the mistake).
but more often than not, the game ends in two minutes after the illegal move (overkill mates etc).