Sudden death time control. White is on move. He presses the clock without having made a move.
Is this basis for a minor penalty? I’d like to think it’s illegal, but 11D doesn’t seem to fit. There’s always annoying the opponent.
If Black is in time pressure and White is not, does it make a difference? Does it make a difference if Black is completely winning but only has four seconds of fixed time left?
We know you can’t pass on a move, but I can’t find that anywhere in the rules.
Rule 7 (the right to move) specifies that White and Black alternate moves. (That might be rule 6 – I’m doing this from memory – but it is definitely the rule titled “the right to move”.)
Assuming that there is no specific rule that covers it, here is how I would interpret it as TD.
A move is completed when a player presses his clock. White completed his move by pressing the clock. Examining the position, all the pieces are in the same place they started. A legal Chess move requires that the pieces change position. Therefore, this is an illegal move.
I once saw a game between two A players where, as soon as white reached for a piece, black also reached for a piece to move it quickly. This went on for about five move-pairs. Both players were in time trouble so nobody was keeping score.
It turned out that both players thought it was their move. Apparently, each time white reached for a piece, black made a move quickly before white got in an “extra” move. In effect, the two players moved simultaneously, for about five consecutive moves, before they finally figured out somebody was confused.
As to which player was confused, I don’t remember exactly how that was resolved. I think the TD reverted the game to the last move on the scoresheets, and figured out what must have happened from there.
This is interesting. The only issue I have with it is that a move must be determined before it can be completed (Rule 9G, I think?). A move is determined when a player releases a piece onto a square to which it is to move. If the player never does this, his move is not determined, and therefore cannot be considered complete.
Having said that, I would probably add two minutes to the opponent’s clock the first time, and warn the offender. The warning would be more severe if the opponent is in time pressure. So the penalty would be the same as that for an illegal move, but I wouldn’t call the offender’s action an illegal move.
This is related to a situation that happened a couple of times in which I was the TD. White makes a move, but forgets to press his clock. His opponent decides to wait to see how much time he can gain. After a while, White decides to leave for “a walk”. On returning he notices that his clock is running, so sits down, thinks for a while, makes a move, and presses the clock.
Black now calls for a TD and complains that White has made two consecutive moves without Black moving. My ruling was that White had made an illegal move and added two minutes to Black’s clock… which he didn’t really need with all that extra time he had. I also told Black, that though he had the right to do what he did, I considered it unsportsmanship to not tell White that he had neglected to press his clock, after a short time had passed, or at least when he returned to the board.
I also considered that though White had made an illegal move, it was done by accident and not on purpose.
Your use of the term " inadvertent " in the subject line is interesting. Was this taken into consideration in your final decision which was not stated in your post.
Do the rules of chess cover the intent of a given player? What if when making a moves your fingers inadvertently touch two pieces simultaneously. Which piece must then be moved?
Inadvertent means “not on purpose” so in this case there was no intent to move/capture any of the pieces, so none have to be moved. The “Touch Move” rule requires touching with the intent to move/capture.
At the HB Global there was a very similar situation. However the opponent complained after white made the second move and before the clock was pressed. Since the move had not yet been completed, and thus the double-move was not yet illegal, white simply undid his second move (restoring the legal position on his own time - similar to if he had accidentally knocked some pieces over while moving) and the pressed the clock so that the game could continue normally with no penalties.
I don’t know about anyone else but if I’m walking around during a game, then come back to the board and find my clock is running, the first thing I’ll do is figure out what my opponent’s last move was and write it down. I would never just move until I figured it out (unless maybe I had a forced mate).
It may not be an illegal move but it is a violation. The TD could give a warning. The TD could apply the standard penalty (adding two minutes - which happens to be the same penalty as for an illegal move in sudden death). The TD could do something else.
This is the sort of situation I would hate to have to adjudicate. I think you handled it correctly, but there’s really a part of me that would like to say to Black, “You are correct, but you’re a jerk.”
And I doubt that “jerk” would be the first word that comes to mind, but I can’t use the other word in this forum.
