I am considering submitting the following Advance Delegate Motion for the 2011 Annual Delegates Meeting. Comments are welcome.
Bob Messenger
Massachusetts Delegate
Replace rules 8F2 to 8F4 with the following:
8F2. The first move of each pawn. On its first move, a pawn advances one or two vacant squares along its file or else captures as described in 8F4.
8F3. Subsequent moves of each pawn. On its subsequent moves, a pawn either advances one vacant square along its file or captures as described in 8F4.
8F4. Pawns move vertically when not capturing but capture diagonally. The pawn is unique among chess pieces in that it captures (7C) and attacks differently from the way it moves when not capturing. When capturing, it advances one square along either of the diagonals on which it stands; it attacks these same squares.
This ADM comes out of the discussion in this forum in the “Legal Move Order?” topic. Given the wording of the current rules 8F2 to 8F4 it’s not clear that a pawn can capture on its first move. The proposed new wording eliminates this ambiguity.
When I suggested wording similar to the above as a replacement for the current 8F2 to 8F4 Ken Ballou wrote:
At the time I agreed with Ken that if the rule was changed the new rule should use the FIDE wording. I’ve changed my mind about this. The FIDE rule doesn’t use the same section structure (8F2, 8F3, 8F4) as the USCF rule does. I think my proposed changes fit better with the existing USCF rules for stylistic reasons.
8F2. The first move of each pawn. On its first move, a pawn advances either one or two vacant squares along its file.
8F3. Subsequent moves of each pawn. On its subsequent moves, a pawn advances one vacant square along its file.
8F4. Pawns move vertically but capture diagonally. The pawn is unique among chess pieces in that it captures (7C) and attacks differently from the way it moves. When capturing, it advances one square along either of the diagonals on which it stands; it attacks these same squares.
The current wording of Rule 8 is a bit of a mess with all sorts of imprecision and undefined words. It seems to me that Ken Ballou is right and that if we are going to revisit Rule 8, we should adopt precisely the wording of the FIDE Laws of Chess regarding the movement of the pieces. I don’t think retaining the existing section structure is a very compelling reason to have different wording.
8F4. Pawns move vertically when not capturing but capture diagonally. The pawn is unique among chess pieces in that it captures (7C) and attacks differently from the way it moves when not capturing. Except when capturing en passant (8F5), when capturing, the pawn advances one square along either of the diagonals on which it stands to a square occupied by an opponent’s piece; it attacks these same squares.
What is wrong with the wording of FIDE Laws of Chess 3.7a-d? Is there some reason not to use that wording, given that 8F needs to be cleaned up? Bob, it seems like you are going out of your way not to use the FIDE wording.
It’s a matter of style. If we’re going to rewrite the USCF rules to be as similar as possible to the FIDE Laws of Chess it should be done across the entire document and not just in one section.
8F4. Pawns move vertically when not capturing but capture diagonally. The pawn is unique among chess pieces in that it captures (7C, 8F5) and attacks differently from the way it moves when not capturing. When capturing, the pawn advances one square along either of the diagonals on which it stands to a square occupied by an opponent’s piece (or the captured pawn just passed over for an en passant capture); it attacks these same squares.
I’m not a fan of using the word “vertically” in the rule as it implies that the movement of the pawn would be towards the ceiling or the floor. I would offer the substitute “forward”.
In 8F4 I think Jeff Wiewel’s phrase “or the captured pawn just passed over for an en passant capture” is a little confusing, so I’m changing it slightly.
With the amendments, the ADM is now:
Replace rules 8F2 to 8F4 with the following:
8F2. The first move of each pawn. On its first move, a pawn advances one or two vacant squares along its file or else captures as described in 8F4.
8F3. Subsequent moves of each pawn. On its subsequent moves, a pawn either advances one vacant square along its file or captures as described in 8F4.
8F4. Pawns move forward when not capturing but capture diagonally. The pawn is unique among chess pieces in that it captures (7C, 8F5) and attacks differently from the way it moves when not capturing. When capturing, the pawn advances one square along either of the diagonals on which it stands to a square occupied by an opponent’s piece (or to the square just passed over by a captured pawn for an en passant capture); it attacks these same squares.
Here is my proposed ADM again, this time with a rationale. If I submit the ADM I’ll include the rationale as part of it.
Replace rules 8F2 to 8F4 with the following:
8F2. The first move of each pawn. On its first move, a pawn advances one or two vacant squares along its file or else captures as described in 8F4.
8F3. Subsequent moves of each pawn. On its subsequent moves, a pawn either advances one vacant square along its file or captures as described in 8F4.
8F4. Pawns move forward when not capturing but capture diagonally. The pawn is unique among chess pieces in that it captures (7C, 8F5) and attacks differently from the way it moves when not capturing. When capturing, the pawn advances one square along either of the diagonals on which it stands to a square occupied by an opponent’s piece (or to the square just passed over by a captured pawn for an en passant capture); it attacks these same
squares.
RATIONALE: The version of rules 8F2, 8F3 and 8F4 in the 5th edition rulebook could be taken to mean that a pawn can’t make a capture on its first move, or on any move. The new wording eliminates this ambiguity. The current rules are:
8F2. The first move of each pawn. On its first move, a pawn advances either one or two vacant squares along its file.
8F3. Subsequent moves of each pawn. On its subsequent moves, a pawn advances one vacant square along its file.
8F4. Pawns move vertically but capture diagonally. The pawn is unique among chess pieces in that it captures (7C) and attacks differently from the way it moves. When capturing, it advances one square along either of the diagonals on which it stands; it attacks those same squares.