I am considering submitting the following Advance Delegate Motion for the 2011 Annual Delegates Meeting. This is one of three proposed ADMs dealing with pawn promotion. Comments are welcome, including comments on whether it would be better to submit the three motions dealing with pawn promotion as a single ADM.
Bob Messenger
Massachusetts Delegate
In Rule 8F7, after “It is improper to press the clock to start your opponent’s time with the pawn still on the last rank.” replace the next sentence with the following:
“If this is done the opponent may stop both clocks while the pawn is replaced or may immediately restart the player’s clock without moving. Any move made by a pawn which has reached the last rank and has not been replaced is an illegal move. The player moving the pawn must first replace it with the new piece.”
This ADM comes from a discussion in the topic “Rules question - pawn promotion” in this forum. Here is the text of the sentence in the current rule 8F7 which is being replaced, along with the preceding sentence which is not being changed:
As I see it there are two problems with the current rule. First, as others have pointed out, it may not be to the opponent’s advantage to restart the player’s clock in this situation if the players are using a delay or increment clock. Second, the rule doesn’t say what happens if play continues with the pawn still on the last rank, where the opponent has decided not to restart the player’s clock (the rule says “may”, not “must”.) The proposed change to the rule addresses this by saying that any move made by a pawn which has not been replaced by a new piece is an illegal move, and that the player must remedy this by replacing the pawn with the new piece before making his move.
The fact that a move by a pawn which has been moved to the last rank and not replaced by a new piece is an illegal move is of great importance in blitz chess, because it means the opponent can claim a win by calling the illegal move. This should be explained to players before the first round. Some players are in the habit of saving time by not replacing a promoted pawn with a queen but simply announcing “Queen” and subsequently moving the pawn as if it were a queen. Under the new version of Rule 8F7 this would no longer be tolerated.
I’m modifying this proposed ADM to address the situation where a player moves a pawn to the last rank, announces what piece it will be promoted to, and then presses the clock without replacing the pawn with the new piece.
In Rule 8F7, after “It is improper to press the clock to start your opponent’s time with the pawn still on the last rank.” replace the next sentence with the following:
“If this is done the opponent may stop both clocks while the pawn is replaced or may immediately restart the player’s clock without moving. Any move made by a pawn which has reached the last rank and has not been replaced is an illegal move. The player moving the pawn must first replace it with the new piece. If the player has announced the piece to which the pawn will be promoted, e.g. by saying ‘Queen’, either player may replace the pawn with the new piece.”
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. I’ve decided to eliminate the sentence which said “If the player has announced the piece to which the pawn will be promoted, e.g. by saying ‘Queen’, either player may replace the pawn with the new piece.”
In Rule 8F7, after “It is improper to press the clock to start your opponent’s time with the pawn still on the last rank.” replace the next sentence with the following:
If this is done the opponent may stop both clocks while the pawn is replaced or may immediately restart the player’s clock without moving. Any move made by a pawn which has reached the last rank and has not been replaced is an illegal move. The player moving the pawn must first replace it with the new piece.
RATIONALE: The sentence being replaced currently reads: “If this is done, the opponent may immediately restart the player’s clock without moving.” The proposed new rule allows the opponent to stop both clocks instead of restarting the player’s clock, since restarting the player’s clock adds additional time to the clock when using an increment clock. The new rule also addresses the situation where the players continue the game without replacing the pawn with the new piece by saying that any move made by such a pawn is an illegal move. This is less severe than the FIDE rule which says that moving a pawn to the last rank and then pressing the clock without replacing the pawn with the new piece is an illegal move.
I’m thinking of not submitting this ADM, because although I think there are potential problems with the current rules governing pawn promotion, I can’t think of a game where this created an actual problem.
The potential problem that I see with the current rules in the situation where a player moves a pawn to the last rank and presses the clock without replacing the pawn with the new piece is that if the opponent replaces the pawn with the new piece, or moves without replacing the pawn, the player who promoted the pawn might later change his mind about what piece the pawn was promoted to.
Of course, the opponent could have avoided the problem by restarting the player’s clock and insisting that he complete his move, but I haven’t seen many players do this. Usually what happens is that the opponent replaces the promoted piece while his own clock is running, so the player who promoted the pawn benefits from having violated the rules.